VR appoints Rustem Umerov as Defense Minister

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has appointed Rustem Umerov as Defense Minister.

The relevant statement was made by Member of Parliament Yaroslav Zhelezniak on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

According to Zhelezniak, a total of 338 Members of Parliament voted in favor of Umerov’s appointment.

A reminder that, on September 5, 2023, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine dismissed Oleksii Reznikov from the post of Defense Minister and Rustem Umerov from the post of Head of the Ukrainian State Property Fund.

Later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted a motion to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to appoint Rustem Umerov as Defense Minister. The Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence endorsed Umerov’s appointment.

Rustem Umerov is a Ukrainian politician and businessman of Crimean Tatar origin. He was elected to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine from the Holos political party in 2019-2022. While working in Parliament, he actively lobbied for bills on the rights of Crimean Tatars, as well as initiated legislation and political statements regarding the temporarily occupied Crimea.

With the start of the Russian full-scale invasion, Umerov joined the Ukrainian delegation in negotiations with Russia. He was also involved in the process of negotiating the exchange of prisoners. In particular, Umerov contributed to the prisoner swap in September 2022, when Ukraine managed to return 215 citizens, including the defenders of Mariupol and Azov commanders.

Umerov had worked as Head of the Ukrainian State Property Fund since September 7, 2022.