Ukraine’s win over Russia is #1 task, but corruption [real & proved cases, not hunting/disinfo/hate campaings] must be brought into the light & eliminated. It would help to be sure that Ukraine doesn’t let to bring shadows on its reputation. It also would help defeat Russian IPSO threats.
After several pools among our readers, we decided to publish this article and will go in brining light on similar corruption cases.
“I didn’t comment on the resonant article of ZN (Zekkalo Nedeli – Ukrainian media outlet) on food abuses at the Defense Ministry, because I wanted the authorities to give an appropriate response. And it did: the Ministry of Defense said they intended to report to the parliamentary committee on defense, which means they will report to their own people, and, moreover, surely behind closed doors! Besides, the Defense Ministry, unambiguously accused of corruption, intends to ask the SBU to prosecute the journalists who disseminated information on that issue.
I trust Zerkalo Nedeli and the published materials, because during the years of independence, Zerkalo Nedeli’s reputation has been much cleaner than that of the Defense Ministry. I also know that in any army in the world there are people who want to make money on the army. And the biggest profit can be made exactly during the war, when a lot can be attributed to fighting or simply hidden behind a seal of secrecy.
The question is how the authorities respond to the disclosed abuses — punish those guilty of theft or look for those responsible for the leak. Alas, now I clearly see the second option. To this we can add the still uninvestigated accusation of the leadership of the Zaporizhzhia military administration of manipulation with humanitarian aid, and a murky story in the Dnipropetrovsk region with the allocation of large funds to a fitness instructor’s company for “road maintenance”. It’s what’s on the surface.
I know how everything works in our law enforcement agencies. When it comes to overpriced procurement schemes or the like, there is always a whole chain involved: heads of relevant departments and their proxies — a deputy head of an agency — a head of an agency. And in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the higher management is also aware (and not unselfishly!) That is, if it is a large-scale scheme, it is not confined to a particular ministry.
Some characters appear to imagine themselves the saviors of the Motherland. Not the heroes who are holding back the aggressor’s attacks near Bakhmut and in other sectors of the front, but the chair warmers who are shuffling papers around and making money on the resilience of Ukrainian soldiers and endurance of Ukrainian citizens!
I know that Minister Reznikov more than once has privately expressed his readiness to move to the Ministry of Justice — this ministry is closer to his profile. Obviously, he did not fully control all the processes in the defense department, but failed to get out before the scandal.
I have only one question: are those on Bankova really unable to understand that unpunished corruption deals during the war may ultimately bury a positive public opinion of all their real successes in repelling aggression? And then no political technological tricks with Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Oleksiy Arestovych, and Serhiy Prytula will save the current government from collapse after the victory?
We have four difficult months ahead of us. We need the full concentration of the entire society forces in order to survive and deliver a crushing blow to the under-empire. Corruption in time of war is worse and more dangerous in terms of consequences than spying for the aggressor.
Either the authorities immediately sober up and stop the unacceptable, or we have trouble that cannot be obscured by the brightest video messages.”
Alexandr Kochetkov
We would add, that there is the first reaction of the Ministry of Defence top officials.
Tags: russia ukraine war
