Before Fedorov’s resignation, businessmen Gorokhovsky and Konotopsky had suggested that Telegram channels add news stories about them to their block lists
New details are emerging in connection with Mykhailo Fedorov’s resignation as defense minister and the IT millionaires close to him.
UA.News has learned from its own sources that businessmen Oleg Gorokhovsky and Alexander Konotopsky likely offered various Ukrainian Telegram channels $10,000 to place news stories about them on a blacklist. This may indicate that businessmen close to Fedorov were already aware last week that he would be removed from office.
The entrepreneurs may have acted preemptively, fearing that, amid intensifying political struggles and Fedorov’s departure from the Ministry of Defense, details of journalistic investigations into their joint projects in the fields of digitalization or defense tech could be leaked to the media.
Previously, reports had already appeared in the media about possible agreements and the defense minister’s involvement in contracts and personnel appointments that benefited businesses likely linked to his partners. In particular, the reports mentioned possible closed-door tenders for the procurement of drones for the Ministry of Defense and the diversion of profits through offshore accounts.
It should be noted that Oleg Gorokhovsky, co-founder of monobank, publicly supported Mykhailo Fedorov following his resignation as minister, calling him “the best minister in the history of Ukraine.”
Gorokhovsky was one of the business consultants for the Ministry of Digital Transformation’s team under Fedorov’s leadership during the early stages of developing the “Diya” app. According to him, he personally reached out to Fedorov to offer his assistance and advised the team on customer experience and digital services. monobank also supported a number of government digital initiatives, integrations, and services.
Oleksandr Konotopskyi, founder and chairman of the supervisory board of Ajax Systems, was one of the most active participants in the military technology ecosystem, which is coordinated by the state through the Brave1 cluster. The company is involved in the development of security technologies and defense solutions, and Mykhailo Fedorov was one of the main coordinators of this effort.
Previously, Ukrainian online media outlets reported that, thanks to Fedorov, Konotopsky was likely able to earn billions of hryvnias on defense contracts through “Strim Techno” LLC, and that the former director of that same company, Yevhen Gvozdarov, became the head of the state-owned enterprise “Ukrspetsexport,” which also purchases drones from “Strim Techno.”
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Mykhailo Fedorov as Defense Minister: Why They Want to Fire Him and How Effective He Was
