The executive editor of the American edition “Defense News” Jill Aitoro has released an interesting material on corruption in the defense sector of Ukraine. The article titled “Rocked by scandal: Can defense conglomerate Ukroboronprom regain some legitimacy?” is notable not only for the next repetition of the schemes and kickbacks, but because the consequences of this scandal will seriously affect the further relations between official Kyiv and Washington.
In addition, the former deputy general director of Ukroboronprom, Denis Gurak, humorously tells the American publication about the so-called cooperation with Russian smugglers, adding fuel to the fire into the feigned excuse of supporters of the smuggling of components from Russia for domestic manufacturers of military equipment:
‘It would be so stupid to think that Russian intelligence is not interested in destroying the military-industrial complex of Ukraine. In fact, this is their main goal. And it would be unreasonable to believe that Russian spare parts can be smuggled into the street without their knowledge and control”.
US Senate Foreign Policy Expert Daniel Vaidich and the CEO of Yorktown Solutions (the company that signed the audit contract for Ukroboronprom) also complained that the check came to naught:
“This situation (we are talking about the Gladkovsky scandal) harmed Poroshenko and likewise will harm Zelensky if he does not show his determination, also if he doesn’t demonstrate results in cleaning the defense sector from corruption”.
There is an another funny nuance. Despite the fact that Ukraine does not publish statistical information on the volume of commercial transactions in the defense sector, the Americans have already considered everything for us. Specialists from the US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration estimate the Ukrainian defense industry market at $ 2.09 billion (domestic production) and an additional $ 990 million from exports. At the same time, about 60 percent of the Ukrainian defense industry market falls on private companies.
In general, it seems that further US-Ukrainian military cooperation is under a big question. Ukraine is simply obliged to restore order in the military-industrial complex as soon as possible. As the author of the article noted: “It is necessary to restore legitimacy not only in Ukraine but also abroad”! And Defense News, by the way, is a respectable publication, which, moreover, is revered by representatives of the US military-political establishment.