Russian President Vladimir V. Putin on Sunday replaced his defense minister with an economist, reshuffling his national security team for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine and signaling his determination to put Russia’s The war effort was based on economic sustainability.
Putin kept Minister Sergei K. Shoigu in his inner circle, appointing him to run the National Security Council — a position that gave Shoigu close contact with the president but little direct power. Shoigu will replace Putin’s former KGB colleague Nikolai P. Patrushev, who the Kremlin said will be moved to another position and will be announced in the coming days.
Andrei R. Belousov is an economist who has served as First Deputy Prime Minister since 2020 and has long been regarded as one of Putin’s most trusted economic advisers. One, he was nominated as the new Secretary of Defense.
The Kremlin said Russia’s ballooning defense budget needed to be put in the hands of an economist and that Belousov would help the Russian military “be more open to innovation.”
For Putin, who tends to avoid reckless changes, the cabinet changes represent a rare overhaul that could mark a turning point Russia’s war in Ukraine has lasted for more than two years.
He dismissed the army chief, whom Russia’s pro-war critics and Western analysts believe was partly responsible for many of Moscow’s failures at the outset of the invasion. By appointing an economist, he tacitly acknowledged the importance of industrial strength to any military victory.
The possibility of Shoigu’s dismissal has been the subject of speculation since the early days of the war, when Russian forces appeared unprepared for Ukraine’s resolve to resist.
Last summer, mercenary leader Yevgeny V. Prigozhin launched a mutiny in an attempt to oust Shoigu, who had been defense minister for more than a decade. But analysts say Putin values loyalty, but he still supports Shoigu.
Now, with Russian forces winning the battlefield initiative, Putin is signaling a greater willingness to make changes and demonstrating that Russia has the discipline and economic capabilities to wage a long war. Last month, Russian authorities arrested one of Shoigu’s top deputies on corruption charges, suggesting that Shoigu’s status may change.
But the Kremlin said on Sunday that another frequent critic of Russia’s war effort – Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of staff and Russia’s top military officer – would remain in his post.
It is unclear how much power Shoigu will retain over the war. While his new position is similar to that of the U.S. presidential national security adviser, analysts say the role has limited influence in Putin’s Russia because it does not directly control the military or security agencies.
Alexander Baunov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center, wrote that Mr. Shoigu was “too big to fall.” But he added that in his new position, Shoigu would have “no real command authority and no cash box.”
Belousov, 65, was a former Kremlin economic adviser and was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister in 2020.
In contrast, the government’s security bloc has come under fire as Russian forces adopted a faulty strategy and faltered on the battlefield in the early months of the war.
Russian commentators expressed surprise at the appointment of an economist to oversee Russia’s massive military. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov told reporters that Putin made the decision because of a “geopolitical environment” that once again brought Russian military spending close to Soviet-era levels.
“This is extremely important and requires special attention,” Mr Peskov said.
He added that Putin wanted the defense ministry to be civilian-led because of the need to modernize the military — an implicit message that Shoigu was not up to the task. (Mr Shoigu received the rank of general from his previous service as emergency minister.)
“Today on the battlefield, the winners are those who are more open to innovation, more open to the fastest implementation,” Mr. Peskov said. “Therefore, it is natural for the president to decide at this stage that civilians will lead the Department of Defense.”
But while Belousov has knowledge of economics, he has relatively little management experience. From 2012 to 2013, he served as the country’s economic development minister for more than a year.
The change comes less than a week after Putin was inaugurated as Russia’s president for a fifth term, in a ceremony widely expected to lay the groundwork for some form of cabinet reshuffle. As part of the government transition, the Russian leader’s entire cabinet was dismissed. Many, but not all, of his ministers were reappointed to their posts.
Mr. Shoigu is the longest-serving minister in the history of the independent Russian Federation and a key figure in Russian politics since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Originally from the republic of Tuva in southern Siberia, he served as Russia’s Minister of Emergency Situations for more than two decades from 1991 to 2012, establishing an image across the country as a man of action. The reaction was in stark contrast to other ministers who were portrayed as armchair strategists.
Mr Shoigu has served as Russia’s defense minister since 2012, which was marked by Mr Putin’s military interventions in Ukraine in 2014 and Syria in 2015. Became the target of public criticism.
Prigozhin railed against him in videos posted online over the past few months, accusing him of incompetence in a battle for influence that ultimately led to the mercenary leader’s defeat last summer. in an uprising to oust him. Prigozhin later died in a plane crash in what U.S. officials believe was likely a Kremlin-sanctioned assassination attempt.
Sunday’s leadership change could also mark a change in the status of Patrushev, a hardliner with a KGB background who has long been viewed as a member of Putin’s inner circle.
Nearly one-third of the Russian federal budget this year is spent on defense, a significant increase from previous years. Heavy government spending on the military has boosted the Russian economy, but has also increased the risk of the economy overheating as a tight labor force drives up wages and inflation.
One of Shoigu’s top deputies, Timur Ivanov, was arrested by Russian authorities in April and accused of taking bribes. Mr. Ivanov has long been responsible for military construction drawings.
His arrest, Shoigu’s removal and the appointment of a trusted technocrat as defense minister could also be a sign that the Kremlin, after turning a blind eye to the corruption that has grown alongside military spending, will now launch a campaign to to combat corruption.
“Belousov’s first task will be to fight corruption,” pro-Kremlin political analyst Sergei Markov wrote on the Telegram messaging app, referring to the newly appointed defense minister. For Belousov, he added, “serving as defense minister in a hybrid war against the entire West is the most important challenge of his life.”
