“There is a change at the head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. This Sunday, September 3, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the current Minister Oleksiï Reznikov, in office for more than 500 days, would soon be replaced .
Although his name has been circulating for several days, the Ukrainian president has confirmed the identity of the person he wishes to see succeed at the head of the country’s defense: the former deputy Roustem Oumerov.
If his appointment will have to be validated by parliament this week, the choice of this eminent leader of the Crimean Tatar community is an important symbol, while the Ukrainian peninsula has been under Russian control since the annexation of 2014.
The face of a minority oppressed by Russia
Aged 41, Roustem Oumerov is indeed from the Tatar people, a Muslim minority notably present in Crimea, where it constitutes 12 to 15% of the population. A community whose history is partly embodied in the past of the future head of Ukrainian defense.
Rustem Umerov was born in what was then the Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, where his family had been exiled during the reign of dictator Joseph Stalin. In the 80s and 90s, he was still a child when the Tatars were allowed to resettle in Crimea.
Subsequently, the man worked in the telecoms industry in 2004, before entering politics and becoming a deputy, from 2019 to 2022. A position he used to defend the interests of his people, being appointed co-chair of the Crimean Platform in parliament. He also worked for many years alongside the historical leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev.
Although he is a member of an opposition party to the government of Volodymyr Zelensky, “Golos”, Roustem Oumerov has nevertheless become closer to the president since the beginning of the Russian invasion, accompanying “the first lady of the country in a overseas tour in March”, note the daily The world.
The Ukrainian head of state therefore seems to want to name both a trusted figure and the face of Russian oppression. After the annexation of Crimea by military force in 2014, Russia had legitimized its invasion by a referendum, largely boycotted by the Tatars. As a result, Moscow had outlawed the “Majlis”, the traditional assembly of this Muslim minority, imprisoning several of its members.
A negotiator from Ukraine to Moscow
With this appointment, kyiv is also choosing a seasoned diplomat on this thorny issue of the war in Ukraine. Although the former deputy has no military experience “apart from his participation since 2020 in the working group of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, responsible for developing a strategy for the Russian disoccupation of Crimea”, says The worldhe has several times played the negotiators for his country.
First, as co-chairman of the Crimean Platform of the Ukrainian parliament, which coordinated international diplomatic efforts to reverse the 2014 annexation of the peninsula. But above all, Rustem Oumerov has repeatedly participated in talks with Moscow. This was particularly the case with prisoner exchanges and the evacuation of civilians, but also in the context of the negotiations that led to the creation of a maritime corridor to transport Ukrainian cereals through the Black Sea.
An agreement from which Russia, however, withdrew in mid-July, believing that Ukraine and its Western allies were not allowing enough Russian exports to pass. The upcoming appointment of Roustem Oumerov could therefore mark kyiv’s desire to put all its chances on its side to get this agreement back on track.
A figure with more integrity than its predecessor
Above all, the pedigree of this appreciated Ukrainian figure contrasts with that of his predecessor, the current Minister of Defense Oleksiï Reznikov. In September 2022, Roustem Oumerov was appointed head of the State Property Fund, the country’s main privatization fund. The politician has since been “praised in Ukraine” for his stewardship, says the British press agency Reuterswhile this body “had been involved in corruption scandals before he took office”.
Volodymyr Zelensky therefore chooses a man with an incorruptible reputation to succeed Oleksiï Reznikov’s tainted mandate. Under his leadership, the Ministry of Defense has indeed been cited in at least two corruption scandals.
He is notably accused of having signed a contract in the fall of 2022 with a Turkish company for the supply of winter uniforms, the price of which tripled after the signing. The minister had for his part affirmed at the end of August that the prices invoiced corresponded to those of the manufacturers in Turkey.
Appointing Roustem Oumerov would therefore amount for the Ukrainian president to mark a break with the problematic past of the ministry, while Volodymyr Zelensky has promised to strengthen the fight against corruption in the country. A symbolic response to the conditions set by the European Union for Ukraine to maintain its status as a candidate for membership.