Umerov: Defense Ministry “squeezing out” people preaching politicized procurement practices

The Ministry of Defense is getting rid of staffers with “old” practices while launching separate agencies for procuring lethal and non-lethal material.

Defense Minister Rustem Umerov spoke of this with Ukraine’s public broadcaster, Ukrinform reports.

"We're squeezing out all these people with old practices. And you're going to hear a lot about what we're doing, you're going to hear plenty of accusations against us because we're squeezing these people out," he said.

According to the minister, the Procurement Policy Department was created to develop the appropriate policy and launch separate agencies for lethal and non-lethal procurement.

"There is a transitional period there, and there will be questions about how personnel changes or changes in leadership and command are taking place. As for what we’ve inherited, there’s a lot of questions. And we are addressing these questions in terms of procurement. The main thing is that we are not afraid to take responsibility, look at NATO standards, and engage our American and European partners to help us," Umerov said.

Now, if Ukraine receives international technical assistance, it is clear how and from whom it comes.

"We also proposed that we would be very open to a certain outline, so that they would also review our direct contracts, with whom they were concluded, their amount, and so on. That’s for them to be able to rebuild internal risk management, compliance, and procedures. Unfortunately, procurement was constantly politicized. There are a lot of old practices that do not correspond to the current time so this must change. That is, we have done a lot, but not enough. And the most risky thing is that the transition period is not over yet," said the minister.

He also noted that the Ministry of Defense underwent personnel changes as almost all deputy ministers have been replaced except one. He is responsible for the military component, not procurement.

"We have done the reboot at the top level. And now it is the responsibility of my new deputies to reboot the entire vertical. That is, we have already done the horizontal reboot. Now in the coming weeks and months, their task will be to reboot these verticals. And they have already started to do it. I believe they aer doing it too slowly. This should be fast, clear, and uncompromising," Umerov emphasized.

As reported, the defense minister called on French defense companies to jointly produce weapons in Ukraine, stating that the country is ready to purchase weapons directly from French manufacturers.