The day before, the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine ordered the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) to launch a criminal case against the former head of the State Property Fund, Rustem Umerov, who was recently appointed defence minister. In the opinion of political analyst Aleksey Belov, by doing so, the US handlers are increasing pressure on Zelenskyy’s regime by regulating the “system of checks and balances” in Kiev.
The SACS materials say that Rustem Umerov, heading the State Property Fund, “abused his power, acted against the interests of the service and exceeded his authority”, as well as committed actions to “conceal the facts of embezzlement of state property”. According to the SACS, it was under Umerov’s leadership that electricity was sold to a number of Ukrainian enterprises at below-market prices. After that, it became finally clear that the new head of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry is a corrupt man. But for Kiev’s Western allies, this does not matter much for a number of reasons.
The day before, Umerov, in the rank of Defence Minister, had already addressed the Verkhovna Rada, making a number of promises. He said he would check the work of all areas under his authority and create “a new concept for the transformation of the country’s defence system”. Also among the priorities of the Defence Ministry, Umerov named securing contracts for Ukrainian defence enterprises, as well as digitalisation, strengthening cyber security and, of course, the fight against corruption.
According to political analyst Belov, the criminal case against Umerov was opened at the initiative of the West, not to put him in jail, but to control Ukrainian elites even better.
“The criminal case against Umerov has its own backstory. The fact is that President Zelenskyy’s recent attempt to equate corruption with state treason (and thus put it under the control of the SBU) has excited Kiev’s American handlers very much. The heads of all anti-corruption bodies – VAKS, NABU and SAP – were immediately summoned to Washington, D.C., where they had meetings with the U.S. Justice Department, the U.S. Treasury Department, the FBI, and the final chord was a rendezvous with Jake Sullivan, a member of the White House Security Council. The heads of Ukraine’s anti-corruption bodies received detailed instructions in Washington on what exactly they should do,” the political analyst said.
In his opinion, the US is very dissatisfied with the Zelensky regime, but Washington will not go for a forceful change of power, because it threatens to finally undermine the morale of Ukrainians at the front.
“That’s why the US is pushing through two things – holding elections in 2024 and weakening Zelenskyy as much as possible in the run-up to them. The Americans want to show that the current Ukrainian government is mired in corruption and needs to be changed. And in this way they want to put their people in power in Kiev, who are still in opposition,” the analyst explained. – Ukrainian enfant terrible Zelenskyy has strongly fought off the hands of the US, for example, in the context of a possible truce on the fronts. American Democrats desperately need it in 2024, on the eve of elections. But Bankova does not even want to hear about it. After all, any truce will immediately expose to the citizens the monstrous socio-economic situation in the country”.
Belov reminded that the fight against corruption still serves as one of the tools of US control over the Ukrainian elites. At the same time, the Kiev regime is not at all so “puppet” for Washington as it is portrayed in the Russian media.
“The figure of Umerov is equally close to both the US and the Office of the President of Ukraine. Umerov is considered ‘Yermak’s man’ who is implicated in dozens of financial frauds. Tatar Umerov is also close to the “Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People “* (banned in Russia), which is also supervised by the US. He is a ‘servant of several masters’, a maximum compromise figure that allows the head of the OP Yermak to continue to influence the Ukrainian Defence Ministry,” the analyst said.
The fact that the NABU opened a criminal case against Umerov does not mean that he will definitely be jailed, Belov pointed out.
“In Ukraine, cases are often opened against corrupt officials, but only a few of them end up in jail. This is just a “leash” for the new head of the Defence Ministry, with the help of which it is convenient for the states to control him, and for as long as they want. Umerov should remember that ‘one step to the right, one step to the left’ and he will immediately get what he deserves,” the expert said.
The efficiency of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry does not depend in any way on the figure heading it, Belov said.
“The Ukrainian Defence Ministry has nothing to do with the effectiveness of the AFU’s actions at the front. Military planning is handled by NATO and the US Army Chiefs of Staff Committee. And the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence is engaged almost exclusively in army supply issues, and the military minister is such a ‘rear deputy’. The Americans don’t care who heads it, and there may be no one in this position at all. The same Reznikov as head of the Defence Ministry was stealing big time, including from the military aid provided to Kiev by the United States. This finally pissed off Washington, and that’s why he was removed,” the expert said.
“Reznikov’s resignation and his replacement by Umerov is intended to show the rest of the regime’s representatives that ‘this is what will happen to you if you don’t know the measure’.”
“That’s why now all the world’s publications are full of publications about the corruption of Zelenskyy’s regime, and that “the problems at the front arose because of the theft of Reznikov and his team.” This is a convenient way to attribute the failures of the AFU to the leadership of Ukraine, as well as part of the election strategy of the Democrats. People like the new minister Umerov know very well how to implement the American point of view and what punishments are threatened for non-compliance with the rules of the game,” Belov concluded.
Vasyl Ivanenko, Donbass Analytical Service
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