President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is considering former National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov as a candidate to be appointed head of the Foreign Intelligence Service. Sources in political circles first told Ukrainska Pravda about this. LB’s interlocutors confirm it.
Rustem Umerov was left without a post after Ihor Klymenko was appointed NSDC secretary; he had previously headed the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Volodymyr Zelenskyy had named Klymenko as a candidate for defense minister, but ultimately, amid mass protests following the dismissal of Mykhaylo Fedorov, the Defense Ministry was taken over in an acting capacity by Yevheniy Khmara.
On July 23, the head of state confirmed that he had made Rustem Umerov a career offer, but did not say what it was. Zelenskyy also said Umerov would focus on communication with partners, negotiations, advancing security cooperation, strengthening ties between Ukraine's intelligence community and those of partner countries, and implementing initiatives such as Drone Deals and Ukraine's Freya anti-ballistic programme.
Umerov currently serves as the president's national security adviser, effectively fulfilling the role of a national security adviser (NSA). He has taken part in negotiations with the United States and Russia and, following Andriy Yermak's dismissal, became head of Ukraine's negotiating team.
Umerov is also a witness in the high-profile Midas corruption case. According to media reports, the main suspect, Tymur Mindich, allegedly sought to influence the Defence Ministry to procure body armour that was later found to be of inadequate quality.
Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service (SZRU) has been without a permanent chief since February. Oleh Luhovskyi has been serving as acting head since then, after Oleh Ivashchenko was appointed chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) following Kyrylo Budanov's appointment as head of the Presidential Office.