Defence Minister Rustem Umerov has decided to dismiss his deputy, Dmytro Klimenkov. He announced that he would submit a resolution to the government, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
The minister also decided not to extend the contract with the head of the Defence Procurement Agency, Maryna Bezrukova, whose candidacy was approved by the supervisory board. Umerov believes that it was Klimenkov and Bezrukova who ‘failed’ to provide the frontline with all the necessary supplies in a timely and complete manner.
‘The only criterion that the Ministry of Defence sets for the Defence Procurement Agency is to provide the frontline with all the necessary weapons in a timely manner and in full. Unfortunately, over the past six months, instead of timely supply of ammunition to the army, we have received political games, leaked contracts, leaked information (law enforcement will definitely check these facts), PR inaction and failure to fulfil the KPI by a subordinate enterprise of the Ministry of Defence. For some reason, arms procurement, which should be closed during martial law and a full-scale war with Russia, has turned into an Amazon, where every Internet user can see in real time who is buying what, in what quantities and from which manufacturers. And our defenders on the frontline have not felt the scale of these purchases, which would be at least commensurate with the PR in the media,’ the minister commented.
In addition to the dismissal of Bezrukova and Klimenkov, Umerov decided to recall two state representatives from the supervisory board. These representatives were Umerov's former deputy, Yuriy Dzhyhyr, and the head of the Come Back Alive Foundation, Taras Chmut.
‘This will become a precedent in the history of state corporate governance when two independent representatives of the Supervisory Board supported the position of the state, while the state-authorised representative of the state's interests ignored the recommendations of the governing body,’ the minister said, announcing the board's relaunch in the near future.
Bezrukova will be replaced by Arsen Zhumadilov, who currently heads the State Logistics Operator. According to the minister, Zhumadilov has done a good job, unlike Bezrukova.
Context
Today, the supervisory board of the Defence Procurement Agency announced that it had signed an additional agreement to the contract with the current director, Maryna Bezrukova. The contract was supposed to be for another year. SB Chairman Yuriy Dzhyhyr said that ‘in times of war, it is very important to maintain continuity in the work of the Defence Procurement Agency, as this directly affects the stability of supplies to the Armed Forces and systemic steps to reform the defence procurement system. Therefore, guided by the exclusive rights of the Supervisory Board to change the terms of the CEO's contract, which are provided for by both the Law and the current version of the Defence Procurement Agency Charter, an additional agreement was signed to extend the contract of the current CEO for 1 year.’
The supervisory board agreed to extend Bezrukova's contract last week. However, the minister did not approve it. Tetyana Nikolayenko, a journalist and member of the public anti-corruption council at the Ministry of Defence, said that the ministry had not approved it. At the same time, she pointed out that the supervisory board has the authority to elect the head of the DPA.
In an interview with UP in January, Bezrukova said that her relationship with Umerov had deteriorated due to the defective mines. According to her, she signed a contract for the purchase of these mines in her first weeks in office. She asserted that she ‘had no chance of not doing so’. In the summer, when it became apparent that the mines would not be made in time, Klimenkov asked the defence ministry to extend the delivery time, but it refused.
Back in October, Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said in an interview with lb.ua that he was going to merge two procurement agencies - the Defence Procurement Agency and the State Logistics Operator. The head of the State Logistics Operator, Arsen Zhumadilov, is to become the head of the merged entity. ‘We are now finalising the process of establishing a joint agency (Defence Procurement Agency and State Logistics Operator). We will immediately appoint a supervisory board,’ he said in September.
Commenting on the possible merger in a conversation with UP, Bezrukova said that on 16 September she spent several hours discussing work processes with Umerov, and he did not say a word about the merger. Shortly afterwards, she received a letter from a European attaché who told her about a visit from representatives of the State Logistics Operator, who ‘said that they would be in charge of all arms procurement’. She sent the letter to Klimenkov, and ‘he said he didn't know any attaché and it was all some kind of Santa Barbara’. However, other people began to tell her about the association.
Bezrukova asked Umerov what was going on, and he invited her to a meeting with Klimenkov. ‘Dima said that it had been decided that arms procurement would be transferred to the State Logistics Operator, and I was invited to join the supervisory board because I was a ‘good strategist’. Umerov asked Bezrukova what she thought of this, and she said it was a very bad idea because of the risk of stopping supplies and disrupting previous agreements. ‘Then I asked why we should do it, and Dmytro said it was a NATO requirement,’ Maryna added.
‘The minister said that we should discuss everything together and not move until we agree on everything. And we would talk after he returned from the US. I absolutely agreed with that,’ she added.
On 1 October, Umerov said that the procurement system was being reformed, and on the same day, the NATO mission to Ukraine noted that the State Logistics Operator and the Defence Procurement Agency should be kept separate, at least for the duration of the war, Evropeyska Pravda wrote. ‘After today's statement by Defence Minister Umerov, we confirm our understanding that the two agencies will be separated,’ the mission said.
The supervisory boards, whose appointment was a requirement of international partners, were established on 11 October.
What are the Defence Procurement Agency and the State Logistics Operator?
In 2023, to increase the transparency of procurement for the army, the Ministry of Defence created two specialised agencies: The State Logistics Operator, which is responsible for all non-weapons supplies (food for the army, uniforms, fuel and lubricants), and the Defence Procurement Agency, which is responsible for weapons procurement. The former was headed by Arsen Zhumadilov, who previously ran the Army Resource Supply Agency, and the latter by Maryna Bezrukova, who had experience in setting up procurement processes at Ukrenergo.