Several media sources in Ukraine have reported that, in the US, the heads of several space industry companies were arrested. Hours later, Kiev and the USDOJ had announced that there were no arrests, but they didn't deny a visit by investigators.
Ruslan Sleptsov will tell us why.
The first reports made by the Ukrainian media came out around midday. The headlines read that in the US, the heads of the Ukrainian space industry have been arrested: the Head of the State Space Agency, Pavel Degtyarenko and the Chief Designer of the Yuzhnoye Design Office, Aleksandr Degtyarev. The investigators arrested both of them in Colorado during the Space Symposium. They were charged with illegally selling project documentation to North Korea. Ukrainian Ambassador to the US Valeriy Chaly has urgently left for Colorado from Washington, allegedly to take care of some business.
The first refutations were made hours later. Kiev and then the USDOJ had vaguely stated that the information about the arrest was not real. However, they failed to mention what was. By the way, nobody has denied the charges. This raised a few questions from the experts. Where did such a delay come from? Perhaps they were interrogated and charged? They just decided not to air their dirty laundry, especially at the prestigious Space Symposium, where Kiev's great friend, Vice President Mike Pence spoke. Also, the topic of supplying engines for the North Korean missile program isn't new.
In August, The New York Times had published an article where they directly accused the Yuzhmash enterprise of working with North Korea. Referring to the pictures of the Hwasong-14 ballistic missile, experts had determined that it had R-250 engines, which are manufactured by Yuzhmash. Even more, US journalists linked the North Korean technological breakthrough to Ukrainian supplies. When talking to the pranksters, the Yuzhmash CEO, Sergii Voyt admitted to working with Pyongyang. He also said that the Yuzhnoe Design Office, run by Degtyarev, was doing the same thing.
Sergii Voyt, the Yuzhmash CEO: "We just started working with Korea. Our Yuzhnoe Design Office has been working with Korea for over 14 years. They've been working with China for over 20 years. I don't know what they do there; we're not privy to that information. I'm sure the SBU and the SVR know about it. Yuzhmash knows about it, too."
In August, when the North Korean topic was hot, this issue really concerned the US. Even the State Department promised an investigation. Right now, after the conflict has subsided, and a historic meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un is ahead, the new scandal with the Ukrainian engines will probably be forgotten soon. The question is: for how long?
Ruslan Sleptsov, Vesti.
