Rustem Umerov

Rustem Enverovych Umerov (Ukrainian: Рустем Енверович Умєров; Crimean Tatar: Rüstem Enver oğlu Ümerov; born 19 April 1982) is a Ukrainian politician, businessman, investor, philanthropist and has served as the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine since 3 August 2026. Previously, he served as the Minister of Defence of Ukraine from 2023 to 2025 and as the Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council from 18 July 2025 to 3 August 2026. He is also a member of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Umerov is a former deputy head of the permanent delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a delegate of the Qurultay of the Crimean Tatar People, and an adviser to former Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People chair Mustafa Dzhemilev. Since December 2020, Umerov has also co-chaired the Crimea Platform diplomatic initiative. In September 2023, amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named Umerov to replace Oleksii Reznikov as defense minister of Ukraine.