Excessive bureaucracy in the Ministry of Defense hindered even basic decisions – source

The overly centralized bureaucracy in the Ministry of Defense slowed down the adoption of many, even basic decisions, as the head of the department Rustem Umerov allegedly avoided involvement in day-to-day work, said for text LIGA.net former Deputy Defense Minister.

The processes at the Defense Ministry took much longer than necessary, in part because Umerov avoided getting involved in routine work in every way possible, said one former deputy minister.

According to him, this greatly slowed down the adoption of many, even elementary decisions in an overly centralized bureaucracy, when "cubic meters of various papers" pass through the minister's office.

"You are waiting for the opportunity to sign a completely technical decision on the redistribution of funds with the minister. You run around Kyiv trying to catch him. You arrive at one address, and he tells you that he has already left for another. So it takes you a week to resolve one issue," the interlocutor said LIGA.net.

He said that eventually Umerov's deputies developed a mechanism to immediately contact the current acting prime minister Denys Shmyhal in case of urgent needs.

LIGA.net was unable to confirm this information from other sources. However, three interlocutors from senior positions in the MoD and related structures of the Security and Defense Forces reported that many security issues are indeed resolved with Shmyhal's direct "participation and assistance."

Umerov did not respond to the request LIGA.net for a comment for this text. At the same time, in his report for two years of work, the official calls one of his achievements digitalization of the Defense Forces, i.e. reduction of paperwork.

• Five interviewees LIGA.net from various structures of the Security and Defense Forces stated that Shmyhal would be the easiest to understand the work of the Defense Ministry. At the same time, the head of the public anti-corruption council at the Defense Ministry, Hudymenko, said, if the official does not set a goal to change the agency, the problems will only get worse.
• on July 16, the Rada dismissed Shmyhal, thus dismissing the entire Cabinet. Until a new government is appointed, the ministers will have the status of acting ministers. The President has already supported Shmyhal's candidacy for the head of the Defense Ministry, and Umerov may become ambassador to the United States.