THE MOOR MAY GO...

Last week Andriy Kukin was dismissed from the post of general director of the Ukrspetseksport State Company, which handles Ukraine’s arms exports. His successor, Valery Malev, was previously Minister of Industrial Policy and later a presidential aide.

Kukin chaired Ukrspetseksport from the day the company was established on October 9, 1996, and until recently felt secure in the CEO’s chair. After his company unified three state structures that traded arms on behalf of Ukraine, arms exports more than doubled. Last year they reached $600 million. This year at least $800 million is predicted.

The trouble started when the government issued a decree, placing Ukrspetseksport directly under control of the Prime Minister. Previously the Deputy Prime Minister controlled it. Attention to Ukrspetseksport at the current stage of political development in Ukraine is great. The Prime Minister will be able to control the money received from arms exports. He will also be able to influence the banking sphere related to Ukrspetseksport activity. In view of the coming presidential elections, such opportunities look quite attractive. But gaining control over a company does not mean you need Kukin. “Andry Kukin started playing according to his own rules,” one person connected to arms export told me, refusing further comment.

We can assume that SBU colonel Andriy Kukin did not want to limit the Ukrspetseksport monopoly, and thus the military industry complex generals do not like him. We can also assume that there was six months of behind the scenes wrangling before Ukrspetseksport stepped aside and gave major arms producers direct access to the international arms market. The Ministry for Industrial Policy was one of the main supporters of such a step. Consider that Valery Malev, new Ukrspetseksport general director, is the former minister, and it becomes clear who came out on top in this one.