Leonid Kuchma
Recently, the ICTV channel aired an episode of the program "Insider" with the resonant title "Who Destroyed the Ukrainian Army?" The episode, it must be said, was engaging and insightful—with vivid commentary, terrifying statistics, and hidden camera footage. The lion's share of the broadcast was devoted to the generals, who, in fact, were the ones blamed for the army's collapse.
Such a release is simply necessary in our difficult wartime. The country must know its "heroes"! But here's the problem. While exposing the corrupt generals, the journalists forgot to mention who gave birth to this mafia in uniform. Well, let's fill this gap.
After the collapse of the USSR, the fledgling Ukrainian Armed Forces, despite numerous problems, were considered among the most powerful in the world. But throughout the 1990s, our army essentially ceased to be a fighting force. And, as time has shown, the main reason for this was not a simple lack of funds, but the wholesale embezzlement of funds. The main heroes of this process were the "valiant" generals.
Could this elite caste of officers have stolen so shamelessly? They could! They had enormous appetites. And the worst part is, there were a lot of generals. A lot! Especially during the reign of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. And here we come to the most interesting part...
According to expert estimates, under Kuchma, the number of Ukrainian generals and admirals doubled – even as the Ukrainian Armed Forces themselves were rapidly declining. The number of army generals alone increased by six bayonets! Not to mention new colonel generals, lieutenant generals, and major generals… On average, Kuchma promoted 40-45 “various” generals each year. Only in 1999 did he break with tradition – signing 76 orders at once! Presidential elections were held, after all. And the army had to vote “correctly”! As a result, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which was rapidly losing its combat potential, stormed to first place in Europe in terms of the number of generals.
And what officers they were! Take, for example, Major General Volodymyr Mulyava. At the dawn of Kuchma's presidency, he was the assistant to the Minister of Defense for relations with public organizations, parties, and movements. He could certainly have commanded a tank brigade or a navy... After all, he rose to the rank of sergeant in the USSR Armed Forces. Then he graduated from the economics department of Kyiv University. But most importantly, he became Hetman of the Ukrainian Cossacks. And what kind of Hetman is he without general's epaulettes?! And they appeared in just two years!
Or another example: Mykhailo Yezhel, whom Kuchma promoted to the rank of admiral and Yanukovych later kept as Defense Minister for two years. The Prosecutor General's Office recently opened over 50 criminal cases against him for theft and the destruction of military logistics. Where do you think the suspect is now? On the run, like so many former ones? Absolutely not! He's Ukraine's ambassador to the Republic of Belarus.
And how did these defenders of the Motherland live? Do you think they lived like Prince Svyatoslav or Suvorov – in the same hut with the soldiers? No! To command armies, they must be everywhere at once. Otherwise, why would they have multiple apartments in different Ukrainian cities?! For example, Lieutenant General Hryhoriy Pedchenko served under Kuchma, receiving four (four!) apartments at once. In 2005, he was dismissed from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. But five years later, President Yanukovych reinstated Pedchenko – first as Deputy Minister of Defense, then promoted him to Chief of the General Staff. And he rewarded him for his faithful service with… another apartment!
Another of Kuchma's favorites, Colonel General Mykola Tsitsyursky, former Deputy Chief of the General Staff, lagged behind his colleague. He received four apartments from the state – in Kyiv, Odesa, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Bila Tserkva. His relatives are not offended.
At one time, the former Minister of Defense Anatoly Gritsenko He wrote on his blog: "I knew about the machinations of colonel generals, who obtained several apartments, transferred them to their children and relatives, then privatized them and put them back on the waiting list as homeless, then obtained new apartments again in their own names and in the names of new relatives, and so on—the same cycle... Therefore, after my appointment as minister in 2005, I decided to review every apartment case on the entire Ministry of Defense housing waiting list (approximately 50,000 people). The review concluded with approximately 13,500 people being removed from the waiting list as those who were not entitled to receive housing."
That's right, of course. But it would be good to take away some of the apartments too.
However, one can also understand the generals' attitude. Most of them received their stars not for military exploits or thanks, but for considerable bribes. It was under Kuchma, they say, that the so-called "general's fee" was introduced—up to $500 for shoulder straps. Discounts and additional payments depended on the place of service.
You'll agree, it was a considerable sum. And apartments alone weren't enough to recoup it at the time. So, the general had to be "repossessed" and his military equipment sold—from foot wraps to tanks. And that's no exaggeration. Recently, an inspection was conducted of the Ukroboronprom corporation, which supplied and sold weapons. It turned out that, somehow, 189 (!) armored combat vehicles had miraculously disappeared from the state-owned company's hangars. Another nearly 500 were found to be "inoperable." They had simply been stripped bare—the most expensive mechanisms and components stripped, leaving only the shells behind.
Experts won't even attempt to estimate how many billions were stolen from the Ukrainian Armed Forces. But everyone unanimously agrees: the "murder" of our army began under President Kuchma. And this must be taken into account when we now discuss the country's defense.
But could ICTV, owned by oligarch Viktor Pinchuk, Kuchma's son-in-law, have reported this? The answer is obvious to us all.
Sergey Kolyada, Columnist
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