Antonov's personnel moves are a signal from the Kremlin to the outside world. Ukraine: the Antonov concern ceases to exist Antonov government of Nizhny Novgorod

Ukraine is liquidating the legendary aircraft manufacturing enterprise Antonov, founded back in 1946 by a decree of the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The corresponding resolution was signed by the Chairman of the Government of Ukraine Vladimir Groysman.

“The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decides: to liquidate the state aircraft manufacturing concern Antonov, to form a commission to liquidate the enterprise under the leadership of the Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade,” the government resolution says.

The head of the liquidation commission will have to present the creditors' claims within the next two months, and the government will have to draw up the liquidation balance sheet of the concern.

In November 2016, the Moscow Arbitration Court decided to recover 180.2 million rubles from the enterprise, a penalty in favor of the Russian Ministry of Defense. According to the case materials, in 1989 the ministry and the enterprise entered into an agreement on the construction of the An-70 aircraft, but the work was not completed.

“As can be seen from the case materials, an agreement dated May 16, 1989 No. 91078 (Contract) was concluded between (the customer) and the Antonov State Enterprise (the main contractor) for the implementation of the Adept development project. The contractor must complete the work by November 25, 2012, but did not do this properly,” the court decision stated.

The reason for ignoring the clauses of the contract was that in 2015 the Ukrainian government announced the termination of military-technical cooperation with Moscow. The Antonov concern was withdrawn from the joint Ukrainian-Russian enterprise UAC-Antonov and became part of Ukroboronprom. At the same time, according to a representative of the aviation concern, curtailed cooperation with Russia led to the fact that the company did not produce a single aircraft in 2016.

In January 2016, the Ukrainian government decided to liquidate the Antonov concern, since all three of its enterprises - the Antonov state enterprise, the Kharkov Aviation Plant and the Kiev Civil Aviation Plant - were transferred to. Ukraine then explained that this decision regulated the legal aspects of Antonov’s transfer to Ukroboronprom, reports.

In February 2015, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine opened a criminal case against the former prime minister of the country on charges of illegally suspending state inspections; the ex-politician was arrested in absentia.

During the inspection conducted by investigators, it turned out that “Azarov, while serving as Prime Minister of Ukraine, illegally stopped in the fall of 2012 an inspection of the government interdepartmental group, which discovered significant violations of budget legislation in the activities of the Antonov State Enterprise.”

At the same time, the funds received as a result of the commercial use of Ruslan aircraft remained in the accounts of two foreign companies and a representative of the specified state enterprise and were used by them at their own discretion.” They stated that as a result, the state suffered damage on a particularly large scale - in the amount of over 37 million UAH (about $595 thousand).

In October 2014, another case was opened in Ukraine regarding the work of the enterprise; several senior executives of the concern came under investigation. According to investigators, top managers caused losses to the company amounting to 502 million hryvnia (about $38 million) for the period from January 2006 to May 2014.

An experimental design bureau under the leadership was created in 1946 at, and in 1952 moved to Kyiv.

The company was engaged in the development of passenger, transport and specialized aircraft, the most famous of which are the An-2 light aircraft, the An-24 passenger aircraft, and the cargo giants “Ruslan” and “Mriya”.

Antonov is one of the few enterprises in the world that implements the full cycle of creating a modern aircraft - from its development to serial production and providing comprehensive after-sales support. The concern includes a design bureau, laboratories, an experimental plant, and a testing complex.

The decision of the Russian President to return Anatoly Antonov to the Foreign Ministry after five years of work in the Ministry of Defense inevitably raises questions about the background of what is happening. It is seen not in some private or departmental processes or problems, but in a clear and direct message from the Kremlin to the outside world. And the fact that this happens just before the New Year adds symbolism to this personnel decision.

The end of the year was marked by a noticeable personnel change at the top of the Russian state system. Anatoly Antonov, who served as Deputy Minister of Defense since the early 2010s, joined his “native” department, becoming Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“If the personnel decision of five years ago strengthened the civilian and political element in the Ministry of Defense, now a strengthened military component is being introduced into the holy of holies of Russian foreign policy.”

