The Kremlin has announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be removing Sergei Shoigu, a longtime buddy, from his position as minister of defense.
The 68-year-old, who has held the position since 2012, will be succeeded by Andrei Belousov, Deputy Prime Minister, an economist with limited military background.
The Russian Security Council’s secretary will be Mr. Shoigu.
According to the Kremlin, the defense ministry must continue to be “innovative”.
Since there aren’t many cabinet changes in Russia, this is a significant development for Russian politics.
But in the end, decisions are still made by Vladimir Putin. He made the initial decision to go to war in Ukraine, and he makes all the major choices.
Mr. Belousov’s
Considering Mr. Belousov’s prior competence, many will be surprised by his nomination as defense minister.
However, experts argue that President Putin is attempting to bring the Russian economy closer to the military endeavor.
The choice to appoint an economist to lead the Ministry of Defense is a reflection of the Kremlin’s shifting priorities, the enormous sums of money that Russia is currently investing in the conflict in Ukraine, and the necessity for Russia to increase military force productivity.
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the planned appointment of a civilian demonstrated that “innovation” was required in the defense minister’s job.
According to him, Russia was starting to resemble the Soviet Union in the middle of the 1980s, when a sizable amount of GDP was spent on defense.
He continued by saying that as a result, it was essential to ensure that military spending was more effectively incorporated into Russia’s entire economy.
“The one who is more open to innovations is the one who will be victorious on the battlefield,” he stated.
There have been rumors in recent months that Mr. Shoigu’s status is deteriorating and that he would lose his job.
In a rare step against a senior official of his caliber, Timur Ivanov, one of his deputies, was detained in April on suspicions of corruption.
Duration of Russia’s war
And the duration of Russia’s war in Ukraine was only supposed to be a few weeks.Instead, it has been beset by military setbacks and significant casualties in both troops and materiel as it enters its third year.
It looks that Mr. Shoigu is being demoted even though he will still have a significant position as the secretary of the Security Council.
What will happen to Nikolai Patrushev, the current head of the council, is not yet known.
President Putin and Mr. Shoigu are personal friends, and Mr. Shoigu frequently takes the president fishing in his native Siberia.
Despite his lack of military experience, he was assigned the defense portfolio, which infuriated some of his senior ranks.
Mr. Shoigu, a civil engineer by trade, became well-known in the 1990s when he was appointed director of the ministry responsible for crises and disaster assistance.
In 2023, Mr. Shoigu and Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner’s mercenaries, got into a public spat about Russia’s war strategy.
Prigozhin, the leader of a brief uprising against Moscow, called Mr. Shoigu a “elderly clown” and a “dirtbag” in recordings that went viral.
In August 2023, the mercenary chief was traveling from St Petersburg to Moscow when his jet crashed. The Kremlin refuted any responsibility.