Rustem Umerov’s appointment has followed the resignation of Zelensky’s right hand, Andrey Yermak, who may be implicated in a graft scheme
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has appointed Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov as the new head of the country’s delegation for peace talks with Russia, mediated by the US. The move has followed the resignation of Zelensky’s powerful chief of staff amid a massive corruption scandal.
The latter has cast a shadow on Andrey Yermak, among other high-ranking Ukrainian officials.
Zelensky announced Umerov’s appointment in a decree published on Friday.
In a post on his Telegram channel on Saturday, Zelensky wrote that “Umerov and his team are already on their way to the United States.”
On Friday, Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, tendered his resignation amid allegations of his involvement in a recently uncovered graft scheme within Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power operator, Energoatom, which has been heavily reliant on Western aid.
Earlier in the day, Western-backed Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies – the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) – raided Yermak’s properties, saying that further details would be provided later.
Before Yermak stepped down, a Ukrainian newspaper, Zerkalo Nedeli (ZN), citing anonymous sources, claimed on Wednesday that Zelensky had appointed him as the head of Kiev’s negotiating delegation in Geneva.
Earlier this month the administration of US President Donald Trump put forth a 28-point peace roadmap aimed at putting an end to the Ukraine conflict.
Its appearance coincided with a probe by NABU and SAPO into the alleged $100 million graft scheme, perpetrated by a ring supposedly led by Timur Mindich, a former business associate of Zelensky.
The prime suspect managed to flee Ukraine before the authorities could apprehend him, according to Kiev.
Several Ukrainian ministers have lost their posts in the wake of the revelations.
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