Such personnel decisions are fertile ground for speculation and assumptions, especially when the background for them is large-scale events in the military-political sphere in the world.

At the same time, of course, we are not talking about a complete cessation of military cooperation, but rather about its reformatting in accordance with current realities. Nowadays, military and military-technical cooperation with countries that are not members of NATO - from China to Iran - is coming to the fore for Russia. When working with them, the purely military component plays a dominant role, but the importance of the political and diplomatic factor decreases.

In fact, the Kremlin is sending a clear signal to the world that its army no longer needs a senior diplomat in a military post.

Of course, an additional indicator in this regard will be the future of the position itself, left by Antonov, as well as his possible successor, if there is one. It is not yet clear whether it will be considered necessary to retain the post of deputy defense minister, who oversees the department’s foreign policy relations, and if so, whether a diplomat or a career military man will be appointed to it.

On the other hand, no less significant is Antonov’s new appointment at the Foreign Ministry. The facts of transfer to a similar position and even the introduction of another deputy minister clearly indicate that there are no complaints against the diplomat at his previous place of work, and the personnel decision is precisely of a political nature, regardless of his personality and professionalism.

In addition, the Foreign Ministry reported that in his new position Antonov will oversee “general issues of military-political security.” It also seems quite symbolic. Five years of work in the Ministry of Defense, of course, significantly expanded Antonov’s experience and connections in the military sphere.

In fact, we can say that if the personnel decision of five years ago strengthened the civilian and political element in the Ministry of Defense, now a strengthened military component is being introduced into the holy of holies of Russian foreign policy.

This looks like a clear signal of what the Kremlin expects and predicts in 2017 for world politics.

In Ukraine, under a plausible pretext, the world famous one is being liquidated, and this process reflects the essence of the Ukrainian path to Europe. The main guidelines on this path are antihistory, anticivilization, antiindustrialization. Let's focus on the latter.

The Ukrainian government has created a special commission that will deal with the final liquidation of the Antonov concern in connection with its transfer to Ukroboronprom. Within two months, the enterprise and related structures will be disbanded. It seems that this is not destruction, but restructuring, which should strengthen the Ukrainian aviation industry and integrate it into the world market.

There are plans to produce a new An-178 transport aircraft. The Ukrainian side proposed that the Americans produce a joint model of the An-77, which could occupy a niche between the Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft and the strategic Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. Kyiv also recommended to US President Donald Trump to use the Antonov as an aircraft. However, competing aircraft manufacturers are not needed in the West. The reality looks harsh.

Obviously, the painful transition of the Ukrainian aircraft industry under the roof of Ukroboronprom will not solve the problems.

And right is the dream that lied to them

Kyiv is full of illusions. In addition to Air Force One, it offers the United States space rocket engines (to replace Russian ones). However, after the explosion on the launch pad of the American Antares rocket with Ukrainian engines and a similar incident in the third minute of the flight of the American Falcon 9 rocket with a Ukrainian modification of the Soviet NK-33 engine, both the aerospace ideas of Kyiv and the Ukrainian defense industry as a whole.

This creativity was fully felt in the Chinese company Aerospace Industry Corporation of China (AICC). Immediately after the signing of the Cooperation Agreement on the An-225 Mriya program, the Ukrainian side denied the transfer of the rights of the aircraft type certificate holder to China. Why did they sign the papers? Anthology of delusions.

True, in June 2017, we did see in the sky the An-132D demonstrator aircraft, produced jointly with the Saudi company Taqnia Aeronautics. About Riyadh's strange interest in Ukrainian developments. Not surprisingly, Saudi Arabia holds the intellectual property rights and design drawings. The new aircraft has British propellers, American avionics, Canadian engines and much more from around the world. At the same time, experts believe that the An-132D demonstrator is not too different from the forty-year-old An-32. Probably its main advantage is the absence of Russian components.

