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The Defense Procurement Agency will continue its work under the leadership of Bezrukova, despite Umerovʼs decision

Author:
Olha Bereziuk
Date:

The state enterprise "Defense Procurement Agency" has decided to continue working under the leadership of Marina Bezrukova, despite the decision of Defense Minister Rustem Umerov not to extend her contract.

This is stated in the official statement of the DPA.

They stated that only the supervisory board has the authority to extend or terminate the current contract — this is in accordance with both the legislation and the latest version of the agencyʼs charter.

And the announcement of the alleged new head of the DPA was called a direct manifestation of pressure on the supervisory board and an attempt to replace independent corporate governance with a "manual regime".

Regarding the results of work in 2024, the DPA says that they were able to achieve significant progress in concluding direct contracts, reducing prices for critical ammunition, and increasing supply volumes.

What preceded

On January 20, the Supervisory Board of the Agency submitted a recommendation to Defense Minister Rustem Umerov to extend the contract of the current director of the Agency, Marina Bezrukova, for one year.

On January 23, the supervisory board concluded an additional agreement to extend Bezrukovaʼs contract. However, the very next day, Umerov announced the dismissal of his deputy Dmitry Klimenkov, and a change in the leadership of the Defense Procurement Agency.

Umerov noted that the results of the arms procurement were unsatisfactory, so the system needed to be changed. Instead of Bezrukova, the agency was to be headed by Arsen Zhumadilov, who currently heads the State Logistics Operator.

The Ministry of Defense also recalled two state representatives from the supervisory board — the director of the "Return Alive" foundation, Taras Chmut, and former Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Yuriy Dzyhyry.

The Anti-Corruption Center criticized Umerovʼs decision not to extend the contract with Bezrukova. The Executive Director of the Anti-Corruption Center, Darya Kalenyuk, previously explained that the Supervisory Board has the legal right to extend the contract with the Director of the Defense Procurement Agency without the consent of the Ministry of Defense.

Back on January 7, the Anti-Corruption Center wrote that Umerov was exceeding his powers regarding the DPE and SLO when he changed the charters of the departments.

In an interview with UP, Marina Bezrukova stated that her relations with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov "began to deteriorate" due to the incident with low-quality 120-mm mines.

She said that she signed a contract for the supply of these mines in the first weeks of her tenure

Bezrukova headed the Defense Procurement Agency in January 2024.
and “had no chance of not doing it.” In the summer, when it became clear that the plant could not produce the mines on time, according to Bezrukova, Umerov’s deputy Dmitry Klimenkov asked DPA to extend the delivery terms under the contract. Bezrukova says she refused.

“We managed to get the money back for the disrupted projectile supply program, but we lost time,” she said.