The bankruptcy procedure of JSC AvtoKrAZ (Kremenchuk, Poltava region) could be completed by the end of this year, which will remove the negative impact of this legal position of the company on the defense procurement process, Deputy Prime Minister for Strategic Industries Oleh Urusky has told Interfax-Ukraine.

"The bankruptcy of JSC AvtoKrAZ is a response measure to the threats of its illegal seizure. As far as I know, by the end of this year, all processes related to this procedure must be completed. And this is important, because, and I have repeatedly emphasized this, the current legal situation at the enterprise have a negative impact on the defense procurement process. I hope this issue will soon be removed from the agenda by shareholders and AvtoKrAZ will function normally," Urusky said.

He also expressed the hope that the procurement of products for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and law enforcement agencies will not be complicated by the sale of a pool of loans from insolvent Bank Finance and Credit and Delta Bank with a pledge of the enterprises of the KRAZ group of the financial company Fintact for UAH 269 million by the Deposit Guarantee Fund.

"For internal and external customers, the main thing is high-quality products that are delivered to consumers in a timely manner, and for the enterprise – workload and the possibility of development. As for me, it is important that the country with many years of experience and real powerful potential for the production of trucks, which samples are known throughout the world, did not lose its technological capabilities, but developed them, improving its position in the market. And the owner must be deeply aware of this," the minister said.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that he had a negative attitude to the idea of nationalizing AvtoKrAZ, which was the idea of Mayor of Kremenchuk Vitaliy Maletsky in 2020, and called this idea an extreme measure, which is inappropriate in this particular case.

At the same time, Urusky did not rule out the possibility of the enterprises of the KRAZ group joining new holdings that will be formed on the basis of Ukroboronprom.

"What form it will take is another question. The main idea pursued by the Ministry of Strategic Industries in the proposed reform is to create a business environment where enterprises could freely buy/sell shares of established holding companies in the defense and aerospace spheres. That is, shares of JSC AvtoKrAZ, can be bought or, on the contrary, the enterprise itself will become a shareholder of any holding," he said.

Referring to the issue of the volume of products that the state could buy from AvtoKrAZ, Urusky said that this volume is determined by state customers – the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Guard and the State Border Guard Service.

"However, during my stay with the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran in May 2021 at the enterprise, this issue was discussed. According to the management of AvtoKrAZ, in order for it to work with profit, it is necessary to have an order of about 1,000 vehicles per year. And to break even this is about 500 vehicles," the Deputy Prime Minister said.