Antonov Not Ruling Out Russia’s Involvement In Attempt To Replace Its Management

The Antonov state enterprise is not ruling out involvement of Russia in the attempt to install Serhii Merenkov as its head. The Antonov state enterprise’s First Vice President/Chief Designer Hryhorii Rudiuk announced this to reporters, the CFTS correspondent reports.

"I am not ruling out the possibility that this this is a Russian trace. Look at the biography of the so-called contender: for the past eight years, he has been considered - at least in the media - as an adviser to the head of the Russian Machines corporation, which is in charge of the An-140 aircraft project. I simply do not have the evidence to prove it," said Rudiuk.

According to him, the aim of the corporate raiders is to destroy the Antonov state enterprise as a competitor to the Russian aircraft manufacturing industry. "There is nothing about constructivism here,” said Rudiuk.

He also added that there was no assistance to the Antonov state enterprise from Deputy Minister of Industrial Policy Oleksandr Kalenkov, who tried to change the management of the state enterprise. "He was not involved in our business, but he was involved in negotiations with Russia and he finished us," the Antonov’s chief designer said.

Rudiuk also said that an order by Kalenkov prevented Antonov’s President/General Designer Dmytro Kiva from traveling abroad on business trips under the pretext of the difficult situation in the country, despite the fact that Kiva received invitations from foreign partners, particularly from Germany. In addition, he received an invitation from the First Deputy Prime Minister of Poland on Thursday, July 31.

Kiva traveled to Poland for talks after approval of the trip by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, and that was when the attempt to change the leadership of the enterprise was made.

Earlier, the press service of the Ministry of Industrial Policy announced that Serhii Merenkov had been appointed as the acting President/General Designer of the Antonov state enterprise from August 1, 2014. However, employees of the Antonov state enterprise prevented a takeover of the state enterprise’s seal. "Alerted by security, the enterprise’s self-defense units and employees encircled the ‘raiders’ and expelled them from the territory of the enterprise," the press service of Antonov said.