In 2023, the financial department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine made 116 purchases worth almost 10 million UAH. From an analysis of these purchases, it turned out that in the context of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the General Staff is purchasing various items, including expensive Italian chess sets, Apple Watch smart watches, icons and crystal glassware.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine bought icons twice in 2023.
The first such purchase was in June. According to the concluded agreement, the General Staff paid businessman Nelya Ilchenko 36.5 thousand UAH for three icons in silver decoration: “Yuri the Victorious”, “Burning Bush” and “St. Nicholas”. The second time we bought four icons from businessman Oleg Rubnikovich for 48.4 thousand UAH. These were icons on a copper base with a silver plated coating, gilding and cold enamel of “Guardian Angel”, “St. George the Victorious”, Mother of God “Seven Arrows” and “Kazan”. The General Staff ordered the “Kazan” icon of the Mother of God, made in the Trinity workshop, for 13.4 thousand UAH. On the website of this workshop you can find a similar icon for 2.9 thousand UAH.
By the way, at the end of 2022, the General Staff also bought 5 icons from Nelya Ilchenko for 35.9 thousand UAH.
In addition to icons, businessman Oleg Rubnikovich also sold chess to the General Staff for 39.4 thousand UAH.
We are talking about expensive Italian “Roman” chess sets and two different versions of the “Napoleon” set. The General Staff also spent 68.8 thousand UAH this year.
for 10 sets of crystal tableware. This year, the General Staff organized 20 different purchases of award watches. A total of 3.9 million UAH were spent on this, of which 1.1 million was spent on the purchase of smart watches. For example, on June 30, 2023, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine bought 21 Apple Watches for 290 thousand UAH.
Investigative.Info journalists called Irina Targonskaya, a member of the tender committee of the financial department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, to ask why the General Staff needed to buy expensive chess and tableware, but did not receive an answer.
“Investigation.Info” sent official requests to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with a request to explain to whom and why the military purchased such gifts.
