Putin replaces Russia’s defense minister with a civilian
Russian President Vladimir Putin has replaced his defense minister and close ally Sergei Shoigu with a civilian economist, a major reshuffle of military leadership more than two-years after Moscow’s grinding war against Ukraine has sent defense spending soaring, CNN reports.
Andrey Belousov, a civilian who served as former first deputy prime minister and specializes in economics, was appointed to the top defense post, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.
Shoigu was “relieved” of his position by presidential decree, Peskov said, but he will remain an influential part of Putin’s administration as Secretary of Russia’s Security Council, replacing former FSB head Nikolai Patrushev, who would “transfer to another job.”
Shoigu will also become deputy in Russia’s Military-Industrial Commission, Peskov said, as Putin embarks on a fifth term as president.
The shake-up comes as Russia launched its most serious cross-border ground assault since Ukraine re-captured the northern Kharkiv region in the late summer of 2022. It also comes after several months of increased Russian air attacks on the city of Kharkiv and amid a grinding advance in Donetsk in the east that has seen incremental but significant progress.
Shoigu had helmed the country’s defense ministry for 12 years and led the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russian troops initially caught Kyiv by surprise but were soon beaten back, exposing the weaknesses of Moscow’s corruption-riddled military and its willingness to send waves of poorly trained and equipped soldiers into what Ukraine and Russian troops have both dubbed a “meat grinder.”
