President Volodymyr Zelenskyy plans to appoint Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine Rustem Umerov as head of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SZRU).
Speaking during the annual meeting of ambassadors in Kyiv on Monday, the Head of the Ukrainian State said that this will allow Umerov to continue coordinating work both with partners and efforts toward ending the war.
"Umerov will be appointed head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine," Zelenskyy said.
As reported, Umerov served as Minister of Defense of Ukraine in 2023–2025, after which he was appointed by Zelenskyy to the position of NSDC Secretary.
Previously, from September 7, 2022, he headed the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU). Prior to that, in 2019, he was elected a People’s Deputy of the 9th convocation from the Holos party (No. 18 on the list as an independent) and became a member of the parliamentary faction of the same name. In the Ukrainian parliament, he held the position of secretary of the committee on human rights, de-occupation, and reintegration of temporarily occupied territories, national minorities, and was also a deputy member of the permanent delegation to the Council of Europe and co-chair of the "Crimea Platform" inter-factional deputy association. In September 2020, Umerov joined the group tasked with developing the state strategy for the de-occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC).
