For the first time in Ukraine’s history, a representative of the Crimean Tatars became Minister of Defense. In this post, I want to draw attention to what may be the key to Rustem Umierov’s success.
Briefly about his early life and career:
He lived in Uzbekistan as a child. He graduated from a Crimean boarding school. Later he went to study economics in Kyiv. As a student, he participated in international projects such as the Canadian-Ukrainian Parliamentary Program, the Future Leaders Exchange Program, an American educational program funded by the U.S. State Department, and also joined the work of the European Youth Parliament. After graduation, he worked as the head of department of a Turkish mobile phone company in Ukraine. Later he was involved in political projects for the Crimean Tatars. Since 2007, he has been an adviser to the leader of the Crimean Tatar people.
(At that time, the Crimean Tatar issue was not a high priority in Ukraine. The Ukrainian special services probably kept this community under control, like all other national minorities. This was especially the case for the leader of the Crimean Tatars – the politician whose adviser Umierov was. It is quite possible that Umierov was working for the Ukrainian special services at that time, and it is also possible that at the same time he was also in contact with foreign intelligence services.)
In 2019 parliamentary elections, Umierov was first elected as an MP to Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada. During his term as an MP, Umierov co-authored almost 100 bills, including bills on indigenous peoples and on the status of the Crimean Tatar people, which gave the Crimean Tatars privileges compared to all other national minorities in Ukraine. Prior to his appointment as Minister of Defence, he was the head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine for about a year. In the Ukrainian parliament, Umierov was the chairman of the committee that monitors the handling and using of Western military aid.
Since the very beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Umierov has been involved in particularly important initiatives such as
the first round of negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv in Belarus, immediately after the invasion, then on 29 March in Istanbul.
negotiations on the Black Sea Grain Agreement in Türkiye.
purchase of Turkish Bayraktar drones and heavy weapons.
the ’peace conference’ in Jeddah in 2023 dedicated to the promotion of the Ukrainian Peace Formula.
major prisoner swaps, including the exchange of hundreds of Azovstal’s defenders for pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk.
privatization of assets seized from oligarchs.
In wartime, Umierov’s connections to the Islamic world gave him a special value for President Zelenskiy which is quite evident from the above list. According to some media reports, Umierov established good relations with Hakan Fidan, Türkiye’s foreign minister and former intelligence chief.
In addition to having excellent contacts with Türkiye, the new Ukrainian Defense Minister also maintains good reations with the United States.
As mentioned above, as a student of Crimean Tatar origin, Umierov participated in the American-Ukrainian Leadership Program, a U.S. government program to train future leaders.
In 2013, Umierov co-founded the ASTEM Foundation which aims to improve public life via social innovation, regional communities, education, medicine, sports, culture, human rights, and religious freedom. The ASTEM Foundation initiated the ’Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program’, a fellowship program for promising Ukrainian politicians at Stanford University.
Umierov has been involved in purchase of heavy weapons since the early days of the war, and has repeatedly visited the United States for negotiations. Umierov is considered to be ’a Ukrainian top official with a coherent strategic vision of how the defense and security sector should work.’
The newly appointed Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umierov is ’well-known and respected in the United States’, former U.S. special envoy Kurt Volker said on September 7 in Kyiv, responding to questions about personnel changes in the Ukrainian government during wartime.
’The ministry needs new approaches and new formats of cooperation both with the military and with society at large,’ Zelenskiy said, commenting on his own decision to nominate Umierov.
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What else can I add? Well, it is certainly worth noting that President Zelenskiy was not telling the truth when he referred to the need to adopt a new concept in the army when appointing Umierov as Defence Minister. Umierov’s appointment was clearly motivated not so much by his Turkish and Arab ties as by his American connections. Moreover, it is even more likely that the idea of Umierov’s appointment as Defence Minister was born not in Ukraine but in the United States.
Given this probable scenario, I must return to the question which has been asked many times, namely, whether a nation can be called sovereign when its top officials, including the Defence Minister, are puppets of foreign powers?
The Russian press calls Rustem Umierov an American spy. The Umierov brothers – Rustem and Ruslan – are known in Kyiv as ’sons of America’, as some sources indicate.
Of course it is impossible to claim with full certainty that Umierov is a spy for the Americans, but the fact remains that over the past decades he had every opportunity to become a spy. Moreover, judged by his activities, life path and career it can be assumed that he is still under someone’s unwavering patronage. The question is where and how far will this path take Mr Umierov?
Sources:
• https://www.dw.com/en/who-is-ukraines-designated-defense-minister-rustem-umerov/a-66721184
• https://english.nv.ua/nation/ukraine-s-incoming-defense-minister-rustem-umerov-nv-profile-50351238.html
• https://www.euronews.com/2023/09/04/who-is-ukraines-new-defence-minister-rustem-umerov
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