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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
SE “Defense Procurement Agency” of the Ministry of Defense 27 August, following the results of the tender, contracted LLC “Friisberg and Partners International” for a service to search for and select candidates for the positions of independent members of the AOZ Supervisory Board for 948 thousand UAH.
This is reported in “Prozorro.”
Within three months the firm must develop a candidate search strategy, define the methodology and criteria for their assessment, collect applicants’ documents — applications, résumés, motivation letters, education documents, certificates, etc. Based on the analysis of documents, interviews, and candidate checks, AOZ should receive a ranked list of six candidates for interviews.
They are seeking two independent members of the Supervisory Board in the areas of: corporate and contract law, procurement, and audit and finance.
Both candidates must hold a master’s or specialist degree, be fluent in Ukrainian and English, have at least 10 years of professional experience and at least three years of managerial experience in international or leading Ukrainian companies. Also, a candidate cannot hold a public or elected office and must be prepared to serve on the supervisory board at least 50 working days per year.
Additional professional requirements are set for both profiles. For the corporate law and procurement expert — at least three years in senior executive positions in large companies or the public sector, as well as experience implementing public reforms, corporate governance, support for procurement programs, etc.
The audit and finance expert must have managerial experience in this field over the past five years, including managing public or donor funds, using financial instruments, risk management, and international financial reporting standards. The full list of candidate requirements is on the Ministry of Defense website.
Recall that the AOZ Supervisory Board began work 17 December 2024. It consists of three independent members and two state representatives. In January 2025 a public conflict occurred with the suspension of Maryna Bezrukova from the position of head of AOZ and the recall of the state representatives on the board who voted for her. Currently on the Supervisory Board are Stanislav Haider, Taras Chmut, and Lukasz Stolyarski.
The tender for recruitment services was held on the third attempt; the two previous procurements did not take place. “Friisberg” participated in one of them but submitted a proposal with errors and was rejected because it did not eliminate all discrepancies in the documents. In particular, it did not confirm the absence of tax debt and did not confirm experience in successfully selecting top managers, so its proposal was rejected.
In the current tender “Friisberg” was already the sole participant. Therefore it received the contract without competition.
The firm had to confirm experience with two contracts over the past 10 years, at least one of which had to be for the selection of top managers for a company with a staff of more than 200 people. “Friisberg” submitted two contracts with JSC “Ukrtatnafta” and LLC “Kremenchuk CHPP” for the selection of supervisory board members, both in 2024.
The Kyiv-based LLC “Friisberg and Partners International” was registered in 2008 as LLC “BI.EM.” The director and beneficiary of the company is Olena Maisyura. The firm is part of the international network Friisberg & Partners International, which has offices in Europe and the Americas.
In 2022 Maisyura worked in the Office of the President of Ukraine as head of the organizational activity department. This is stated on Friisberg’s website.
Maisyura also led the NGO “Full Life XXI” and has a sole proprietor registration. One of the contact phone numbers associated with her sole proprietorship is marked in databases as “associated” with a number of companies. Among them are JSC “Law Firm ‘Reznikov, Vlasenko & Partners’” (formerly “Pravis”), LLC “Magisters,” the law firm “Magistr & Partners C.I.S.,” and others.
According to the information Olena Maisyura lists on LinkedIn, in 2004–2008 she worked as HR director at the company Magisters (Medzhisters).
At that time among the founders of “Magisters” were former Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel Yevhen Korniichuk, lawyers Andrew Mac and Serhii Svyryba.
Serhii Svyryba, according to Ukrayinska Pravda, was a classmate of Andrii Yermak, under whose leadership Maisyura worked in the Office of the President. Svyryba was also among those who helped Yermak be released from a detention center on bail. Media report that Serhii Svyryba provided 6,5 million UAH.
Andrew Mac is a long-time acquaintance of Yermak. At his recommendation he became an external advisor to Volodymyr Zelensky. Mac told this to Babel.
Besides the connection to Oleksii Reznikov, Olena Maisyura’s social media includes photos with the current Head of the Office of the President Kyrylo Budanov and President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Prior to the contract with AOZ, “Friisberg and Partners International” received contracts from JSC “Ukrgazvydobuvannia” for engineering support, consulting services, professional training and upskilling; the firm also worked with PJSC “Centrenergo” in 2021, JSC “Ukrnafta” in 2023, and the Entrepreneurship Development Fund in 2025.
Since 2018 the firm has received contracts totaling 27,68 million UAH.
Oksana Tsokur, “Nashi Hroshi”
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