2024-05-12 20:29:00
Even on May 9, Putin and Shoigu showed themselves, the minister led a military parade on Red Square to mark the 79th anniversary of the defeat of Nazism. He took over the Ministry of Defense in 2012, in 1991-2012 he headed the Ministry of Emergency Situations in charge of rescuers, etc. Until now, he has been a close associate of Putin, even in the last more than two years, when Russia has been waging war against Ukraine. He also went with him on a summer vacation to Siberia.
On May 7, Putin began his fifth presidential mandate, as a rule, he changes the government at these times. Mikhail Mishustin remains the prime minister, but there has been a lot of speculation about changes in the Ministry of Defense. Shoigu failed to arrange the successes of the “special military operation” in Ukraine. On the contrary, speculations about the fall of the Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov are not confirmed (yet) – according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, he remains in office, writes the TASS agency.
In recent weeks, Shoigu’s deputy, Timur Ivanov, responsible for army construction and contracts, fell. He was accused of corruption of astronomical heights. Corruption has long been known in the Kremlin, so his arrest can rather be considered a harbinger of the end of the minister.
Economist Andrej Bělousov has been deputy prime minister since January 2020 (he also served as head of the cabinet for three weeks when Prime Minister Mišustin was in hospital with covid), previously he was minister of economic development or economic assistant to the president.
It is necessary “to integrate the economy of the power bloc into the economy of the country”, Peskov explained why the defense department is understood by a civilian-economist. He added that now the budget of the military department is already approaching the level of the 1980s, which is not critical, but “extremely important”.
KGB agents in Lavrov
The TASS agency adds that by presidential decree, Shoigu was appointed secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, more or less an advisory body to the president.
“As secretary, he will also be vice-chairman of the commission for the military-industrial complex, he is deeply immersed in this work, he knows perfectly the pace of production of military-industrial products in specific enterprises, he often visits these enterprises,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to TASS. He will also oversee the work of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSVTS).
Until now, another Putin loyalist, Nikolay Patrushev, served as secretary of the Security Council – they served together in Leningrad in the KGB in the 1970s. Later, immediately after Putin, he headed its successor secret service, the FSB (1999–2008). The dismissal decree mentions “transfer to the next position”. The president wishes to keep the current boss, another long-time associate from the KGB, Alexander Bortnikov, as well as another former co-agent, Sergei Naryshkin, at the head of the SVR’s foreign intelligence. Viktor Zolotov, Putin’s former bodyguard, is also to remain at the head of the relatively new National Guard (Rosgvardija).
“Putin proposes a partial change of personnel. There is no reason to believe that perhaps his proposals would not be accepted.” commented the political geographer Michael Romancov from the FSV of Charles University.
At the same time, Putin proposed to the upper chamber of the Russian parliament – the Federation Council – to keep Sergei Lavrov in office. Leads diplomacy since 2004, reminds TASS. He also wants to keep the ministers of the interior and justice and other lesser-known officials.
Ministers and potentates in positions of power are approved by the upper chamber on the proposal of the Russian president, while the heads of other departments are then given the nod by the State Duma – the lower chamber. According to the TASS report, MPs in 18 committees nodded to Mishustin’s proposals. A plenary vote will follow.
Sergei Shoigu
- Before being appointed to the ministerial position in 2012, he had no military experience. Shortly after starting the war against Ukraine, he was criticized for the failure of the invasion. Western media speculated several times about his exchange or about competition at the highest levels of Russian politics and the leadership of the armed forces, in which Shoigu was supposed to be one of the main figures. Among his major critics were Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner’s mercenary group, and Igor Girkin, the former commander of the pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass. Wagner’s group attempted an armed rebellion against the leadership of the Russian military and the Russian Ministry of Defense last June. Prigozhin died in a plane crash in August.
- Ukraine included Shoigu on the list of citizens of the Russian Federation who accused of committing or being responsible for war crimes in Ukraine. Shoigu is on the EU and US sanctions lists.
- Shoigu was born on May 21, 1955 in the city of Čadan in the Tuvinian Republic to a Russian mother and a father from the Turkic nation of the Tuvinians. He graduated from the Krasnoyarsk Polytechnic Institute, then worked as a civil engineer in the management positions of a number of enterprises. In 1988, he started his career in the Communist Party, and a year later he already sat in its regional committee. In 1990, he became deputy chairman of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for Architecture and Engineering, and a year later, chairman of the Committee for Emergency Situations. It became a ministry, still with Shoigu at the head.
- From January 1994 to November 2012, he was the Minister for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and Liquidation of the Consequences of Natural Disasters. In this capacity, he gained considerable popularity as he ventured into the rubble with rescuers and led convoys of humanitarian aid vehicles. For this, he was also awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation award in 1999, which he received after his the ministry ensured the quick liquidation of the consequences of four terrorist attacks.
- From September 1999, he was the chairman of the new pro-government formation Jednota, from which the United Russia party was formed in December 2001. In 2012, he was also briefly the governor of the Moscow region.
Andrei Belousov
- Before being appointed to Mishustin’s government in 2020, Belousov was an economic adviser to President Putin from June 2013. From May 2012 to June 2013, he was Minister of Economic Development in the government of Dmitry Medvedev.
- He studied economics at Lomonosov State University in Moscow. He later earned a doctorate in economics.
- He started his career as a junior researcher at the Central Economic and Mathematical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Subsequently, he worked at the Institute of Economics and Forecasting of Scientific and Technical Progress of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, and from 1990 to 2006 at the Institute of Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences. From 2000 to 2006, he was the general director of the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasts and at the same time an external adviser to the Prime Ministers of the Russian Federation. He also collaborated with the Center for Strategic Research on the preparation of Russia’s development program.
- From February 2006 to July 2008, he was Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Economic Policy of the Russian Federation. Then, until 2012, when he became a member of the government, he was the director of the economy and finance department of the government office. He was also, for example, the governor of Russia at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the vice-governor of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In June 2013, he joined the presidential administration. Between 2015 and 2018, he was, among other things, the chairman of the board of the oil company Rosneft.
- As the first deputy prime minister was in charge, for example, of developing the main directions of the country’s socio-economic development, coordination of work to achieve the goals of national development of Russia and implementation of national projects, unified financial, credit and monetary policy and regulation of financial markets. He was also responsible for state policy on natural monopolies, state statistics, transport, sanctions countermeasures, etc.
- Bělousov is a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. He is also the holder of a number of awards, which he received, for example, from the president or the government.
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