US consulting firm McKinsey & Co. reportedly worked on contracts for the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies while simultaneously providing services to Russian state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec, which makes some of the military hardware now being used in the Ukraine offensive, according to NBC News.
McKinsey’s work with Rostec was going on while the firm undertook sensitive national security projects for America’s Department of Defense and intelligence community, NBC reported on Saturday. The American consulting firm told the news network that its work with the Russian defense and aerospace giant didn’t relate directly to weapons systems.
The former Rostec relationship raises questions over potential conflicts of interest for a firm that advises various US government agencies, in some cases involving issues of national security, and many of the country’s leading corporations, according to NBC. McKinsey has previously attracted similar scrutiny over its work with state-owned companies in China.
“It’s really hard to understand how an American consulting firm… would want to be involved in sensitive areas of the Russian defense or intelligence or scientific establishment,” consultant Scott Blacklin, former head of the US Chamber of Commerce in Russia, told NBC. “And when you talk about Rostec, you’re talking about all of those mixtures.”