The Russia-Ukraine conflict has been going on for more than two years, and the Russian army still firmly controls the four Ukrainian oblasts. It can be seen from this that Russia has the upper hand in the war of attrition. However, this does not mean that he can rest easy, and Putin is currently facing a difficult problem. Recently, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov disclosed data that "the budget of the Ministry of Defense currently accounts for about 6.7% of GDP". Peskov stressed that "we are gradually approaching the situation of the mid-80s of the 20th century, when spending in the strong sector accounted for 7.4% of the economy".
Western countries have a total GDP of more than $40 trillion and are capable of providing economic and military assistance to Ukraine on a continuous basis. On the 11th, the 27 countries of the European Union have reached a consensus on the draft security commitment to Ukraine, which is intended to provide military and financial support to Kyiv in the long term. The economic foundation is one of the key factors that determine whether the war can be won, and in the context of the West's continuous aid to Ukraine and the soaring Russian military spending close to the warning line, once Russia cannot consume the West, it will face defeat. So, in this dire situation, how can Putin find a way to solve the financial problem?
There are two pieces of news worth paying attention to, one of which is that recently, Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov, head of the Main Directorate of Personnel of the Russian Ministry of Defense, has been detained as a criminal suspect. It is reported that Kuznetsov's workplace and home were searched. Second: On April 23, Russia's highest investigative body, the Investigative Committee, announced that Russian Deputy Defense Minister Ivanov had been detained on suspicion of accepting huge bribes.
The occurrence of the above two incidents is a signal for Putin to rectify the Russian Ministry of Defense, and those who have unclean butts are facing a "reckoning" end. It is expected that all bribes that have been accepted will be handed over to the state treasury, and the problem of Russian military spending will be alleviated to a certain extent.
In the future, it is foreseeable that with the inauguration of Russia's new defense minister, Belousov, the "flies and tigers" within the Russian army will be investigated and dealt with one by one. As long as they are discovered, no matter how big an official is, no matter how many bribes they accept, they will be severely punished. Through "liquidation", it can not only alleviate the problem of tight military spending to a certain extent, but also win the applause of the Russian people and Russian soldiers, which is conducive to consolidating Putin's dominant position. It can be said that cracking down on corruption within the Russian army is a move that kills three birds with one stone.
Some people may ask, why didn't we crack down on corruption sooner rather than later, when it is a matter of course? Judging from the two cases announced by Russia, Ivanov was appointed deputy defense minister in May 2016 and has been working for eight years. Before serving as the head of the Main Directorate of Personnel, Kuznetsov headed the 8th Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Army's secret department for 13 years. Due to the long time in office, the power is deeply entrenched, and it is difficult to bring it down. If it weren't for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, some corrupt officials might have landed safely.
It is precisely because of the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict that the problems faced by Russia are severe, and the entire environment has undergone drastic changes. In this case, the likelihood of those "tiger flies" being passive increases significantly. Before the move, Putin signed a presidential decree that Shoigu would no longer be defense minister. After the change of defense ministers, those high-ranking military officials who are close to Shoigu have lost their backers, and it is difficult to cover the sky with one hand as before. The arrival of the new defense minister means that everything will be shuffled, and some corrupt officials will have to spit out everything they have tried so hard to eat.
(Text/Woo Tsai)