• 02/26/2025

Head of Ukrainian Parliament Anti-Corruption Committee calls for resignation of defence minister

Pravda Ukraine

Anastasiia Radina, Head of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy, asserted that Defence Minister Rustem Umierov should resign.

Source: Anastasiia Radina on Facebook

Details: She commented on the scandal between the Ministry of Defence and the Defence Procurement Agency.

Quote from Radina: “I believe that such actions destroy the defence procurement reform and mean hands-on interference in procurement processes.

It does not matter who will be on the new Supervisory Board or who will continue to manage the agencies – the minister has clearly shown that these people can be shown the door [fired] at any time with just one signature on the document.

A minister who violates the law; who prolongs unfulfilled arms contracts by his decisions; whose ministry, as of November 2024, the internal department of the State Department of Military Trade and Industry, which conducts arms contracts in parallel with the Defence Agency, has not ensured the implementation of more than half of the contracts (concluded in 2022-2023!); who cannot simplify the bureaucracy of contract approval and destroys the confidence of a country at war in the Ministry of Defence – must also submit his resignation.”

Background:

  • Bezrukova became the head of the Defence Procurement Agency in January 2024. Her contract expires at the end of the week.
  • In a column for Ukrainska Pravda summing up the DPA’s work in 2024, Bezrukova said the supervisory board – comprising independent members Kateryna Kuznetsova, Lukasz Stoliarski and Patrick Auroy, and state representatives Taras Chmut and Yurii Dzhyhyr – had started working in December.
  • Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Centre, said that in September 2024, Umierov had planned to dismiss Bezrukova and appoint Holos (Voice) party member Oleksandra Ustinova to the position.
  • Umierov said that Arsen Zhumadilov, the head of the Ukrainian State Logistics Operator, would be appointed as the director of the DPA.
  • Zhumadilov said he agreed to take over the second company “in this difficult time”.
  • Bezrukova announced that she will continue to fulfill her duties.

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https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/01/25/7495251/