Putin replaces long-time Russian defence minister in surprise move

President Vladimir Putin has replaced his long-serving defence minister in a surprise move as Russian forces seek to capitalise on a battlefield advantage and make advances in the war against Ukraine.

Mr Putin proposed his former economy aide and first deputy prime minister Andrei Belousov (65), as candidate for the post of defence minister, while Sergei Shoigu (68), is set to replace a Putin ally as security council chief.

Mr Shoigu, who has served as defence minister since 2012, is to take the role of chief of the security council after Nikolai Patrushev was dismissed and is due to take another job, according to Mr Putin’s order.

The reshuffling represents the first major shake-up since Mr Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022. It comes after Mr Putin (71), secured a fifth term to extend his nearly quarter-century in power in a tightly managed landslide election in which he faced no serious opposition. Mr Putin re-appointed his prime minister Mikhail Mishustin after his May 7th inauguration.

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Mr Shoigu’s replacement by Mr Belousov is aimed at exerting more Kremlin control over military affairs as the Ukraine war stretches into a third year, said Sergei Markov, a political consultant close to the Kremlin.

“Belousov is personally loyal to Putin and he’ll sort this all out,” Mr Markov said by phone. “There have been too many personal interests.”

The need for a new defence chief was illustrated by a corruption scandal involving former deputy defence minister Timur Ivanov, a key Shoigu aide who’s in detention facing bribery charges, and the conflict with Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin that led to a failed mutiny last year, according to Mr Markov.

Mr Shoigu had been targeted by Mr Prigozhin when he led his June 2023 revolt. He has been a close confidant of Mr Putin, accompanying him on highly publicised hunting and horse-riding trips in Siberia, and headed Russia’s emergencies ministry for nearly 20 years.

His transfer to the security council shows that the body has become powerless and is being used as a “reservoir for former Putin key figures,” Tatyana Stanovaya, founder of the political consultancy R.Politik, said on Telegram.

The deputy head of the security council is Dmitry Medvedev, who stepped down after serving as president from 2008-2012 to allow Mr Putin to keep the reins as prime minister while respecting term limits. Mr Putin in 2020 changed the constitution to allow him two more mandates, which means he could rule to 2036, when he’ll be 83.

Mr Belousov graduated from Moscow State University in 1981 with a degree in cybernetics economics and later got a PhD. His first official job with Mr Putin was as a director of the department of economics and finance in the government in 2008, when Mr Putin was prime minister. He later briefly served as economy minister and then Mr Putin’s economy aide. He has been the first deputy prime minister since January 2020.

“On the surface it appears like a person is being appointed who as a civilian could conduct negotiations” on ending the war in Ukraine, said Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Moscow. “But it could be it’s just an extravagant Putin gesture to shake everyone up - it’s his style.”

Russia has lately been making limited, local gains along the frontline as Ukrainian forces wrestle with shortages of weapons and manpower, along with a dire need for more air defence systems. The Kremlin controls almost 20 per cent of Ukrainian territory, but its forces are advancing cautiously as Mr Putin has been wary of ordering another unpopular mobilisation after the call-up of 300,000 Russians in September 2022 provoked panic and an exodus from the country. - Bloomberg