Fictitious "Russian conspiracy" and real pressure on strategic aviation enterprises: how law enforcement is used in competitive wars

The Security Service of Ukraine is investigating a criminal case, opened by the National Police back in 2022, concerning a group of aviation companies associated with businessman Roman Mileshko. Formally, it is about alleged complicity with the aggressor state and misappropriation of property. However, after more than three years of investigation, no one has been notified of suspicion, and checks by other law enforcement agencies have not found any elements of a crime. All signs indicate that this case is a custom-made tool for pressuring a strategic business in favor of a competitor – the owner of PJSC "Ukrainian Helicopters" Volodymyr Tkachenko, writes UNN.

How the case emerged and why it was handed over to the SSU

Criminal proceedings No. 12022000000001276 against the businessman and his companies were registered on November 25, 2022, by the Main Investigation Department of the National Police based on a statement from the head of the NGO "Council of ATO Veterans" Pavlo Moshkovskyi. This public organization is associated with the company "Ukrainian Helicopters," which is a direct competitor to Mileshko's companies in the aviation market.

In his statement to the police, Moshkovskyi described a theory of a "Russian conspiracy," according to which Roman Mileshko's father – a Russian citizen and aviation specialist Viktor Mileshko – at an unknown time, but definitely in 2022, allegedly developed a plan to weaken Ukraine's economic security by seizing key enterprises in the aviation industry, and his son in Kyiv involved his Ukrainian companies and managers in implementing this plan.

Thanks to extensive connections in law enforcement agencies, the ultimate beneficiary of the company "Ukrainian Helicopters" Volodymyr Tkachenko apparently managed to persuade investigators to open criminal proceedings based on such a statement. Volodymyr Tkachenko's staff are former high-ranking officials, and through their former colleagues, they are likely trying to force certain law enforcement officers to carry out criminal orders to destroy Roman Mileshko's business. Interestingly, most prosecutors and investigators approached by Tkachenko's "representatives" refused to cooperate with them due to the clear custom-made nature of the persecution, which is already known to everyone in Ukraine at various levels.

The case was built precisely on the indicated plot of the so-called "conspiracy." In particular, it was stated that allegedly through Mileshko's Ukrainian companies ("NZOperations," "Konstanta," Xena, "MS Avia-Grade," etc.) and intermediary enterprises in the UAE, a scheme was organized to finance the aggressor country and block the work of Ukrainian competitors. At the same time, the police checked for several years whether Roman Mileshko actually coordinated his actions with his father in 2022-2023.

However, the entire structure on which the case is built collapses when checking basic facts. For example, as Roman Mileshko told UNN in a comment, his father died in 2022.

For a long time, starting in 2014, my father had significant health problems and physically could not do anything of what he is accused of in this case. In 2022, my father passed away. Therefore, all accusations are simply absurd

Despite this, the Main Investigation Department of the National Police investigated the case under Article 111-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (complicity with the aggressor state) until 2025, although the Criminal Procedure Code clearly assigns such crimes to the jurisdiction of the Security Service of Ukraine.

According to UNN sources familiar with the investigation, Roman Mileshko was questioned in this case as a witness; the interrogation lasted more than six hours. Apparently, after he informed the investigators under protocol that his father had passed away in 2022, law enforcement officers realized that this case had no future. However, probably to save face, they decided to "dump" it on the SSU. It seems that during all this time, the police did not obtain any evidence or even a hint of evidence of criminal offense.

The investigation also mentions several companies from the UAE and claims that they are allegedly controlled by Russian residents and that Mileshko's companies cooperate with them. However, according to Vadym Vdovenko, the general director of "Konstanta" company, this information is also untrue.

We have all the documents confirming that there have never been any residents of the Russian Federation. Every company with which Roman Mileshko cooperates has been checked by banks in the EU, UAE, and Ukraine. The group of companies is directly contracted with the UN, WFP, and governments of many EU countries. The compliance of these international and national structures is one of the highest in the world, and talking about financing the aggressor state is, to put it mildly, absurd.

