Who after Reznikov: what awaits the Ministry of Defense

The scandals in the Ministry of Defense seem to have achieved their goal. They intend to dismiss the head of the defense department, Alexei Reznikov, as early as next week. The new Minister of Defense will most likely be the current head of the State Property Fund, Rustem Umerov.

People's Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak announced this. Read about where Reznikov will go, why Umerov is considered the new Minister of Defense, and how his appointment will affect the work of the department.

The balls failed

The resignation of Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov has been brewing for a long time. The first bell rang in February of this year, after information appeared in the media about the purchase of eggs for the army at inflated prices. The minister then tried to justify himself and ended up quarreling with journalists.

After this, the head of the Servant of the People faction, David Arakhamia, spread information that allegedly Alexey Reznikov would soon be dismissed, and the Ministry of Defense would be headed by the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kirill Budanov. However, after a couple of days, Arakhamia backed down.

But then Reznikov’s resignation did not happen, since the Office of the President opposed it. Advisor to the head of the OP Mikhail Podolyak urged not to speculate on the topic of the resignation of the Minister of Defense. According to him, Reznikov “was extremely effective in communicating with our partners.”

“The war is not over, we have too complex negotiations on long-range missiles, on attack aircraft, on logistics support for shells. We need a lot of cartridges, shells, and ammunition. Reznikov was constantly doing this,” he explained then.

According to Podolyak, if we talk about replacing Reznikov, “we need to understand whether we will find a candidate who can handle these issues and gain trust and good personal relationships.”

In addition, experts then recognized Budanov’s candidacy for the post of Minister of Defense as unsuitable. Firstly, because the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate is a military man, and by law the Minister of Defense must be a civilian. And, secondly, Kirill Budanov showed his effectiveness as the head of intelligence.

“There is no point in removing Budanov, who is also quite effective in his position,” Alexey Melnik, co-director of foreign policy and international security programs at the Razumkov Center, said in a commentary to Apostrophe at the time.

And political scientist Vladimir Fesenko suggested that Reznikov’s resignation is a settled issue and it’s only a matter of time. Another thing is that during this time Bankova needs to finally decide on who exactly will replace Reznikov.

After this, rumors about the resignation of the Minister of Defense subsided, and Alexey Yuryevich continued to work. But corruption scandals in the defense department continued. They entered the active phase at the end of summer. On August 11, the media published an investigation in which it was reported that the Ministry of Defense had entered into a contract with a Turkish company for the supply of winter clothing for the military in the fall of 2022. On the way between customs, the ordered jackets changed from “camouflage” to “winter air-protective” and tripled in price.

On August 25, Ukrayinska Pravda published an investigation stating that one of the owners of the company with which the contract was concluded was allegedly the nephew of the people’s deputy from the Servant of the People, Gennady Kasai.

Then people's deputies and journalists were involved in the scandal. There is no point in talking about this in detail, just google it on the Internet.

Will Reznikov go to Foggy Albion?

After such a noise, a decision was made to change Reznikov at Bankova. Information about the imminent resignation of the Minister of Defense was published on Telegram by people's deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak, who named the name of Reznikov's successor and the new position of the minister.

“In place of the Minister of Defense, our ex-faction colleague, and now the head of the State Property Fund, Rustem Umerov, will be presented. He recently completed a year in office. And please note, a year without a single scandal and with a record result for the State Property Fund,” Zheleznyak emphasized.

“By dates: this is next week, that is, the first week of September... According to my information, Reznikov will leave the post of Minister of Defense and subsequently go as ambassador to the UK. If there are no more high-profile scandals before this time,” the deputy noted.

“In my opinion, Reznikov’s resignation is overdue,” political scientist Vitaly Kulik tells Apostrophe. “Now it’s about time.” Previously it was early, and later it was late. Previously, they wanted to appoint a security officer in his place, and this is wrong. And now they’ve found a civilian candidate.”

But political scientist Viktor Nebozhenko believes that it is not in vain that Reznikov is being tipped as ambassador to the UK.

“Reznikov is looking for a way to go to London, and this suggests that he has something to lose,” says the political scientist.

“I believe that Reznikov does not go far from the OP, and he can form a non-public negotiation process with European partners, fortunately, he has established good relations with them,” Nebozhenko emphasized.

Ermak's best solution?

As we wrote above, the head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, Rustem Umerov, is being tipped for the position of the new Minister of Defense. Umerov is most actively promoted by anti-corruption activists. For example, the head of the board of the Anti-Corruption Center, Vitaly Shabunin, sang praises to the possible future head of the Ministry of Defense, speaking positively about his work in the State Property Fund.

“I don’t know Mr. Umerov and I can’t say clearly what kind of Minister of Defense he will be. But if it is actively promoted by the anti-corruption community, then apparently they are confident in it. For example, I’m not so optimistic,” says political scientist Vitaly Kulik.

Political scientist Viktor Nebozhenko also does not know the new candidate for the post of Minister of Defense well.

“I don’t know Umerov, but if, as anti-corruption officials say, he didn’t steal anything during his year of work in the state property fund, then I only welcome this and am surprised,” says the expert.

However, Apostrophe’s sources directly call Umerov a creature of the head of the Presidential Office, Andrei Yermak.

“This is what Ermak decided, this is his position. Moreover, although Reznikov demonstrated loyalty to the head of the OP, he still pursued his own policy. Umerov is a much more tame character in this regard. However, it is important that his candidacy is supported in Washington, because they believe that he will focus on them. However, I would not be so sure of this,” one of the people’s deputies associated with state security issues told our publication.

Umerov himself also does not hide his devotion to the head of the OP. This is what he said, describing his relationship with Ermak and his inclusion in the delegation at negotiations with Russia in February 2022: “I have respect for Andrey. Why? Because, firstly, he was never afraid to speak straightforwardly, and secondly, he never hid anything. If, for example, any questions arose with the Crimean Tatars or other things, he always talked about it. As far as I know, Andrei advised me to be included in the delegation as a person who has the skills that were needed in the negotiations.”

In addition to Ermak, Umerov maintains good relations with the head of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, Mustafa Dzhemilev, accompanies him on international trips, having quite extensive and close relations with the Turkish authorities.

At the same time, Viktor Nebozhenko drew attention to the fact that Umerov is a Crimean Tatar and if he is seen in some kind of corruption fraud, he is unlikely to be criticized. But Kulik, on the contrary, believes that nationality does not matter and if something happens, he will be subjected to merciless criticism.

“If, along with Umerov, new deputies come who will change the system, then he can be effective,” Vitaly Kulik noted, “to deal with transparent tenders for the army. If all this can be done in a short time, it will be good.”

“On the other hand, if the old people, the old schemes with Bankova remain, then nothing will change. And then, I’ll look at the reaction of the anti-corruption activists who promoted Umerov. We’ll see,” the political scientist concluded.

However, so far Bankova is not ready to talk about Umerov’s appointment. President Vladimir Zelensky said the following about this: “I am ready to comment on any personnel decisions in our state only after I have signed the relevant decrees.”