Yury Soloshenko

Former director of the Poltava-based defence plant Znamya. He was detained in August 2014 when he came to Moscow to meet with business partners. He was accused of espionage: according to the investigation, he tried to smuggle parts of certain Russian weapons to Ukraine in a KamAZ truck. For this purpose, he allegedly offered a certain official of the Russian Defence Ministry 6,000 dollars. RAPSI reported that the dollars were confiscated to the Russian treasury. Interfax, citing the FSB press centre, reported that the parts Soloshenko was interested in were secret components for S-300 surface-to-air missile systems. "At the same time, he acted on behalf of the state enterprise "Generator Plant" and the corporation "Sky of Ukraine", and the products planned for purchase were intended for the restoration of air defence systems of Ukraine", - stated the security forces. Meanwhile, one of the prisoner's sons said: "Everyone knows that he was framed by an acquaintance with whom he co-operated and trusted". Apparently, under pressure, Soloshenko refused independent lawyers. On 14 October 2015, the Ukrainian man was sentenced to six years in a strict regime colony. On 14 June 2016, Soloshenko was pardoned by Putin and was taken to Ukraine. He died in April 2018.