Since 2000, the president of Motor Sich JSC, the general designer for the creation and modernization of helicopter technology, Vyacheslav Boguslaev, has Russian citizenship. As a people's deputy, Boguslaev was a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security and Defense and had access to state secrets in Ukraine, journalists from the Schemes project (Radio Liberty) report .
When asked about Boguslaev's Russian citizenship, Ruslan Pidorich, PR Director of Motor Sich JSC, replied that he did not know anything about it, and he "heard about it for the first time."
An anonymous source close to the administration of the Zaporozhye region told The Insider that Boguslaev had been “opening the door to any Ukrainian president with his foot” all his life, as he managed to preserve a strategically important industry for the country.
“All his life Boguslaev opened the door to any Ukrainian president with his foot, no matter what kind of president it was. Because he managed to save a strategically important industry for Ukraine. We are not talking in this case about how he "earned his first million." It is clear that there were some violations in the initial period, when the enterprise was privatized.
80% of helicopters flew on the engines of his enterprise in third world countries, in the CIS countries, etc. He is absolutely a "red director", he always took care of his subordinates. Under it was a whole district of Zaporozhye, the plant employs about 20 thousand people, plus affiliated enterprises. Everyone always lived well and had good salaries. Traditionally, he went to the Verkhovna Rada, running from his constituency in the Shevchenkovsky microdistrict of the city of Zaporozhye. I don't know if he arranged the delivery or not. But if not half of Ukrainian business, then a very large part of it, which is still one way or another affiliated with the Russian economy, can be blamed for this.
For Zaporozhye, Motor Sich is a budget-forming enterprise, with very large assets. And, unlike other enterprises, they did not sell off any of their social assets – sanatoriums, rest homes, etc. That is, the workers feel good about them. They pay taxes all the time, and big taxes. Boguslaev is respected in the city, he is an honorary citizen of the city.”
The source recalled that earlier, the Ukrainian authorities at the last moment stopped an attempt to sell the Motor Sich enterprise to the Chinese. In 2016, Chinese investors acquired a 56% stake in Motor Sich PJSC, and in August 2019 they submitted documents on the transaction for approval to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine. The SBU seized these shares, and on January 28, 2021, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky enacted the decision of the National Security and Defense Council on sanctions against the Chinese company Skyrizon and its key shareholder, Chinese citizen Wang Jin.
In 2018, Motor Sich announced that it had lost control over the Snezhnyansky Machine-Building Plant, which produced a key part for helicopter turbines, attack aircraft and civilian engines – blades (blades). Then Boguslaev claimed that the plant was not lost, but transferred to external management. The Ukrainian government has banned the import of components from the occupied territory of Donbass. The source of Radio Donbass.Realii claimed that during the most active phase of the fighting, Russian military equipment was towed to the Snezhnyansky machine-building plant for repairs. The fact that the plant works for the defense aviation industry of the Russian Federation, the media wrote back in 2014. According to one of the workers, unique stamps-patterns that determine the accuracy of the production of blades, and the finished blades themselves were taken out of the plant. According to him, the details were sent to St. Petersburg.
The SBU detained Boguslayev on October 23. Together with him, the head of the department of foreign economic activity of Motor Sich was detained. The press service of the SBU notes that after the Russian invasion, Boguslaev continued to supply the Russian Federation with engines and other spare parts for attack helicopters. According to the investigation, the detainees acted in collusion with representatives of the Russian corporation Rostec, one of the main manufacturers of weapons for the Russian Armed Forces, close to the Kremlin.
The Motor Sich Plant is one of the world's leading enterprises in the production of gas turbine engines for aircraft and helicopters, as well as industrial gas turbine units. Until 2014, the plant produced engines for Russian helicopters and An aircraft.
Vyacheslav Boguslaev – Hero of Ukraine, one of the richest people in the country. Motor Sich has been under his control for decades: Boguslaev managed the plant back in Soviet times, he was called the last “red director” of Ukraine. He is considered one of the most famous and influential politicians in Zaporozhye and was elected three times to the Verkhovna Rada from the Party of Regions, and in 2014 as an independent candidate.