Sun 03 September 2023:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Sunday that he had chosen to remove Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and would seek parliament this week to replace him with Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine’s biggest privatization fund.
If Umerov’s appointment is approved by parliament, he will be Ukraine’s first Muslim and Crimean Tatar minister.
The announcement, issued in his nightly video address to the nation, sets the stage for the most significant shakeup of Ukraine’s defense establishment during the war launched by Russia in February 2022.
Reznikov, who was named Defense minister in November 2021, has helped secure billions of dollars of Western military aid to help the war effort, but been dogged by graft allegations surrounding his ministry that he described as smears.
“I’ve decided to replace the Minister of Defense of Ukraine. Oleksii Reznikov has been through more than 550 days of full-scale war,” Zelenskyy said.
“I believe the ministry needs new approaches and other formats of interaction with both the military and society as a whole.”
The change of Defense minister must be approved by parliament, but is likely to be supported by a majority of lawmakers in the Verkhovna Rada. Zelenskyy said he expected parliament to approve Umerov’s appointment.
It was not immediately clear what had sparked those reports of Reznikov’s departure.
But rumors of a possible Reznikov resignation or ouster had mounted after a series of accusations of corruption within the ministry.
Reznikov said after those initial reports that he was not planning to resign but added that any decision about his future would be made by the president.
“He nominates an appointee, and the [parliament] appoints. Therefore, only by the decision of the president of Ukraine will I make certain decisions, and I will do what the president of Ukraine tells me,” he said.
In January, Ukrainian media reported that the Defense Ministry had allegedly purchased products for the military at inflated prices through a “gasket” company. Other charges of corruption were also alleged in the media.
Umerov, a 41-year-old ex-lawmaker who is a Crimean Tatar, has headed Ukraine’s State Property Fund since September 2022 and has played a role in sensitive wartime negotiations on, for instance, the Black Sea grain deal.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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