Company linked to former MP is now Ukraine's largest private arms supplier – NYT

A company linked to former MP Serhiy Pashinsky, who is suspected of corruption, has become Ukraine’s largest private arms supplier since the beginning of the war, a New York Times investigation says.

Source: The New York Times

Quote: "In the early weeks of the war in Ukraine, with the invading Russian Army bearing down on Kyiv, the Ukrainian government needed weapons, and quickly. So its Ministry of Defense made a desperate and unlikely phone call.

On the other end of the line was Serhiy Pashinsky, a chain-smoking former lawmaker who had overseen military spending for years. Now, he was living in virtual political exile at his country estate, sidelined by President Volodymyr Zelensky and his promise to root out corruption.

But Mr Pashinsky had ties to the arms business and, perhaps as important, he knew how to operate in a scrum, undaunted by red tape. In government, that had made him the source of scandal. During wartime, it made him invaluable.

He answered the call."

Details: The newspaper reports that sales by Pashinsky's Ukrainian Armoured Technology company totalled over US$350 million last year, compared to US$2.8 million the year before the war.

The company is engaged in the resale of weapons.

The investigation was published at a time when the Biden administration is requesting additional funding for Ukraine.

The journalists say that because of the need to keep combat areas supplied with weapons, the authorities "have resurrected figures from Ukraine’s rough-and-tumble past and undone, at least temporarily, years of anticorruption policies".

According to one official, European and US officials are reluctant to discuss Mr Pashinsky for fear of playing into the Russian narrative that the Ukrainian government is hopelessly corrupt and should be replaced.

Privately, they say the emergence of figures like Mr Pashinsky is one of the reasons why the US and UK governments buy ammunition for Ukraine rather than just transferring money.

According to the NYT, Pashinsky is now under investigation again, and law enforcement officers are looking into his companies.

Meanwhile, the former MP himself denies having any interest in the arms business.

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