Against this background, the failure of the An-148 program seems paradoxical - only four production aircraft have been produced in Ukraine over many years. Two of them were sold to North Korea, the rest are used in the interests of the top officials of Independence. Today it’s simply hard to believe that in 2010, more than 240 enterprises from 14 countries interacted under the An-148 program.

Joint work on the An-178 military transport aircraft also seemed promising (the cost ratio between Russia and Ukraine was 53% and 41%, respectively). The former head of the Antonov concern, Hero of Ukraine Dmitry Kiva, considered Russia to be the main strategic partner and estimated the Russian sales market at 590 An-148 units and 400 An-178 units until 2020. This is probably why the legendary aircraft designer found himself superfluous in the Ukrainian aircraft industry immediately after the 2014 coup in Kyiv. Since last year, Dmitry Kiva has been living and working in Azerbaijan.

Until recently, the Antonov concern planned to produce unmanned aerial vehicles ordered by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Will this task be accomplished under the roof of Ukroboronprom?

Siberian roots of "Ruslana"

Antonov has not received direct financial support from the state for many years of Ukrainian independence. As noted earlier, it survives due to repairs and modernizations and the work of the Antonov Airlines division. However, until the last days, the Antonov concern persistently sought to maintain the full cycle of design, production and after-sales support of modern aircraft (few countries in the world can boast of this). The enterprise united a design bureau, laboratories, an experimental plant, and a testing complex. And until 2014, in all respects it remained the best in the Ukrainian aviation industry.

In a word, a gigantic relic of the Soviet past, and even with the name of a Russian designer on board.

A year before the decision to liquidate, it became known: on the basis of the Antonov state enterprise, the Ukrainian state concern Ukroboronprom created within its structure a “truly European” aircraft manufacturing cluster, the Ukrainian Aircraft Corporation. Probably, the components of the current Ukrainian aviation industry will end up there - Antonov, Kharkov State Aviation Production Enterprise (KSAPP) and Plant 410 GA (Kiev Civil Aviation Plant). The future of complex instruments is in the inept or unselfish hands of the “children of the Maidan” The Ukrainian economy is up and running. Where – only Poroshenko knows“We are not only fully recovering, but filled with strength and energy,” the President of Ukraine told his fellow citizens. Fellow citizens were surprised. And the president was not surprised by this.

Still, it’s a pity that “Antonov” did not stay in Novosibirsk, where on May 31, 1946, an experimental design bureau was created at the aircraft plant under the leadership of Oleg Antonov. In 1952, the OKB was transferred to Kyiv, maintaining its specialization (military transport and passenger aircraft). It was a generous Siberian gift, which few people in Ukraine remember today.

Over the 70-year history of the enterprise, over 100 types of passenger, transport and specialized aircraft have been created. More than 22 thousand winged vehicles were built, including the world-famous cargo giants of the Soviet period "Ruslan" and "Mriya".

For some reason, the last lines resemble an epitaph (without a shadow of gloating). Farewell, "Antonov"!

The Nizhny Novgorod region sees off Roman Antonov. The former deputy governor for domestic policy is leaving for free today, February 14, without waiting for the presidential election. And this is already a local trend, given that Maria Kholkina left a similar position at the municipal level. Perhaps this is some kind of signal that on March 18 the electoral process will be built at a fundamentally different qualitative level. On the other hand, Antonov’s right-hand man, Roman Lyubarsky, was reappointed to the position of relevant minister, which may indicate that the retiree retains some influence. From a political point of view, Antonov’s departure played into the hands of the head of the region: Nikitin’s shares went up on the Governors’ Exchange. The only question that remains intriguing is: where will the former “keeper of the governor’s seal” be assigned? There is a high probability that he will become a State Duma deputy in the 129th district, from where Vladimir Panov recently moved to mayor of Nizhny Novgorod.

Master of Political Intrigue Roman Antonov began to prepare a place for himself back when Valeria Shantseva, feeling the passing era. There was only one option - “export”, to Moscow. But the first 100 days Gleba Nikitina They did not give him, and could not give him, the opportunity to go on a free voyage.

