After 18 months as Ukraine's defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov has been dismissed.
Rustem Umerov, 41, has held a number of roles in Zelensky’s government, and has served as head of the State Property Fund since last September. Hailing from the Crimean Tatar community—a minority ethnic group of Turkic people from the Black Sea Ukrainian peninsula, which was—Umerov was born in Uzbekistan to a family that was exiled from Soviet Crimea in the 1940s.
After getting his start in telecommunications and investment banking, Umerov turned his hand to politics in 2019. He is a member of an opposition political party, and has served as chief negotiator in the, which Russia has since pulled out of. He has also been privy to a number of prisoner exchanges and evacuations of civilians.
Experts say his appointment has symbolic and real significance. “His appointment as Minister of Defense symbolizes Ukraine’s commitment to restoring Ukraine’s control over its 1991 borders,” Barbieri says, adding that it sends the message that Crimea will not become a “bargaining chip” in war efforts.Umerov’s expected appointment is taking place at a pivotal moment. His background in economics and political negotiation is likely to be a source of strength for the defense ministry.
Umerov has shown himself to have “civic credentials,” Onuch says, from his role in the Ukraine’s parliament to sponsoring a Stanford University program to raise young leaders. “He is very quickly developing as somebody that is capable and efficacious,” Onuch says. “[He is] able to work across different political factions that have been extremely divided and polarized over the last few years.”
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