Sold the shield of the state: SBI accuses three former defense ministers of surrendering arsenal
6 June 20:16
The State Bureau of Investigation has notified three former defense ministers who held office during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych of suspicion. According to the investigation, it was their actions that led to a large-scale loss of critical weapons, which negatively affected Ukraine’s defense capabilities.
According to the press service of the State Bureau of Investigation, during 2010-2014, these officials unreasonably sold combat-ready weapons and equipment, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
In particular, we are talking about:
- hundreds of tanks, armored vehicles and artillery systems;
- dozens of anti-aircraft missile systems
- hundreds of units of tracked and wheeled vehicles;
- dozens of combat aircraft and helicopters;
- thousands of missiles
- over a million pieces of small arms and ammunition.
Forensic military examinations confirmed that the decisions to sell were made without proper justification. They also established a direct causal link between these decisions and the weakening of Ukraine’s defense capabilities.
All three defendants were notified of suspicion under Part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – high treason. If the suspects do not appear when summoned, the issue of their arrest and putting them on the wanted list will be decided.
Although the SBI has not officially named the suspects, it is likely that they are Mykhailo Yezhel, Dmytro Salamatin and Pavlo Lebedev, former defense ministers under Yanukovych.