It's not just a matter of committing to a smooth transfer of power - it was necessary to do so in order to simultaneously serve the new boss and clear the way for himself to the capital. Such a project was the change of power in the regional center, where in fact it was. “Orphaned” district No. 129 is a site completely cleared of competitors’ starts. And it’s not just about the new mayor, there are no potential rivals there at all: ex-deputy Denis Voronenkov emigrated and was killed, and the favorite of any election race is still under house arrest, and it is unknown how this whole story will end for the leaders of the Socialist Revolutionaries.

Roman Antonov helped Vladimir Panov with great dedication

Therefore, since the new year, Roman Antonov began working with the heads of the districts included in this large single-mandate district. It is not without reason that his people were appointed to the highest leadership positions, one way or another influencing the elections: this is the Prioksky district, where today a native of the OZS was appointed acting Mikhail Shatilov, and Sovetsky, and Nizhny Novgorod. His last act in the rank of deputy head of the region was the change of power in the Kstovsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region, where the former head of the Prioksky district was appointed head - formally through a competition Vitaly Kovalev. The process of changing power in Kstovo was personally controlled by Antonov - not on the spot. And now, having his people in the district, at the by-elections in September he will be able to easily and painlessly “evacuate” from the Nizhny Novgorod region to Okhotny Ryad. Perhaps for this you will have to take a short “break” in the chair of the vice-rector of some university - for a beautiful biography on the voting form. Well, he shouldn’t be elected as an unemployed person?!

Gleb Nikitin, seeing off his deputy, noted that “this was our mutual decision, I wish him success in his future work.” And in a political sense, he only benefited from this resignation, receiving an increase in his ephemeral shares on the now fashionable “Governors Exchange”. Still, according to observers, Antonov was a public irritant, personifying the “party of war.” Nevertheless, a number of experts also find positive aspects of this uncompromisingness and assertiveness, which made it possible to restore order in the key municipalities of the region.

"With the appointment of the head of administration Viktor Nesterov It was possible to achieve stabilization of the situation in Dzerzhinsk, where a balance of power arose between the main groups of influence, which, at the same time, was under some control from the regional authorities. I clearly remember the moment when Antonov personally came to Dzerzhinsk to convince the Duma deputies to support the candidate from the region and everyone to focus on the development of the city,” recalled Alexander Egorov, director of the center for strategic initiatives of the Dzerzhinsk branch of RANEPA. “The long-term confrontation between the city and the region, right up to the dissolution of the city Duma, was in Kstovo. In 2017, the powers to manage the city were transferred to the district administration. Thus, the first steps were taken to correct the political situation. I believe that with the appointment Vitaly Kovalev The head of the administration has created all the conditions for the development of this territory. The conflict in Diveevo, where until recently the head of the local self-government and the head of the administration opposed each other, has been extinguished. As a result, both were dismissed, and the district is headed by a former employee of the Ministry of Internal Policy Dmitry Dreiband".

Of course, Antonov played his role in the fight against Oleg Sorokin. It is not without reason that journalists from the ex-mayor’s media resources still consider the outgoing deputy governor to be an official with a clearly negative political index.

Roman Antonov and Oleg Sorokin feuded with a smile

"Antonov also had a hand in it. This is, of course, a most serious achievement of both the new Nizhny Novgorod governor and the plenipotentiary Babich, and, of course, Roman Antonov. Now we see how putting things in order in the city has created all the conditions for the development of the regional center and the joint work of the regional and city authorities,” adds the political observer Sergey Anisimo V. – Of course, many were irritated by Antonov’s methods of work, rigidity and uncompromisingness in certain matters. We can argue for a long time whether certain steps of Antonov in the political field were meaningful, appropriate, or too harsh. But the work of the deputy governor for domestic policy, the political bloc as a whole, is, frankly speaking, not a job for purists. There is a clear focus on results, and a wide variety of political management tools are used to achieve it. Roman Antonov uses this toolkit to a high degree professionally. Therefore, I am sure that he will not be left without a job, and a specialized one at that.

Continues to monitor developments.