KYIV. Nov 6 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he could not ignore the fate of JSC Motor Sich completely because of the enterprise's national strategic importance.
"All I know about it is that thesis you just said about. I also read about, read overnight. I have not met anyone nor spoken to anyone about it. But this 'personal matter' should be related to the president of Ukraine because Motor Sich is a strategic enterprise. For now, I have nothing else to add," Zelensky told Radio Liberty in Kharkiv on Wednesday.
He was commenting on a Wall Street Journal article which alleged that a private security contractor and President Trump's unofficial advisor Erik Prince were in talks over purchase of the plant lest it be sold to Chinese buyers.
The newspaper claims that the Trump administration had approached Prince and at least one potential private buyer regarding Motor Sich, and on October 24-27 Prince visited the plant and also discussed the company's situation with Ukrainian officials. WSJ recalls that U.S. charge d'affaires in Ukraine Bill Taylor and the Pentagon's Senior Advisor for the defense industry in Ukraine, Donald Winter, also visited Motor Sich in late September.
Prince has visited Ukraine at least nine times since 2014, said the article, citing data from Ukraine's State Border Guard Service. A U.S. government official was looking for Prince in Washington earlier this year and a U.S. businessman showed interest in Motor Sich, given its clients, the article said.
Motor Sich is one of the world's biggest makers of jet engines and industrial gas turbine units. The company exports to more than 100 countries.