On May 12, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (pictured below, right) was replaced by little-known 65-year-old Andrei Belousov, who took up the post of defense minister in Russia's new government.
Shoigu has been Russia's defense minister for more than a decade since 2012 and is considered Russia's longest-serving minister, while having a very good personal relationship with Putin and is highly regarded by Putin. The change is reportedly a major reshuffle in Russia and part of a reshuffle that is taking place as Putin begins his fifth presidential term.
On May 7, Russian President Vladimir Putin, 71, was inaugurated in a ceremony in the Kremlin for his fifth term.
Belovesov (pictured below), 65, took on the position despite having no previous military experience and no work in the field of national security.
As an economist, Belousov's most prominent role was acting prime minister for three weeks in 2020 when Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin contracted the virus, and Mishustin was reappointed as Russia's prime minister on May 10.
It is known that Shoigu will assume the presidency of the Russian Security Council, replacing the current chairman of the Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev. Foreign media speculated that the reason for this change was that Shoigu was widely criticized for the defeat of the Russian army in the early stage of the fighting in Ukraine.
Shoigu was also harshly attacked by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin (below), who about a year ago marched on Moscow to demand the resignation of Shoigu and the chief of the General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov. The rebellion ended quickly, but it also marked the growing contradictions within the Russian army.
Two months after the rebellion, Prigozhin was killed in a suspicious plane crash, and Shoigu appeared to have consolidated his position, but the arrest of his deputy, Ivanov, interpreted by many as part of the Kremlin's political infighting, once again exposed Shoigu's vulnerability.
Because of Belousov's lack of military experience, some may think that Belousov's tenure as defense minister is odd, and this appointment may mean that Putin intends to play a closer personal role in war strategy.
Since the beginning of the war, Russian spending has surged, and the country's economy has shifted to a war base. The Financial Times reported in November that Russia's finance ministry expected spending to rise by 12% that year. This is despite Putin's promise in 2018 to put Russia in the top five economies in the world.
Foreign media analysts speculate that now that Putin has secured another six years in power, the government may take the unpopular step of raising taxes to fund the war and force more people to join the army.
According to The Moscow Times, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that "the Ministry of Defense must be absolutely open to innovation."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also referred to Belousov's background in economics, saying that Russia's defense must focus on "introducing advanced ideas and creating conditions for economic competitiveness — which is why the president chose Belousov as his candidate." ”
Shoigu hails from the remote Tuva region and has been Putin's vacation partner in Siberia for many years. Earlier, he was a long-time Minister of Emergency Situations and was a core member of Putin's government.
The Kremlin has tried to emphasize that Shoigu remains vital to Russia and will continue to perform some military functions, however, the recent arrest of Shoigu's deputy, Timur Ivanov, on corruption charges, says something about it.
Ivanov, who served as deputy defense minister in charge of a large-scale military construction project, was arrested on bribery charges and ordered to be detained pending an official investigation.
Despite Shoigu's close personal ties to Putin, Ivanov's arrest was widely interpreted as an attack on Shoigu and could be a precursor to his dismissal.