House search of former Ukrainian interior minister – politics

Authorities have searched the home of Monastyrsky’s predecessor as part of the investigation into the January helicopter crash that killed Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky. Arsen Avakov, who was Interior Minister of Ukraine from 2014 to 2021, confirmed to the online medium Ukrainska Pravdathat investigators had viewed documents.

The papers were therefore about the purchase of the Airbus helicopters of the type H225. The interior minister, his deputy and a state secretary traveled in one of these helicopters on January 18. 14 people died in the crash over a kindergarten and a residential building.

The first theories about the cause of the crash quickly grew up around this helicopter model: in 2016, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) had against the H225 A temporary flight ban was imposed due to safety concerns. Even the previous model AS 332 was involved in several plane accidents.

On the day of the crash in January, the Ukrainian secret service SBU announced that it would take over the investigation. Nothing is known about the cause of the crash. According to Avakov, officials are now investigating Airbus contracts that are six years old. What is in the contracts is not clear from the report. Avakov described the search as “pointless” because the contracts had been approved by the government and parliament.

Avakov resigned from his post as interior minister in 2021 because he had come under heavy criticism. Under him, the ministry is said to have done too little against oligarchs and corruption – a core issue of Zelenskiy’s government. The Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on the house search.

In addition to searching the home of the former interior minister, the Ukrainian authorities are also said to have searched the house of billionaire Ihor Kolomoiskij. Kolomoisky is considered one of the richest Ukrainians and was a former supporter of President Zelensky until he turned against the influence of billionaires and oligarchs in his country. how Ukrainska Pravda writes, it was not about the crash of the helicopter, but about possible economic crimes and corruption.

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