MOSCOW, September 6. /TASS/. The Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s parliament) has voted to appoint Rustem Umerov as the country’s Defense Minister, a lawmaker reported.
"The parliament has approved Rustem Umerov’s appointment to the post of Ukrainian Defense Minister. Three hundred thirty-eight deputies voted in favor of the decision. All the factions supported Umerov’s candidacy," lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak wrote on his Telegram channel.
Umerov will be the fourth defense minister under Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. On September 3, Zelensky announced his decision to appoint Rustem Umerov as the country’s Defense Minister to replace Alexey Reznikov. On Tuesday, the Rada voted in favor of Reznikov’s resignation, as well as to relieve Umerov from his previous position.
Umerov has been heading Ukraine’s State Property Committee since September 2022. Prior to that, he was a businessman and entrepreneur. In 2019, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada on the Golos (Voice) party ticket. He graduated from the Ukrainian National Academy of Management with degrees in finance and economics, and was trained under the "Future Leaders Exchange Program" (FLEX).
Reznikov’s resignation
Rumors about the resignation of Reznikov, who had been Defense Minister since November 2021, appeared in the Ukrainian news media in January following a major corruption scandal in the ministry involving marked up food purchases. The minister denied all accusations at the time, but several resignations among senior ministry staff did take place afterward. Reznikov himself kept his post. In August, the Defense Ministry again found itself at the center of a procurement scandal, this time involving winter jackets that did not meet required standards.
The stories surrounding these shady deals not only create doubt about the Ukrainian authorities, but also negatively affect Kiev’s relations with Western partners, on whom it depends for financial and military aid. The West insists that this corruption must stop. In particular, Republican US senator Lindsey Graham, who visited Ukraine in August, said that Washington monitors where every dollar allocated to Kiev goes. Some local experts believe that the replacement of the defense minister will allow Zelensky to temporarily bury the scandal around the ministry, expecting the new defense official "to clean up the mess."
Ukrainian media reported that Reznikov might be appointed as the new envoy to the UK, but the official himself refused to comment, saying he had no such information.