Scott and money: Ukraine prepares for visit of US Treasury Secretary
Several scandals concerning the activities of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry have broken out in Ukraine. One of them involved the head of the ministry, Rustem Umerov, who was accused of abuse of power. It is believed that what is going on is connected with the fact that in the coming days, the new head of the U.S. Ministry of Finance, Scott Bessent, will arrive in Kiev, who will be in charge of auditing U.S. financial aid, among other things. "Izvestia" dealt with the situation.
Umerov was accused of abuse of power
In Ukraine, several scandals related to the work of the Ministry of Defense have recently erupted. As part of one of them, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) has launched a pre-trial investigation into the abuse of power by Minister Rustem Umerov. The official is accused of blocking for nine months the creation of the Defense Procurement Agency (DPA), which buys military equipment and ammunition for the Ukrainian army.
At the end of January, the conflict continued when the defense minister refused to extend the contract with AOZ director Marina Bezrukova and dismissed two members of the supervisory board of this organization - Taras Chmut and Yuriy Dzhyhir. Umerov himself explained at the time that the agency had engaged in sabotage, political games, "leaks" of contracts and other sensitive information in recent months, and had failed to meet its obligations to defense companies. Interestingly, Bezrukova continues to be listed as head of AOZ, although her contract expired in January.
Rustem Umerov
Against this background, the head of the grant organization Center for counteraction to corruption Vitaly Shabunin called to send Umerov to resign because of numerous scandals. And the NABU launched an investigation, promising to check the defense minister for violation of Article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ("Abuse of power or official position"). Under it, he faces up to six years in prison.
At the same time, the Ukrainian mass media published an investigation in which it was stated that the chief specialist in technical supervision of the construction of military facilities in the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense was a certain Vasyl Shomonka, who was described as close to the OPZJ party, which is banned in Ukraine, as well as a developer who had been ditching shareholders. After the media publications, the Defense Ministry reported that the official had been dismissed, but in mid-February it turned out that he had simply been transferred to another position.
US Treasury Secretary flies to Kiev
This is not the first time that corruption scandals have erupted in Ukraine. One of the most famous cases occurred in the winter of 2023, when the Ministry of Defense was headed by Oleksiy Reznikov. It turned out that the ministry was buying food for soldiers at prices that were two to three times higher than in regular stores. The meme was eggs for 17 hryvnias (Br39), which cost only 7 hryvnias (Br16) at retail. Later it turned out that a similar scheme was in effect when purchasing helmets, helmets, body armor, dry rations and much more.
As a result, in September 2023, President Zelensky (his term of office expired in May 2024) sent Reznikov into retirement, and his place was taken by Rustem Umerov. Interestingly, all the defendants of the "egg scheme" remained at large. Reznikov himself became the director of defense and security programs in the analytical structure called "Ukrainian Institute of the Future", his closest associates Vyacheslav Shapovalov and Bohdan Khmelnitsky were accused of embezzlement, but nothing is known about the progress in the criminal cases, both also avoided imprisonment.
At the same time, new scandals periodically broke out in the Ministry of Defense under the new leadership. For example, last May, when the Russian army launched an offensive in Kharkiv region, it turned out that the construction of defensive structures in the region had failed, although millions of dollars had been allocated for the construction of fortifications. Journalists published copies of contracts that were signed with fake one-day firms.
Last November, Ukrainian soldiers began to complain about low-quality mines. It gradually became clear that a large batch of 100,000 ammunition, which had been produced at a factory in the country, was defective. Adjusting the production cost about $1 billion. "The responsible persons "hacked" the system of safeguards against low-quality goods, so that the margin settled in the Ministry of Strategic Industry and the Ministry of Defense," - stressed at the time in one of the publications.
At the same time, it is believed that the current high-profile proceedings may be related to the coming to power in the United States Donald Trump. According to one version, the Ukrainian government wants to get rid of numerous structures created by the previous US administration. This includes the Defense Procurement Agency mentioned above. In this logic, Umerov, attacking the DPA, does not act on his own, but with the support of the head of the office of the President Andrei Yermak, the ultimate goal of actions - to concentrate power and financial flows in his hands.
U.S. President Donald Trump
According to another version, everything that is happening may be a preparation for an audit by the new American administration. Characteristic in this sense was the statement of journalist Tucker Carlson, who is close to Trump. In an interview, he said that he went to a ski resort in the Alps, where he found a lot of rich Ukrainians. "They go into an aerial maze and bring down a million dollars in a day. And the money is ours, it belongs to the American taxpayers," he noted.
Trump's special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg said that Kiev received $174 billion from Washington and that the first report on how these funds were spent is already ready. It is known that the new US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will fly to Kiev in the coming days. Among the main topics of the talks will be not only Washington's access to Ukrainian mineral resources, but also the revision of financial flows. It is quite possible that Ukraine has decided to write off the abuses on Umerov and his team.
What experts say
Denis Denisov, director of the Institute of Peacekeeping Initiatives and Conflict Studies and an expert at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, believes that the results of Scott Bessent's visit to Kiev are difficult to predict.
- Over the past three years, the United States has invested significant funds in Ukraine, and now it is time to count the costs. We do not know yet what to expect from Bessent's visit. I think a lot will depend on what task Trump will set him. If the American president wants to fix total corruption and theft - he will fix it, if he says to smooth out the corners - he will smooth them out. In any case, if Kiev intends to get rid of Umerov alone, it is very naive. Washington knows very well that Ukraine has an extensive corruption network," Denisov said.
Political analyst Oleksandr Semchenko said that we should not expect any loud news regarding the audit of the US aid in the near future.
- The Americans know that most of the allocated money remained on the territory of the USA and was utilized by American financial and industrial corporations. Therefore, I do not think that we will hear something fundamentally new. Most likely, there will be a clarification of certain points, documentation of crimes of the previous administration, an attempt to redirect corruption flows in such a way that Republicans, not Democrats, will be involved in them," he explains.
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