RFE/RL: Former Motor Sich head asks to be swapped to Russia

Former Motor Sich President Viacheslav Bohuslaiev, who was accused of collaborating with members of the Kremlin and Russian defense contractor Rostec, has requested to be included in the prisoner exchange list with Russia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported, citing Bohuslaiev’s letter to Ukraine’s Presidential Office head Andrii Yermak.

“Please add me to the list for exchange with the Russian Federation,” Bohuslaiev wrote in the letter.

The media added that the letter was sent to the President’s Office on March 20.

Earlier, Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, did not exclude the possibility that Bohuslaiev may be traded for Ukrainian POWs.

Previously, Ukraine handed over Viktor Medvedchuk, Ukraine’s most high-profile pro-Kremlin politician and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s former right-hand man in the country, to Russia in exchange for 200 Ukrainian POWs.

Bohuslaiev was arrested in October 2022 on charges of treason and collaborating with Russia, as was Oleh Dzyuba, Motor Sich’s former chief of foreign economic activity.

Bohuslaiev was accused of directly collaborating with Russia to provide the Russian military with helicopter parts during the full-scale invasion.

According to Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), Bohuslaiev also impeded the delivery of a combat helicopter to the Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate in April 2022.

Ukrainian aerospace company allegedly supplied military helicopter parts to Russia during war

Eight months into the full-scale war, a scandal ripped through Ukraine’s defense industry. Two top executives of Ukraine’s most famous defense contractor, Motor Sich, were detained on Oct. 22 for allegedly collaborating with Russia. Motor Sich is a storied Ukrainian company, whose creation predate…

Kyiv IndependentIgor Kossov