Russian defense minister: More than two years after the invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin abruptly changed guard by appointing a professional economist as his defence minister.
In place of Sergei Shoigu, 68, who was granted a mild downgrade and placed in charge of the security council, Putin nominated Andrey Belousov, 65, his longtime economic adviser, as the Russian defense minister. The previous occupant of that position, an old Putin friend named Nikolai Patrushev, was fired and is expected to take another, unnamed position.
While the majority of Shoigu’s predecessors under Putin likewise lacked military experience, this is the first time Putin has appointed a career economist to the position of defence minister.
Few days after the Russian president was inaugurated in for a fifth term, extending his quarter-century in office, a rearrangement would seem to indicate Putin’s dissatisfaction with the way security officials were managing the conflict.
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In 2020, Putin underwent his largest political upheaval since then, when he replaced then-prime minister Dmitry Medvedev with technocrat Mikhail Mishustin, who is now serving alongside seasoned diplomat and foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
Russia has been making little local progress along the frontlines as Ukrainian forces need more air defence systems and men and weapons.
Putin is reluctant to order another unpopular mobilization after the September 2022 call-up of 300,000 Russians provoked panic and exodus from Ukraine.
According to Sergei Markov, a political expert close to the Kremlin, Belousov’s nomination is about Putin gaining more control over military matters as the Ukraine conflict continues. After a corruption scandal involving former deputy defence minister Timur Ivanov, a close Shoigu adviser, the necessity for a new face to represent Russia’s armed forces also became critical.
Belousov will work things out since he is personally loyal to Putin, Markov stated over the phone. There have been far too many side projects.
According to the Irish Times, there was also the stench of unresolved business from the failed insurrection that resulted from the disagreement with Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin last year. Shoigu was rumoured to be leaving at the moment, but that decision was postponed.
Putin eventually waited to make any adjustments until after Prigozhin passed away inexplicably in the late summer and his reelection this month. An official at the Kremlin who discussed the rearrangement on anonymity said that Putin believes Belousov to be honest and not dishonest.
Chief Russia economist Evgeny Suvorov of CentroCredit Bank said, “The shake-up is about consolidating the role of the military-industrial complex as the main locomotive of the economy.”
Belousov received a degree in cybernetics economics from Moscow State University in 1981 and a doctorate thereafter. Initially, he had worked for the Russian Academy of Sciences.
When Putin momentarily resigned as president in 2008, he took a position as director of the Department of economics and Finance, trading positions with Medvedev to eventually take back the top post. Belousov subsequently held the positions of top economic advisor to Putin and briefly minister of economy. His contribution to Russia’s conversion to a war economy was crucial.
Known for his tough attitude toward businesses and individuals, he was instrumental in the government’s decision to raise taxes on the mining and metals sectors, even after the war broke out.
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Conversely, Shoigu was headed in the opposite direction after Prigozhin made him a target during the June 2023 uprising. His downfall follows a 20-year tenure as director of Russia’s emergencies ministry and a close confidante of Putin, having accompanied him on well-reported hunting and horseback riding excursions in Siberia.
Founder of the political consultancy R.Politik Tatyana Stanovaya said on Telegram that his appointment to the security council demonstrates how the body, which was already centred around the president’s decision-making on national security strategy, has become helpless and is being used as a “reservoir for former Putin key figures.”
Medvedev is the deputy head of the Security Council; yet, over time, his responsibilities have been significantly diminished. Putin amended the Constitution in 2020 to grant him two more terms, extending his reign until 2036, when he will be eighty-three.
