2023-09-04 13:04:36
The Ukrainian President, Volodímir Zelenskiannounced on Sunday his intention to to replace the Minister of Defense, Oleksí Réznikov, one of the key figures in Kyiv’s relationship with its foreign allies. For months there had been talk of his impeachment before the corruption scandals that have affected his ministry, but seem to have surprised the partners ofUkraine, as evidenced by the visit Réznikov had to make this week to Washington to hold several meetings at the Pentagon. Zelenski has announced that he will be replaced by Rustem Umerov, who led the negotiations with Russia in the agreement for the export of grain. The name change in Defense constitutes the biggest reshuffle in the Ukrainian Government since the Russian invasion began.
The Ukrainian presidency has not given too many details about the dismissal of Réznikov, who had been in charge of Defense since the beginning of the war. “The ministry needs new approaches and other ways of interacting with the military and society in general,” Zelenskiy said on Sunday when announcing his decision. However, it was well known that the57-year-old lawyer, who took office months before the outbreak of war with little military experience behind him, had long been under fire for corruption scandals in his department. Ukrainian media went so far as to publish his imminent impeachment in mid-February, but Zelenskiy ended up backtracking on close personal relationships that Réznikov knew how to weave with the headlines Defense of the principals allies of Ukraine.
This is perhaps its greatest merit. Having managed to get Europeans and Americans to break their taboos for supply increasingly sophisticated weapons to Kyivfrom mobile missile launchers Himarsin the tanks Leopard and soon you hunt F-16. Another of the virtues attributed to him is not having intervened too much in the military management of the war, which has been left to the command of the generals, commanded by Valeri Zalujni.
From Ukraine it is also said that Réznikov himself had asked for the relief, well seen by the president to breathe new energy into the department after 18 grueling months of war.
The scandals uncovered by the press have followed each other in recent months, many of them related to the hiring of equipment and services for the military In one of the latest, revealed last month, the ministry was accused of buying from Turkey “Winter clothes” for soldiers worth more 30 million euros, clothes that in the end turned out to be summer. Before that, in January, it was discovered that the ministry had bought bulk eggs for the troop for more than twice the price paid on average in Ukrainian supermarkets.
At the moment Réznikov was not being investigated, but the scandals motivated several dismissals and investigations in his department. Ukraine needs to show that it is ready to end the endemic corruption to advance in its accession process to the European uniona factor that is added to the growing intolerance on the part of its population to the tripijocs in the institutions, given the sacrifices that the war has imposed on the citizenry.
Zelenski, who won the election in 2019 by promising end corruptionrecently dismissed all the responsible for military recruitment in front of allegations of bribery that are attributed to them and has gone so far as to propose a law to punish episodes of corruption with the crime of “treason”, taking advantage of the martial law that prevails in the country.
Reznikov’s replacement
The Ukrainian president has proposed Rustem Umerov to take the reins of Defense, a position that will have to be ratified by Parliament next week. Umerov was until now the director of the State Property Fundthe agency responsible for overseeing the privatization of public companies. His defenders argue that he has managed to bring transparency and rigor to a department traditionally known for its abuses and corruption.
Member of the Tatar minoritypursued by the Russian occupation forces in the illegally annexed Crimea, Umerov has also led the negotiations with Moscow which led to thegrain export agreement across the Black Sea, suspended since Russia decided break it unilaterally this summer. He is also credited with a prominent role in the negotiations for the prisoner exchanges.
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