President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council and one of Kyiv’s most politically connected wartime operators, as head of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SZRU), according to presidential decrees No. 694/2026 and 695/2026. The civilian agency had lacked a permanent chief since January.
Zelensky, speaking at Ukraine’s annual ambassadors’ meeting, said Umerov will keep coordinating the “Drone Deal” export initiative, now covering nine countries, and continue leading Ukraine’s delegation to stalled trilateral talks with Russia and the U.S. He has also been one of Kyiv’s main interlocutors with Turkey and Gulf states on defense, energy, mediation and security arrangements with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar.
Umerov’s appointment also comes under the shadow of the broader Fire Point/Mindich corruption controversy. Ukraine’s anti-corruption authorities said in May that he had been questioned in the case and currently holds witness, not suspect, status. Leaked recordings have circulated purporting to capture discussions involving Fire Point funding, but no charges have been filed against Umerov, and Fire Point has denied wrongdoing.
Born in Soviet Uzbekistan to a deported Crimean Tatar family, Umerov returned to Crimea as a child and later worked with veteran Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev. He has repeatedly called Crimea and Ukraine’s territorial integrity non-negotiable.
The appointment places a presidential negotiator with deep Turkish, Gulf and Western partner networks atop an agency increasingly overlapping with wartime diplomacy, technology deals and strategic coordination.
