After on 5 September the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine accepted the resignation of Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov due to a large-scale corruption scandal, on 6 September Rustem Umierov was appointed as new Minister of Defence of Ukraine.
The newly appointed minister, a Crimean Tatar, has announced his top priorities, including a full-fledged audit, domestic defence production and the likely introduction of a new position, a military ombudsman.
According to media sources, Umierov’s candidacy for the post of defence minister emerged at last minute, on the recommendation of the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mr Andriy Yermak. (Umierov and Yermak first met in 2019, during the preparation for Zelensky’s meeting with Turkish President Erdogan.) After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, the Ukrainian presidential team was greatly helped by Umierov’s ties to both the Turkish establishment and the United States. President Zelenskiy and Yermak also benefited from Umierov’s ties with Saudi Arabia – the idea of the ’peace conference’ in Jeddah is said to be his.
I have three comments on the above news:
1.) The appointment of Rustem Umierov as Ukrainian Defence Minister is a major victory for Andriy Yermak. Through Umierov, Yermak will be able to fully control the Ministry of Defence, something he has not been able to do so far, since Oleksandr Reznikov was a fairly autonomous Defence Minister. The war has been dragging on for so long that Zelensky may have to resign soon. He is well aware of this, as well as the Ukrainian people and Ukraine’s foreign partners and supporters. When the time comes for him to step down, because his historical era is coming to an end, and the world will need a Ukrainian leader who is willing to negotiate with Russia, then his influential right-hand man Andriy Yermak or the newly appointed Defence Minister may take his place. The fact that Umierov was appointed to the post of Defence Minister on Yermak’s recommendation may already indicate that this process has already begun.
2.) The appointment of Rustem Umierov as Minister of Defence was largely motivated by his Crimean Tatar origin, which serves, in particular, to demonstrate that the Ukrainian authorities consider national minorities to be so equal to ethnic Ukrainians that even such an important member of the government is a representative of this group. However, it is obvious that this is nothing more than empty propaganda, a marketing tool.
3.) The idea of introducing the post of a military ombudsman and a ’full-fledged audit’ is not equivalent to elimination of corruption in the army. Let’s see what corruption cases will come to light in the coming months and then can be judged to what extent Defence Minister Umierov is interested in fighting corruption.
Sources:
• https://kyivindependent.com/defense-minister-wants-to-introduce-military-ombudsman-position/
• https://www.euronews.com/2023/09/04/who-is-ukraines-new-defence-minister-rustem-umerov
Leave a Reply