Media: Ukrainian President bought weapons for Ukrainian army with his own company funds
The Roshen Corporation financed the production of 100 sniper rifles, which in August, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko gave to the third regiment of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
"Petro Poroshenko and his company provided sniper rifles and other weapons to the Ukrainian army," the Presidential administration's response to Ukrainska Pravda says.
In particular, the weapons’ transfer was a result of a tripartite agreement between the manufacturer, the owner, and the Ministry of Defense. The Roshen Corporation paid all taxes.
In August 2017, Poroshenko visited the third regiment of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kropyvnytsky. At that time, presidential adviser, Yuriy Biryukov, stated that the President was the anonymous patron that had transferred 100 sniper rifles to the Special Forces.
Later, the media reported that Poroshenko spent about 500 million UAH ($18.918 mln.) of his personal funds to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The People's Deputy from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, Volodymyr Ariev, has explained that the money "from the President" to the Armed Forces of Ukraine can come either from the company, or from the Poroshenko Fund.
The Poroshenko Fund, reported expenditures of 700 million UAH ($26.4852 mln.) during 2014-2016. However, they did not specify from where these funds were obtained.