Searches at ex-interior minister Avakov’s house linked to Brovary helicopter crash
Arsen Avakov (Photo:National Police of Ukraine)
The residence of former interior minister Arsen Avakov was searched by Ukraine’s SBU security service and the State Bureau of Investigation, Avakov confirmed in a comment to the Babel and Ukrainska Pravda news outlets on Feb. 1.
The raid was related to the case of the helicopter crash in Brovary on Jan. 18, in which the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was killed.
According to the media, during the searches, employees of the State Bureau of Investigation studied contracts from six years ago with the French Airbus Helicopter, which supplied helicopters to Ukraine. In particular, they studied the contracts for the H-225 aircraft that was used by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The raids are being conducted not only at Avakov's residence, but also at those of other officials of the time who took part in the procurement, Babel reports, citing sources in law enforcement.
"Of course, it's of no concern,” Avakov said.
“The contracts were approved by the government and parliament.”
According to him, law enforcement officers have formally followed one line of inquiry.
Helicopter crash in Brovary: what is known
- A helicopter of the State Emergency Service with the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on board crashed in a residential area of Brovary, Kyiv Oblast, on the morning of Jan. 18. It crashed near a kindergarten and an apartment building.
- Search and rescue operations have been completed, and 14 people are known to have died, including one child. Some 25 people were injured, including 11 children.
- All 10 people in the helicopter were killed (nine were reported initially): six members of the Interior Ministry task force, including Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy Yevhenii Yenin and State Secretary Yuriy Lubkovych, as well as three crew members.
- They were flying on an official trip to one of the "hot spots" in Kharkiv Oblast.
- The cause of the crash is not yet known. The SBU is considering three lines of inquiry: violation of flight rules, technical malfunction of the helicopter, and deliberate actions to destroy the vehicle.
- The State Emergency Service reported that the crashed aircraft was an EU-225 Super Puma helicopter (tail number 54), which was donated by France and is often used to transport personnel to emergency scenes.
- The crew was trained to perform tasks in difficult conditions and had the required number of flight hours on this particular helicopter, the agency assured.
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