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Ukrainian Police Probe Incoming Defense Minister's Fund – Reports

14:07 GMT, 5 September 2023
© Sputnik / Natalia Seliverstova
Oleg Burunov
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Late last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky replaced Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov with Rustem Umerov, a move that came against the backdrop of Kiev’s botched counteroffensive.
Sputnik
A criminal case has been opened against the leadership of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, which is headed by Rustem Umerov, who was recently appointed the country’s defense minister, a Ukrainian news outlet has reported.
According to the outlet, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal ordered police to investigate the dismissal of Valery Bezlepkin and Valery Shchekaturov, independent members of the supervisory board of the public joint stock company Tsentrenergo.
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The outlet added that the criminal case has been lodged in connection with "the fact of a gross violation of labor laws."
Zelensky said that Reznikov would be replaced with Umerov, whose candidacy is due to be supported by Ukrainian lawmakers.
The Ukrainian president added that the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) "knows this man well," and that no "additional introductions" are needed for Umerov, who has been at the helm of the State Property Fund of Ukraine since 2022. Zelensky expressed hope that the lawmakers would say "yes" to Umerov’s new appointment.

When asked what Moscow expects from Umerov, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told reporters that “there is only one expectation - the emergence of common sense, at least in somebody’s head." According to Shoigu, Russian officials are not in the know about Umerov’s profile.

Ukrainian Military May React Angrily to Umerov's Appointment

Moscow-based political scientist Denis Denisov has, meanwhile, told Sputnik that he thinks "the Umerov case can hardly be effective from the point of view of legal practice."

Denisov, who serves as director of the Institute of Peacekeeping Initiatives and Conflictology and expert of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, suggested that the police opening a criminal case against Umerov aims to "draw media attention of Umerov’s figure as such."

The political scientist described this figure as "a completely ambiguous and contradictory," not ruling out that Umerov's appointment will never be implemented. Denisov called the Umerov case-related situation an apparent "confrontation within the centers of power that exist in the Ukraine."
When asked about political reaction in Ukraine to Umerov's appointment, Denisov stressed that the 41-year-old is perceived by many as a little-known functionary.

As for the reaction, "we can definitely talk about opposition from the military" because the second person who is not from the system of the Ukrainian Armed Forces may become the country’s defense minister," according to the political scientist.

"Then again, Umerov's reputation and background are completely ambiguous and are unlikely to be taken seriously by many, especially by [Ukrainian] combat generals," Deniusov underlined.
Dwelling on the Umerov case, he argued that it reflects a "natural" process of competition between financial and industrial groups inside Ukraine’s vertical power system of governance, something that he recalled has been in place since the mid-1990s.
"Nothing changed [since then], and it just acquired a slightly different form in Zelensky's current vertical of power," Denisov said. He added that with this competition still in place, it's safe to say that lodging a criminal case against Umerov was not accidental.

"This is a targeted campaign aimed to prevent Umerov from being appointed to the post," Denisov concluded.

Zelensky's reshuffle comes amid the Ukrainian army's unsuccessful attempts to break through Russian defensive lines.
World
Putin: Ukraine's Counteroffensive is Failure, Not Stalemate
4 September 2023, 13:44 GMT
Shoigu said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had lost more than 66,000 soldiers and 7,600 weapons since the beginning of the counteroffensive in early June, adding that they failed to achieve any of their goals in three months of the counteroffensive, which was described by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a flop, not a stalemate.
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