Media: Ukraine signs contract with General Electric on diesel locomotives which may be produced by Russian company
Ukraine recently signed a $1 billion agreement with the American company General Electric on the joint production of diesel locomotives for Ukrainian Railways, report journalists from the investigative program Groshi (Money).
“Firstly, a similar locomotive model for Kazakhstan, for example, costs 2 million, for Ukraine – 4 million. And the most surprising aspect of this story is that by purchasing these locomotives, our country could well be adding to the budget of the Russian Federation,” the story reads.
It came out as early as 2016 that General Electric would produce its locomotives for Ukraine at its factory in Kazakhstan, which is jointly held by General Electric and CJSC Transmashholding, which is owned by the Russian billionaire Andrei Bokarev. However, Transmashholding has been placed under sanctions by Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, and Bokarev is under White House sanctions. General Electric has given its assurance, however, that it will send Ukraine locomotives produced not in Kazakhstan, but in a factory in Pennsylvania.
“Experts doubt the origin of the diesel locomotives. If the locomotives really come from the Kazakhstan factory, of which half the shares belong to the Russian company Transmashholding, this will mean that half of the overpayment for the almost $250 million contract will go to Russians headed by Bokarev, who, incidentally, has recently been called Putin’s new favorite,” the journalists observe.