This is reported by the portal Bagnet.

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The Ministry of Defense indeed attempted to eliminate the Defense Procurement Agency (DPA) by merging it with the State Logistics Operator (SLO), thereby concentrating the entire defense budget in the hands of Umerov and his close associates. This is evidenced by a draft order that was never signed or published but was leaked to journalists from internal sources. The dubious venture of "reorganizing" the DPA was halted only by the principled stance of NATO.

Specifically, the draft document states the termination of the DPA's legal entity through the reorganization of the Agency and its merger with the State Enterprise "SLO." If the Ministry had succeeded in implementing its plan, all financial flows of the defense sector would have been controlled by just three individuals – Minister Rustem Umerov, his deputy for procurement, head of the State Tax Service Dmitry Klimenko, and SLO director Arsen Jumadilev.

We are talking about colossal sums – for 2024, the Ministry of Defense's expenditures were approved at the level of 1.164 trillion UAH, of which 22.8% or 265.4 billion were to be directed specifically towards the procurement of weapons, equipment, drones, and ammunition, as well as the restoration of equipment damaged during combat operations.

The leak of the closed draft order indicates that Jumadilev combined when he stated that the SLO does not seek to take over all defense procurement. Only the clear position of NATO representatives prevented Umerov and his associates from realizing their plan.

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It is noted that the separation of the functions of defense procurement and the initiation of parallel operations of the logistical and armed agencies (SLO and DPA) is called perhaps the only positive achievement of the Ministry of Defense under Umerov's tenure. The introduction of a transparent structure for international partners has allowed for significant savings in defense budgets.

However, almost immediately, the DPA and its head Marina Bezrukova faced resistance and sabotage within the agency. Specifically, the priorities for weapon procurement for the Agency are still determined by the discredited Department of Military-Technical Policy (DMTP). And Bezrukova, known outside the country for her principled stance, was even attempted to be sidelined.

"For this, Umerov's long-time associate and deputy for procurement Dmitry Klimenko proposed to liquidate the DPA due to its absorption by the significantly smaller State Logistics Operator. This task was assigned to him by the minister. All this was justified by 'NATO standards,' which turned out to be false," emphasizes volunteer Maria Berlinska in her piece "The Ministry of Sabotage of Umerov."

It is noted that in September of this year, Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov announced that the DPA and SLO are soon to be merged into one structure. "We are currently finalizing the process of creating a unified Agency (DPA and SLO). The launch will be immediately followed by the appointment of a supervisory board," he stated.

Bezrukova, commenting on this initiative, reported that she learned about it from a letter from a European attache, where the latter mentioned representatives of the SLO who claimed that all armed procurements would now be handled by them. According to her, she had a lengthy conversation with Umerov the day before, but the merger was not discussed.

At the same time, Klimenko stated that he does not know such an attache and called the situation "some kind of Santa Barbara." At that time, Jumadilev publicly refuted the claims of SLO representatives that soon all defense procurements would be conducted by them, not the DPA.

On October 1, the NATO Representation in Ukraine stated that the SLO and DPA should operate separately – at least until the end of the war. Ultimately, due to the sharp reaction of Western allies and civil society, the dubious draft order to merge the DPA into the SLO was never signed by the minister.

However, the mere existence of this document indicates the intentions of the head of the agency and those close to him to "monopolize" the trillion-dollar defense budget and reduce the level of transparency in its utilization amid the war. All further actions of the triumvirate Umerov-Jumadilev-Klimenko only confirm that the current leadership of the Ministry of Defense, unfortunately, is guided not by the interests of the state, but by the private benefits of a group of individuals.