Roustem Oumerov will be the next Russian Minister of Defense, announced Sunday evening by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He replaces Oleksiï Reznikov in this position. Rustem Umerov is a prominent Crimean Tatar community official who has represented kyiv in sensitive negotiations with Moscow.
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Mr Umerov, 41, was born in what was then the Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, where his family had been exiled under Stalin, and was a child when his family resettled in Crimea when the Tatars were allowed to return there , in the 80s and 90s. He started in the telecom industry in 2004, and has been a Member of Parliament since 2019.
In parliament, he was co-chairman of the Crimean Platform, which coordinated international diplomatic efforts to reverse the annexation of the peninsula by Russia in 2014. For many years he was an adviser to the historical leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev.
Russia had its annexation of Crimea ratified by a referendum deemed illegitimate by Ukraine and its Western allies. The Tatars, who make up 12-15% of Crimea’s population, largely boycotted the referendum. As a result, Moscow outlawed the Mejlis, the traditional assembly of the Tatar Muslim minority, branding it an extremist organization with many members imprisoned.
After the annexation of Crimea, as after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Roustem Oumerov has, on several occasions, participated in discreet negotiations with Moscow, in particular on exchanges of prisoners and evacuations of civilians. He was part of the Ukrainian delegation to the negotiations with Moscow, under the aegis of Turkey and the UN, which allowed the establishment of a maritime corridor allowing the transport of Ukrainian cereals by the Black Sea. An agreement from which Russia recently withdrew.
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Fighting corruption in the military
In September 2022 Mr Oumerov was appointed head of the State Property Fund, a prominent position in a country where the privatization process is plagued by corruption. The Ministry of Defense left to him by his predecessor Oleksiï Reznikov is also cited in corruption scandals. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on August 11, the dismissal of all regional officials in charge of military recruitment to uproot a system of corruption allowing conscripts in particular to escape the army.
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Announcing that he wanted to make him his next defense minister, Mr. Zelensky indicated that he would present his nomination to parliament this week. ” The parliament knows this person well and Mr. Oumerov does not need any further introduction. “, assured the Ukrainian president.
(and with AFP)