Roustem Oumerov, who was named the next defense minister by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday evening, is a prominent leader of the Crimean Tatar community who represented Kiev in sensitive negotiations with Moscow.
• Also read: Zelensky replaces his defense minister
Mr. Umerov, 41, was born in the then Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, where his family had been exiled under Stalin, and he was a child when his family moved to Crimea in the 1980s when Tatars were allowed to return and 1990s .
He started in the telecommunications industry in 2004 and has been a Member of Parliament since 2019.
In parliament, he co-chaired the Crimea Platform, which coordinated international diplomatic efforts to reverse Russia’s 2014 annexation of the peninsula.
For many years he was an advisor to the historical leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev.
❗️ [ 🇷🇺 RUSSIE | 🇺🇦 UKRAINE ]
🔸 Volodymyr Zelensky says that the Ukrainian Defense Minister, previously represented by Oleksi Reznikov, will be replaced by Rustem Umerov.
💬 “I think the ministry needs new approaches and other formats…” pic.twitter.com/qPPNf3m0yU
— (Small) Think Tank (@L_ThinkTank) September 3, 2023
Russia’s annexation of Crimea was ratified by a referendum that was deemed illegitimate by Ukraine and its Western allies.
Tatars, who make up 12 to 15% of Crimea’s population, largely boycotted this referendum.
As a result, Moscow banned the Mejlis, the traditional gathering of the Tatar Muslim minority, labeling it an extremist organization whose many members were jailed.
After the annexation of Crimea and the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Roustem Oumerov took part in discreet negotiations with Moscow on several occasions, in particular regarding prisoner exchanges and evacuations of civilians.
He was part of the Ukrainian delegation in the negotiations with Moscow under the auspices of Turkey and the United Nations that enabled the establishment of a maritime corridor allowing the transport of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.
Russia recently withdrew from that agreement, arguing that Kiev and the West were not giving enough space to Russian exports.
In September 2022, Mr. Umerov was appointed head of the State Property Fund, a high-profile position in a country where the privatization process is rife with corruption.
The Defense Ministry, which was left to him by his predecessor Oleksiï Reznikov, was also caught up in corruption scandals.
Mr. Zelensky announced he would nominate him as his next defense minister and indicated he would submit his nomination to parliament this week.
“Parliament knows this person well and Mr. Umerov needs no further introduction,” the Ukrainian president assured.