The fierce public debate in the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine around personnel appointments in the Defense Procurement Agency does not help the country either internally or externally. Therefore, the dispute must be quickly resolved, based on NATO recommendations on defense procurement, adopted at the Washington Summit last year.
This was stated by the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, Minister of Justice Olha Stefanishyna, who spoke with journalists during a working visit to Belgium on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
“Aggressive public communication around this does not help either internally or externally, no one will understand this here. Since I am responsible for Euro-Atlantic integration, we are communicating with the Ministry of Defense so that all such changes take place in accordance with NATO recommendations in the field of defense procurement, which were approved at the NATO summit in Washington,” the representative from the Ukrainian government noted.
She expressed confidence that by late February, the situation surrounding appointments in the Defense Procurement Agency will have been resolved. It is important to do this precisely at this time, since a special meeting of the NATO Committee is scheduled for late February, where its participants will consider Ukraine’s progress in the area.
“I am confident that the Ministry of Defense will be able to resolve all these public and non-public issues regarding the functioning of these bodies by the end of the month, since such developments have a negative impact,” the Deputy Prime Minister added.
She emphasized that NATO does not take sides with any of the parties to this conflict. There are key principles of defense procurement that Ukraine must adhere to, and at the same time, it is not of fundamental importance for partners who exactly heads the relevant Agency.
“The key is that there is trust in Ukraine. The main requirement (from partners) is that the system must function, obligations must be fulfilled, there must be two institutions, and there must be leaders in these institutions,” Stefanishyna said.
As reported, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov filed a motion with the Cabinet of Ministers on January 24 to dismiss his deputy Dmytro Klimenkov, stating he would not extend the contract with the current head of the Defense Procurement Agency, Maryna Bezrukova, due to “failure” in her work.
At the same time, the head of the defense ministry announced the appointment of Arsen Zhumadilov, the Director General of the MoD procurement agency “State Operator of the Rear”, as head of the Defense Procurement Agency.
On January 22, the Supervisory Board of the Defense Procurement Agency under the Ministry of Defense decided to extend the contract with the current director, Maryna Bezrukova.
Source: Aggressive rhetoric does not help country - Vice PM on situation around Defense Procurement Agency
