Rustem Umerov, known for close ties with Turkey, became the new Minister of Defense of Ukraine. RBC writes about it.
According to media reports, Umerov is an ethnic Crimean Tatar and a Muslim. He was part of the Ukrainian delegation to the Russian-Ukrainian talks and has close relations with Turkey, including direct contact with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The MK newspaper found a Turkish trace in the appointment of Umerov. According to media reports, he studied in the United States under the “Future Leaders Exchange Program”, which included Mikheil Saakashvili and Viktor Yushchenko. Umerov, according to the newspaper, worked in senior positions at Ukraine’s Lifecell, which is owned by Turkey’s Turkcell, a company believed to be close to the Erdogan family. It was also controlled by the oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. At the same time, Umerov is considered to be a member of FETO (the movement of the Islamic preacher Gülen), whose members were accused by the Turkish authorities of committing an attempted coup in 2016.
The candidacy of Umerov, proposed by the leader of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, was approved by the Verkhovna Rada earlier today. 338 deputies voted for Umerov, no one spoke against, 1 deputy abstained. Until September 5, Umerov was the head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine. He replaced Oleksiy Reznikov as Minister of Defense of Ukraine, who has held this post since November 2021.
Source: Rosbalt
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