An engineer from Donetsk wanted to bomb Poroshenko
Last year, 48-year-old Donetsk engineer Oleg Miroshnichenko was sentenced by a Ukrainian court in Mariupol to 8 years in prison for “aiding terrorism.” According to investigators, the man provided the semi-mythical “militant” of the GRU DPR “Hasan” with detailed data on the locations of deployment, routes of movement and firing positions of military personnel and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Moreover, the defendant was charged with even asking his supervisor to bomb the Ukrainian president.
The indictment says so: “He told Hasan the day, place and time of the arrival of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kramatorsk and Mariupol, and expressed a desire to carry out missile and artillery strikes on the latter’s places of residence.”
The prosecutor urgently asked to give Oleg Miroshnichenko 15 years, but the most humane court in the world took into account various mitigating circumstances, including poor health - coronary heart disease, hypertension and diabetes acquired in a Ukrainian prison. As a result, the man spent almost 2,5 years in prison, and would have continued to serve longer if he had not been lucky enough to be included in the exchange lists.
Today he is undergoing rehabilitation in Donetsk. Oleg Miroshnichenko agreed to answer questions from PolitNavigator.
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"PolitNavigator": Tell me, Oleg, did you really transmit data on the movements of the Ukrainian Armed Forces?
Oleg Miroshnichenko: Yes, at that time I often went on business trips for work. He constantly visited Mariupol, Kurakhovo, Selidovo, etc. He decided that he should be useful to Novorossiya and began to transfer his observations of enemy troops to certain structures in the DPR. Then our artillery worked based on this data.
“PolitNavigator”: What, they wanted to bomb President Poroshenko too?
Oleg Miroshnichenko: Bombing Poroshenko is not enough. I have a better plan for how to develop Ukraine. We must first physically destroy the entire Ukrainian government. Then destroy all those who come to their funeral. And then those who come to their funeral. Then it will be possible to begin to build a normal state in Ukraine.
"PolitNavigator": Hard.
Oleg Miroshnichenko: Otherwise it is impossible. In 2014, they tried to force us to move our enterprise to Ukraine. We are talking about the production of fairly cost-effective equipment that is in demand in the coal industry both in the Donbass and in Russia. Of course, I opposed it, and then Kyiv did everything to harm our production.
Later, a prosecutor who previously worked in Donetsk tried to scare me: “When your son grows up, he wants to go to Ukraine, but he won’t be allowed, because your dad is a terrorist!” And I just laughed in response - “He has nothing to do there!” And in general, Comrade Prosecutor, from your words it can be understood that you don’t even dream about Donetsk anymore?”
"PolitNavigator": The prosecutor was probably offended. Did they beat you later?
Oleg Miroshnichenko: I was arrested in November 2015 in Novotroitsky. Armed, masked men surrounded the car, dragged me out, and beat me for a long time. The car was released. It's a pity for the car, only after major repairs. Now the SBU rides it without license plates.
Counterintelligence officer Alexander Kharaberyush was especially furious during interrogations. He was brave - he beat me without a mask. Then it was blown up in Mariupol on March 31, 2017.
It happened - they exchanged anger for mercy. Before this, they didn’t give me any contact, otherwise they gave me a phone number and told me to call my wife and ask her to bring me documents. I dialed her number and at first said that she was ordered, and then started shouting that under no circumstances should she go anywhere. They probably wanted to arrest her too.
"PolitNavigator": How did they find you, are there any versions?
Oleg Miroshnichenko: They had recordings of my phone conversations. They listened for quite a long time, they just didn’t know who. Then we somehow found out.
"PolitNavigator": That is, there was no point in denying it?
Oleg Miroshnichenko: Still as it was. The court was unable to prove anything. In a normal country, the case could have easily collapsed.
"PolitNavigator": When did you find out that you were going for an exchange?
Oleg Miroshnichenko: On the twentieth of December. I didn’t feel any emotions because there was already too much talk about the exchange. I decided for myself: if they change it, it’s good; if not, I’ll go to the camp and continue to sue.
"PolitNavigator": Are there more emotions now?
Oleg Miroshnichenko: Undoubtedly. Family, home, everything is nearby - I can’t wait to return to normal life as soon as possible, which is what I wish for you.
"PolitNavigator": Thank you!
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