Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov in an interview with Babel has suggested that the head of the Anti-Corruption Center Vitalii Shabunin can personally avenge his transfer from the Ministry of Defense back to the Territorial Defense, where he serves in absentia.
Journalists asked Reznikov to comment on the story about his resignation and its cancellation. The Minister replied that he considered the main reason for his demonopolization of the army's power system.
"When I came to this position and began to deal with basic things, I found out that for three years in a row the army was fed by one company. It is very dangerous, it could go bankrupt, it could be bought by the Russians, or something else. The first task I set is demonopolization. And this was not easy, there were attempts to resist - from political to semi-gangster. But we succeeded, and fed the army in 2022. Initially, there were five companies, and now there are eight. There were many dissatisfied, and the start was just somewhere from there, and then various beneficiaries picked up," Reznikov explained.
Further, the Minister suggested that Vitalii Shabunin has a personal dislike for him, for trying to hide in the structure of the Ministry of Defense during the war, but he was taken back to the Territorial Defense.
'I'm not Mona Lisa and I can't be liked by everyone. There are people I call "maggots." Which against the background of the political anti-corruption career wake up and fall asleep with my last name," the Defense Minister said," Do you hint at Vitalii Shabunin?" the journalist asked.
"At one soldier of the Territorial Defense Forces, a driver. Who in some strange way invented a business trip to the Ministry of Defense and took refuge in the MoD Innovation Center, where he continued his career of a fighter. When this was found out, he was sent back to the Territorial Defense - to serve. This is some revenge of him to me personally, he made a post on Facebook, where he says goodbye to his brothers and sisters, because he is in a heavy boiler, but in fact in a warm and safe place," Reznikov replied.
Babel addressed Shabunin. According to him, on February 25, 2022, he really entered the Territorial Defense of Kyiv. At the end of the Kyiv operation, he issued a business trip to the Center for Innovations of the Ministry of Defense. Shabunin claims that the business trip was canceled after a call by then Deputy Minister Serhii Haiduk to the head of the Innovation Center.
Currently, Shabunin continues to serve in the 207th Battalion of the 241 Brigade of the Territorial Defense, but is not physically in the battalion. He is officially a shooter.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on January 21, the Ukrainian publication Mirror of the Week published an allegedly agreement by the Ministry of Defense for catering services for military personnel in units in the territory of six regions of Ukraine.
The documents shown by the publication allegedly say that the value of the transaction is more than UAH 13 billion, and the prices of products in it are allegedly inflated several times.
It is also alleged that the agreement of the Ministry of Defense allegedly concluded with the company Aktyv Company with a authorized capital of UAH 1,000 and a revoked VAT payer certificate.
On January 22, the Ministry of Defense reacted to the publication in the media of material stating that the agency entered into an agreement on the organization of food for the military and several times inflated the prices of food.
On February 5, the head of the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada, David Arakhamia, said that Reznikov would be transferred to the post of Minister for Strategic Industries to strengthen military-industrial cooperation, the head of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov will head the Ministry of Defense. But on February 6, Arakhamia announced that personnel changes in the field of defense were being postponed.
Reznikov later told the media that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy decided to keep him in office.
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