First Deputy General Director of Ukroboronprom Sergei Omelchenko confirmed that the altimeters featured in the latest journalistic anti-corruption investigation were manufactured in Russia.
“The only company that produces such altimeters is an enterprise of the Russian Federation,” Omelchenko said today at a press conference in Kyiv.
As journalists found out, altimeters for Kazakh An-26 aircraft worth about 85 thousand US dollars were delivered to Ukraine through the United Arab Emirates under the guise of spare parts for a civilian helicopter and purchased by the state company Ukrspetsexport, which at that time was headed by Bukin, for about 580 thousand. dollars.
“We sent inquiries to many companies, but received a response from only one. The only winner with his proposal really provided the best price,” Omelchenko said.
According to him, the Kazakh customer has no complaints that the altimeters were purchased 7 times more expensive.
“Information about the cost of a particular screw cannot be provided, since it is confidential. It does not affect the interests of any entity in Ukraine or abroad, since the contract was completed in a timely manner at a high level. The total amount of the contract was accordingly structured in such a way that it satisfied our foreign partner and created economic opportunities for the Ukrainian state,” Omelchenko said.
Ukrainian journalists claim that the current head of the state concern Pavel Bukin and the former first deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleg Gladkovsky allegedly received kickbacks for the supply of altimeters for repairs of An-26 in Ukraine from Kazakhstan. The mediators were Gladkovsky's son Igor and his partner Vitaly Zhukov. Gladkovsky Sr. and Bukin received at least 30 and 10 thousand US dollars in kickbacks.