At the beginning of October, Rustem Umerov announced the transfer of the state special importer Spetstechnoexport from the Main Intelligence Directorate to the Ministry of Defense. Subsequently, a corresponding decision was made by the Cabinet of Ministers.
Government passions around one of the largest state-owned special importers unfolded in parallel with a media scandal - an investigation by Ukrayinska Pravda journalist Mikhail Tkach “Buys GUR. How Ukraine overpays companies tens of millions of euros for weapons that it receives late.”
Artem Sytnik, deputy director for security of the Defense Procurement Agency, also took part in the attack on Spetstechnoexport.
On the air of the “E Pitannya” program, the former head of NABU explained how the Defense Procurement Agency breaks schemes, works without intermediaries and fights corruption in the arms market. Sytnik even reported that the director of the Agency, Marina Bezrukova, filed a statement against Spetstekhnoexport with the NABU about forgery of documents.
But, as it turned out, the coordinated media and administrative offensive against the importer of power steering in early October was a screen to cover up the adventurous transactions of the agency itself.
Under the pretext of refusing Ukrainian special importers and stories about direct contracts with weapons manufacturers, the Defense Procurement Agency quickly began concluding agreements worth tens of billions of hryvnias with dubious intermediary companies in Eastern Europe.
The contract for 2.5 billion hryvnia (55 million euros) was concluded with the Polish company Defender, which in fact... is an individual entrepreneur Dobromir Rymarczyk. It is interesting that Mr. Rymarczyk does not own any assets, and the income of his individual entrepreneur is 4,000 zlotys (about 900 euros). Marina Bezrukova concluded a contract with this Polish sole proprietor for the supply of Romanian-made mines, which Rymarczyk must supply in equal quantities during 2025. How and by what means the Polish sole proprietor guarantees supplies is unknown.
The Agency enters into contracts with the Slovak company HEMI Plus for 8 billion hryvnia (almost 180 million euros). This intermediary (not the manufacturer) must supply tank and artillery shells to Ukraine. What is surprising is not so much the authorized capital of this enterprise of 6 thousand euros or the numerous references to the trade in baby diapers, but also the photo of the company’s registration address in Google Maps:
But the rating of “strange” contracts is topped by the Agency’s agreement on Romanian-made mines. By the way, the Polish sole proprietor Defender, with the Romanian intermediary company SC Romanian Allied International Defense, should supply mines from the same manufacturer for 64 million euros (2.8 billion hryvnia). 77% of this enterprise was recently acquired by the American Charles Douglas Anderson, and the Ukrainian Denis Stepanenko is named as the general director. And the company has a website, and the owners are American, and the authorized capital, as the “Agency” likes, is 200 euros.
But there is no license to trade in military goods. In Romania, this is handled by ANCEX, the export control department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This means that the Romanian government will simply not issue a permit to export mines to Ukraine, but will begin an investigation into how a Romanian unlicensed company signs arms contracts.
All this looks like an attempt to lure out Ukrainian state funds and not supply the much-needed 120 mm mines to the front. The question arises: intentionally or unknowingly, Marina Bezrukova and Artem Sytnik ignored the lack of a license and signed a contract worth several billion hryvnia?
All of the above contracts are not accidental - the reasons for their conclusion are either corrupt interests, or the successful work of the Russian special services, or criminal negligence, which will lead to another disruption in the supply of weapons to the front.
