President Zelenskiy Replaces Minister of Defense to Ease Tensions

UKRAINE - In Brief 04 Sep 2023 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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The news about the replacement of Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov dominated the headlines yesterday. This serves as an excellent example of how the reputation of a corrupt country can have negative repercussions at the most inopportune times. Since the beginning of 2023, Oleksiy Reznikov has been under pressure from anti-corruption activists and investigative journalists. They have raised concerns that some food procurements by the Ministry of Defense may have involved excessively high prices. These allegations found fertile ground in a society that lives under permanent stress. The Ministry of Defense offered explanations that seemed reasonable, but in the court of public opinion, the 'crime' was already considered proven. This perception was further fueled by Western media, which readily amplified the accusations made by anti-corruption activists. However, the issue with overpayments for food supplies was just the tip of the iceberg. Accusations from anti-corruption activists continued to pile up, with new cases being presented to the public that allegedly showed corruption in military procurement is rampant. While the Ministry of Defense did offer explanations, suggesting that the activists may have misinterpreted some information, public opinion had already reached its own conclusions. Once again, Western media amplified these allegations. The growing irritation seemingly prompted President Zelenskiy to make a political decision and replace Reznikov, even though the accusations from anti-corruption activists have yet to be proven. In reality, the change is unlikely to impact the Ministry of Defense's performance, as the candidate for the post, Rustem Umerov, i...