The Ukrainian government has to pay debts to the Russian Defense Ministry for the breaking of an agreement in 1996 on supplies of construction materials worth $450 million, the former head of military budget and funding of the Defense Ministry of Russia Georgy Oleynik told reporters on October 26.
"Yulia Tymoshenko, who headed the United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU) in 1996 and initiated the agreement, broke the agreement on supplies of construction materials worth $450 million to the Russian Defense Ministry in exchange for Russian gas," Oleynik said.
According to him, Russian Defense Minister Igor Rodionov, representatives of the Russian Finance Ministry, Gazprom and UESU and other participants signed the intergovernmental agreement 14 years ago.
In 1996 the Ukrainian side delivered construction materials worth $120.3 million to the Russian Defense Ministry but later refused to fulfill its obligations under the agreement. In 2004 Ukraine issued treasury bills worth $405.3 million to the Defense Ministry. After five years, Shevchenkivsky Court in Kyiv annulled the bills.
"It is obvious now that the UESU did not even intend to fulfill its obligations, and Tymoshenko acted dishonestly," Oleynik said.
Russia’s Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office opened a criminal case against the officers of the central department for material resources of the Defense Ministry of Russia and against Tymoshenko. She was accused of bribing the officers of the center. Later, the case was closed due to expiry of periods of limitation. According Oleynik, he only executed the orders of the Finance Ministry and the Defense Ministry on transferring assets to the UESU, and as a result, he was the only one who was put behind bars.
He also said that he intended to strive for the revision of this case by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, but so far his appeals have got no further than the Military Collegium, which refuses to revise the case.
"Each participant of this ‘deal of the century’ should be punished," he said.
