And the system itself is unlikely to change quickly if it is not publicly overseen. Therefore, without publicity, it is impossible to build confidence in the effectiveness of the use of taxpayers’ funds. Since in 2022 all procurement transactions of the Ministry of Defense were hidden from the public, it was only a matter of time when the first corruption scandal would emerge. Many people still play by the old rules - when the fate of contracts was decided by the Ministry of Defense not by the principle of competition between participants and the best price, but by agreements behind closed doors, lobbying, and orders from above. It would be good if during the war, corruption disappeared from the defense departments altogether, but it is difficult to believe that this is possible. For several years, the Ministry of Defense has been accused of lobbying for the procurement of lubricants from the company of MP Ponomariov.Īnd this list of dubious procurement transactions is very long.In 2018, during the inspection, 180 tons of low-quality canned food purchased for the army were found.For example, in 2021, the SBI served the advisor to the Minister of Defense with charges of lobbying the interests of one of the food suppliers and accused him of causing damage to the state for UAH 720 mln.These procurement transactions raised many questions before 2022 as well. From generators and sleeping bags to trucks. The structures of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine spend tens of billions on procurement of military clothing, footwear, food, fuel, and hundreds of different household products and systems. But what about everything else? Procurement not related to weapons Therefore, the reform of publicity in the field of weapon procurement should probably be postponed until the end of the war. Of course, in the conditions of a large-scale war, most procurement of weapons and military equipment must be concealed. After all, this can create a certain tactical advantage and allow accumulating reserves that the enemy does not expect. They know that their money is spent efficiently. This contributes to forming the trust of taxpayers. In addition, the results of defense procurement audits are public. You can even see information about the number and price of taxpayer-funded rounds in the US defense budget reports. These are the missiles that the Armed Forces of Ukraine use to destroy ammunition depots and enemy headquarters. For example, we can see that in 2023, the United States plans to purchase 4,764 GMLRS missiles for HIMARS complexes at a price of USD 165,600 apiece.
Unlike the Ukrainian SDO, anyone can freely go to the page of the US defense budget and see what weapons the Pentagon purchases: how many and at what price. It is essential to keep the characteristics of the weapon secret, not its quantity.
The United States has already realized that the approach of complete secrecy of defense procurement makes no sense. There are separate specialized publications that publish information about the number of weapons in each country, the latest developments and trends in technological development. Moreover, the information about the stages of development and adoption of this complex is public. The fact is that in the modern world, there is no point in concealing the very fact of the development, production, or use of certain weapons. Either way, this information becomes public.įor example, it was no secret that Ukraine was developing the Neptune anti-ship system. You could probably agree that secrecy is important in this category of procurement, but in fact this is not always the case. Any information about weapons-related procurement was considered sensitive.
The state defense order (SDO) has always been classified.
Procurement of weapons and military equipment in Ukraine has traditionally been a closely guarded secret. Let’s start with the most secret procurement. The DOZORRO project of Transparency International Ukraine has found out what the Ministry of Defense is buying, and whether this procurement is really secret. Now, the Minister of Defense is talking about the creation of Military Prozorro for the procurement of the agency, which should maintain “certain restrictions,” but ensure public confidence. The recent scandal over the prices for food procurement for military units has raised many pressing questions about the risks of secrecy of defense contracts.
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