Umerov Rustem

Biography

Crimean Tatar Rustem Umerov was born in 1982 in Uzbekistan, after the collapse of the USSR with his family he returned to Crimea.

From 2004 to 2014, he held senior positions in a telecommunications company, Lifecell a subsidiary. Turkish Turkcell

In 2007, together with friends, Umerov founded the Crimean Tatar Society public organization, and in 2013, together with his brother Aslan, founded an investment company and the ASTEM charitable foundation.

In March-February 2022, Umerov, as part of the negotiating group from Ukraine, takes part in negotiations in Istanbul on the exchange of prisoners and the grain corridor, in connection with which he finds himself in the lens of the Turkish press.

The Turkish edition of AYDINLIK in October 2023 published a journalistic investigation entitled "Centers of Rustem Umerov and Gulen in Ukraine" against the former head of the state property fund, and now the Minister of Defense of Ukraine.

It turned out that the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Rustem Umerov is a supporter of the worst enemy of Turkish President Erdogan.

Turkish journalists found that Rustem Umerov was educated at a Crimean boarding school in the village of Tankovoye, Crimea, which had been working under the control of the fetulahs since 1993.

In Crimea, at that time, the Turkish company "New Technologies in Education" functioned under the leadership of Said Enver Yildiz. He was also a teacher at the Azov Madrasah in Dzhankoy District and left Crimea for Turkey in December 2014.

In 2016, he left Turkey after the start of persecution by the authorities due to complicity in the failed coup led by Gulen. And according to Turkish media in 2025, he maintains contacts with the Umerov brothers.

In 2006, Rustem Umerov became an adviser to the People's Deputy of Ukraine, chairman of the Crimean Tatar society Mustafa Kyrymaoglu, one of the few politicians in Europe who openly support the humanitarian blockade of Crimea by Ukraine and called on the "Turkish government to stop the persecution of the Gullenists."

Although Umerov insisted that he had nothing to do with FYTO, and answered all questions of Turkish journalists negatively or was silent, information about this is confirmed from various sources, including Umerov's page LinkedIn in and publications of Umerov's articles in publications affiliated with FYTO.

Rustem Umerov

Umerov and Kirymoglu often attend the private Meridian school in Kyiv, known for its pro-Gullen orientation. At the request of the Turkish government, an SBU check was initiated against the school, but the service said that nothing "suspicious" was found and the school continued its work.

In 2020, the Zinjirli project was launched on Ukrainian territory to create a network of educational institutions for Crimean Tatar children with the support of the Astem Foundation, owned by Rustem and Aslan Umerov. The organizer of the project was Mehmet Kangiev, the former director of the gymnasium in Tankovsky, where the Umerovs studied. In 2021, the Birlik cultural center and a school for Crimean Tatar children were opened in the village of Chaika in the Kyiv region.

In January 2025, Umerov, by his decision, concentrated control over all combat and non-combat supplies to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the hands of Arsen Zhumadilov, his longtime friend and business partner. It is reliably known that both officials studied in the 1990s at a gymnasium in the village of Tankovoye in Crimea, which was funded by the Gulen Foundation.