MOSCOW, May 12./TASS/. Ukraine is ready to exchange the ex-president of the Motor Sich engine manufacturer, Vyacheslav Boguslayev, for 1,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war, Advisor to the Ukrainian Presidential Office Mikhail Podolyak said on Friday.

"If we can exchange this Boguslayev for a thousand of our guys, then of course, we will go for any exchange process. <...> We can always keep such an option in mind," Podolyak said in an interview with Ukrainian television’s Channel 24.

News came on Wednesday that back in March, Boguslayev wrote a letter to the Ukrainian Presidential Office with a request to put him on the exchange list with Russia. Consequently, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Vasily Malyuk did not rule out such a possibility, but noted that first the accused "must give all the necessary testimony, and then become a quality reserve for a swap."

On October 23, 2022, the SBU charged the 84-year old Boguslayev with collaborationism and "working for Russia" and on October 24, the court arrested the suspect.

On February 1, the SBU brought a new charge against him: "facilitating the activities of a terrorist organization." According to the Security Service, Motor Sich used foreign companies to supply raw materials to the Snezhnyansk machine-building plant in the Donetsk People’s Republic, receiving manufactured spare parts for aircraft engines in return.

In March 2023, the company's former head was charged with obstructing the activity of the Ukrainian armed forces. According to SBU investigators, Boguslayev disassembled helicopters and hid documents so that the equipment would not fall into the hands of the Ukrainian military.