Ukraine’s parliament on Tuesday approved the resignation of Defense Minister Oleski Reznikov, announced on Sunday by President Volodimir Zelensky, who appointed former deputy and chairman of the State Property Fund, Rustem Umerov, in his place.
The vote resulted in 327 votes in favor – out of 450 seats – revealed Yaroslav Zhelezniak, deputy from the centrist Holos (Voice) party.
Through the Telegram platform, the same deputy claimed that the session to confirm Umerov as Ukraine’s new defense minister will take place on Wednesday.
After the vote, elected members of the Rada (Ukrainian parliament) gave a standing ovation to Reznikov, who was present at the session, according to footage released by the Kiev press.
A year and a half after the start of the Russian invasion, Reznikov, who has led the defense portfolio since November 2021, stressed on Monday after making his resignation official that it was “an honor” to “serve Ukraine” in the “hardest part of the modern history of the country.
A day earlier, Zelensky said that although Reznikov had been in a “all-out war” at the Defense Ministry for more than 550 days, the Ministry “needed new approaches and different forms of interaction with the military and with the entire army.” society”. .
In proposing the name of Rustem Umerov to lead the defense portfolio, the Ukrainian president emphasized that the Rada knew the representative well and that “Mr. Umerov did not need any additional presentations”, expressing his confidence in parliament’s approval.
The change from Reznikov, a 57-year-old lawyer, to Umerov, a 41-year-old former deputy and Crimean Tatar, as head of the defense ministry comes amid the Ukrainian counter-offensive launched against Russian forces in June. and after the announcement of several cases of corruption involving the armed forces, related to overbilling of food products for the army and bribes in recruiting centres.
These matters led Zelensky to promote a series of firings in the chain of command and public office holders.
Rustem Umerov is a prominent leader of the Crimean Tatar community who has represented Kiev in sensitive relations with Moscow.
Born in what was then the Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan, where the family was exiled during the Stalin regime, he was still a child when the Tatars were admitted in the 1980s and 1990s and settled in Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia. in 2014.
Both after the annexation of Crimea and after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022, Umerov participated several times in discreet negotiations with Moscow, namely on prisoner exchanges and civilian evacuation operations.
He was part of the Ukrainian delegation for the negotiations with Moscow, which, with the support of Turkey and the UN, enabled the establishment of a maritime corridor for the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.
The fact that he belonged to the Tatar Muslim group enabled Umerov to establish very close contacts with the Arab world, especially in Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Graduated in economics and finance and founder of an information technology company, he was a deputy for the centrist, liberal Europeanist Holos Party (opposition) between 2019 and 2022, until he was appointed chairman of the State Property Fund, a highly visible position in a country where the privatization process is undermined by corruption.
Source: DN
