This is not the first time the Ministry of Defense has experienced an artificial information attack under a false pretext – Reznikov on the procurement scandal

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has denied information about the purchase of food for the military at inflated prices.

On Facebook, the minister said that he would personally present comprehensive information and documents to MPs at a meeting of the relevant committee with the participation of representatives of the NABU, DBR and SBU.

The minister noted that the Ministry of Defense does not purchase individual products, but purchases a comprehensive catering service. That is, the delivery of a certain set of products to military units, and in some cases, cooking.

– Last year, this amount was UAH 120 per serviceman per day. This year, the cost of providing meals per soldier per day is 145.8 UAH. Nominally, there was a 21.5% increase in the cost of the service. But this figure is even less than the inflation rate, which amounted to 26.6% over the year. Any housewife knows how prices for various types of products rose last year and what the dynamics were. The peculiarity of the Defense Ministry’s contracts is that they are concluded with service providers for a year in advance at a fixed price. That is, these are also risks that the business assumes,” Reznikov wrote.

The defense minister added that military personnel are fed on the basis of a product catalog that includes more than 400 items. Prices for the same products vary among suppliers. Just as prices in retail chains differ. Prices are set based on the analysis of special expert institutions, including the Institute of Forensic Expertise of the Ministry of Justice.

– For example, the range for potatoes is 7 to 36 hryvnias per kilogram, as they come in different varieties. This is also one of the products that experience significant seasonal price fluctuations. Currently, there is a lot of distorted information about prices in the media. Dzerkalo Tyzhnia itself cut out several items from its infographic a day and a half after it was published, which contained incorrect comparisons that have already received the most publicity. Unfortunately, this was done without explanation. Understanding of the incorrectness of other positions will also come. After all, incomparable things are being compared,” he emphasized.

The head of the Defense Ministry also commented on the abnormal price of eggs in the contract. According to Reznikov, this is “a common technical error made by the supplier. He indicated the price not for the pieces, but for the weight of eggs.”

According to Reznikov, the public leak was intended to undermine the credibility of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in the eyes of Ramstein.

He emphasized that the leak of the department’s documents would be considered a malfeasance.

– This is not the first time that the Ministry of Defense has experienced an artificial information attack under false pretenses. This one is very similar to last year’s, when we were dealing with a monopolist. Something similar happened in the fall, when a number of assets critical to defense capability were transferred to the Ministry. In the summer, we were attacked for no reason at all when rumors were spread about insufficient arms control. That is nothing new,” he summarized.

Earlier, the media disseminated information about the procurement of services for the catering of military personnel at inflated prices.