Searches, account freezes, and equipment seizures to halt enterprises

On March 28, 2023, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv authorized large-scale searches in the offices of PJSC "Aviakompaniya Konstanta," LLC "NZOperations," LLC "MS Avia-Grade" (to which Mileshko has long been associated), LLC Xena, as well as at Roman Mileshko and the companies' top managers. During the investigative actions, documents, flash drives, servers, and equipment were seized.

The next day, March 29, 2023, the court granted permission for temporary access to banking documents, and on May 22, 2023, an order was issued to seize funds in the accounts of "Konstanta," "NZOperations," and Xena. This effectively paralyzed the normal economic activity of the companies, which fulfill contracts, including for the Ukrainian military and international humanitarian missions. The work of certain international contracts was disrupted, and thus the inflow of investments into Ukraine.

As representatives of Mileshko's group of companies note, investigators decided to seize the accounts despite the fact that there had never been any remarks from the financial monitoring of state banks regarding the funds in their accounts. But one thing is clear: through the NGO "Council of ATO Veterans" controlled by Tkachenko, an order was being worked out to pressure Mileshko's business.

According to UNN sources, investigators in 2024 also questioned the chief accountant of the group of companies as a witness, and since then no investigative actions have been conducted. However, despite the lack of movement in the case, the equipment and documentation seized during the searches have not yet been returned to the owners, and the motions of investigators and prosecutors are being considered by the courts in camera. This makes it impossible to effectively appeal the actions of law enforcement officers and, according to representatives of the group of companies, looks like an attempt to conceal the illegality of the pre-trial investigation.

Other cases based on the same statements were closed without finding violations

It is also interesting that this is not the only case that the owner of "Ukrainian Helicopters" is trying to lobby in law enforcement agencies. In 2023, the SSU already investigated criminal proceedings No. 22023000000000628 against Mileshko and his group of companies on similar charges. At that time, the statement was also filed by the aforementioned NGO "Council of ATO Veterans," associated with Volodymyr Tkachenko.

However, during a thorough check, investigators found no violations and did not notify anyone of suspicion.

A similar scenario occurred in 2023 at the State Bureau of Investigation. Case No. 62023000000000305 was opened on similar charges, but as a result of the investigation, the investigators did not find any elements of a crime.

Apparently, in this way, the owner of "Ukrainian Helicopters" is trying to remove his main competitor from the market. He even tried to initiate the inclusion of Roman Mileshko and his group of companies in the sanctions lists, but as a result of checks by the SSU and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, the reliability of the businessman and all companies of which he is the ultimate beneficiary was confirmed.

In fact, the same plot – about "Russian money," "undermining defense capabilities," and "seizing strategic enterprises, including the state enterprise "Antonov" and the company "Ukrainian Helicopters" – was checked several times by various law enforcement agencies and each time it fell apart.

Moreover, the "network of assistance to Russia" described in the investigation's plot radically contradicts the actual activities of the companies belonging to Roman Mileshko's group. After all, PJSC "Aviakompaniya Konstanta" and LLC "NZOperations" are contractors for key military departments of Ukraine, performing tasks in the field of aviation and logistics, including in the interests of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other law enforcement agencies. For example, in March-April 2022, pilots of "NZOperations" together with the National Guard under the leadership of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense carried out evacuation flights from "Azovstal" in Mariupol. At that time, some of the crews from these special missions, unfortunately, did not return.

The previous general director of "Konstanta," Mykhailo Pinkevych, from the first days of the invasion, headed the "Carpathian Sich" battalion and was involved in the defense of various sections of the state border. And the former first deputy general director has been serving in the Naval Forces of Ukraine since the beginning of the war.

The most alarming thing in this story is that, after more than three years of investigation, the investigation has not provided the court with any facts or documents that would confirm even a hypothetical involvement of the companies in financing the aggressor country or misappropriation of property. The absence of elements of a crime has been confirmed by almost all law enforcement agencies.

Aviation companies of Mileshko's group are among those strategically important for Ukraine's economy and its defense capabilities, providing humanitarian and military transportation, and are part of the aviation fleet that works in the interests of the UN and Ukraine's allies. The actual blocking of their activities by custom-made cases, built on competitors' fantasies about "Russian conspiracies" involving already deceased people, plays into the hands not of Ukraine, but precisely of the aggressor state.