In recent times, there have been frequent important personnel changes in the Ukrainian political arena, the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army Zaluzhny has been appointed as Ukraine's ambassador to the United Kingdom, and many Ukrainian ministers have been vacant. However, at this time, Russia also ushered in a "political earthquake" that attracted the attention of the world.
After Putin's inauguration ceremony, Putin officially entered his fifth presidential term, forming a new government as usual, and many senior Russian officials, including Lavrov, were retained, but shockingly, the Russian defense minister was suddenly replaced.
On May 12, Putin signed a presidential decree appointing Shoigu as secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, and Andrei Belousov took over as defense minister, Xinhua news agency reported.
Putin's move must have been deeply intentional, and it is likely to send three important signals.
First, Putin may also be dissatisfied with Shoigu's performance as defense minister.
First of all, from the point of view of actual power, Shoigu is not promoted, nor can it be regarded as a flat adjustment, and Shoigu is not as powerful now as he was when he was defense minister. After Medvedev was removed from the center of power, Putin also placed Medvedev here and appointed Medvedev as deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation;
Secondly, the performance of the Russian army after the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine is indeed lower than the expectations of all parties, and Putin is afraid that he also has opinions. At the beginning of the war, the Russian army was menacing, however, the Russian army soon ushered in the embarrassing scene of withdrawing from Kyiv and Izyum in four days and losing three important towns in four days. Whether Shoigu is responsible for this, then, cannot but be thought-provoking;
In addition, the founder of Wagner has repeatedly "shelled" Shoigu, accusing Shoigu of being responsible for the Russian soldiers who died of lack of ammunition, and although Prigozhin died in a plane crash shortly after the "Wagner incident", the influence of Prigozhin's accusations is only afraid of the aftermath.
Second, Russia may have to adjust the course of the war.
Who is Belousov, who succeeded Shoigu as defense minister? He previously served as Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development of Russia, and Economic Adviser to the President.
Since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, Russia has been quite restrained in its investment in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, repeatedly denying that Russia has any intention of carrying out general mobilization, and it has not significantly increased the scale of conscription on the surface.
Recently, however, the situation has changed. On the one hand, the Russian army suddenly launched a large-scale offensive in the Kharkiv direction, and the Russian army seems to have a lot of appetite; On the other hand, the West's movements are becoming more and more vigilant to Russia, France has repeatedly advocated sending troops to Ukraine, NATO has frequently flexed its muscles against Russia, and the United States has resumed military aid to Ukraine.
In order to meet the new needs of war, Russia needs to adjust its style of play and consider how to adapt to the Russian economy.
Third, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has brought increasing pressure on Russia's military spending.
On May 12, the Kremlin focused on Russia's military spending. According to a report on the 12th, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the proportion of the budget of the Russian Ministry of Defense and powerful departments has risen all the way, not long ago it was 3%, and recently it has increased to 6.7%, Peskov stressed that this is "extremely important" and needs "special attention".
Particularly striking is the fact that the palace linked Russia's current situation to the Soviet Union in the mid-'80s, noting that spending on powerful sectors accounted for 7.4 percent of the economy. You know, in the mid-80s, the Soviet Union was already on a downward spiral, and excessive military spending was also considered one of the important reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union. At this time, the Kremlin focused on reminding the issue of military spending, which shows that the economic pressure brought by the war to Russia is not small, and Russia is extremely vigilant against this by learning from history.
Russia's choice of the more economically savvy Belousov to replace Shoigu may be due to the need for a more economic-responsive defense minister due to high military spending, or the desire for Belousov to use military spending more efficiently.