The Ministry of Defence dismissed Oleksiy Petrov from "Spetstechnoexport"

The Ministry of Defence dismissed Oleksiy Petrov from "Spetstechnoexport"

The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine dismissed Oleksiy Petrov from the position of head of the state enterprise "Spetstechnoexport" following a series of scandals related to his activities.

This information was obtained from the state register and from statements by the Anti-Corruption Action Center (ANTAC).

On March 14, 2025, ANTAC published an article on "Ukrainska Pravda" revealing details about Petrov’s family, which owns the elite Fomich Chalet hotel in Bukovel. The article also discussed the multi-billion debts of "Spetstechnoexport" to the Ministry of Defence and the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA).

According to ANTAC’s estimates, the total indebtedness of the enterprise amounted to about 25 billion hryvnias, of which 12.2 billion was owed to the Ministry of Defence and the rest to the DPA.

According to the register, on March 24, Oleksandr Fedoryshyn became the acting director of "Spetstechnoexport." Notably, the Ministry of Defence delayed Petrov’s dismissal for more than six months despite ongoing scandals around the enterprise.

Executive Director of ANTAC, Darya Kalenyuk, emphasized that "Spetstechnoexport" was supposed to ensure the supply of weapons to the front line with these funds.

The scandals around "Spetstechnoexport" began in October 2024 when journalist Mykhaylo Tkach exposed corruption schemes in the enterprise’s activities. In particular, there were reports of overpayments of tens of millions of euros for weapons that were not delivered on time.

Due to inflated prices for ammunition, the budget could have lost more than 10 billion hryvnias in just ten contracts.

After the investigation, the Cabinet transferred "Spetstechnoexport" to the direct control of the Ministry of Defence and announced an audit of the enterprise. However, Petrov remained in his position until March 2025.

In February this year, the Ministry of Defence held a formal competition for the position of enterprise head, but no candidate was selected due to a lack of strategic vision for development.

The appointed acting director, Fedoryshyn, previously worked at the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) and held the position of deputy head of the SPFU during the leadership of Rustem Umyerov. After Umyerov moved to the Ministry of Defence, Fedoryshyn temporarily served as head of the SPFU.

Nevertheless, the situation remains uncertain. On March 31, Oleksiy Petrov submitted an annual declaration stating that he holds the position of first deputy director of "Spetstechnoexport."

This raised doubts about his complete dismissal.