Why is he a civilian official? , Putin’s new Defense Minister Shoigu | Belousov | Civilian

Release time:May 13, 2024 13:23 PM

According to reports, Russian President Vladimir Putin reshuffled his cabinet on the 12th and unexpectedly proposed the appointment of a civilian economic expert as the new defense minister to replace Sergei Shoigu.

This person is Andrei Belousov, who previously served as the First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia.

There are reports that this marks the most significant change Putin has made to the military command since the Ukrainian crisis escalated in 2022.

For this major appointment, the Kremlin also responded: Those who are open to innovation will win on the battlefield.

The Russian presidential website released news on the 12th that Putin signed a presidential decree and made intensive appointments to the cabinet. Because it involves the first replacement of the Russian Defense Minister in more than ten years, it has attracted widespread attention from the outside world.

There are several major changes in this appointment: Belousov, who previously served as First Deputy Prime Minister, was nominated as the Russian Defense Minister; former Defense Minister Shoigu was appointed as the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation; Nikolai Patrushev was dismissed from his position as secretary of the Security Council, and Putin said he had another appointment.

Why is Belousov’s appointment the biggest surprise? The Russian Defense Minister is the head of the entire military, while Belousov was previously a civilian official focusing on the economy.

Belousov was born in Moscow in 1959, three years younger than Shoigu. He graduated with honors from the Department of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University.

He first worked at a research institute and then entered politics, serving successively as Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Assistant to the President for Economic Affairs and First Deputy Prime Minister. In 2020, due to the new crown epidemic, he also briefly took over the post of Russian Prime Minister Mishustin.

As early as 2017, it was also reported that Belousov was one of the officials who convinced Putin that "the digital economy and blockchain are crucial to the future."

Information shows that as a civilian official focusing on the economy, although Belousov practiced sambo and karate when he was young, he did not serve in the armed forces.

The Russian Federation Council needs to review the relevant nominations and report the results to Putin within a week. If there is no objection, Putin will sign a presidential decree to appoint relevant personnel. It is generally believed that this round of appointments will have a high probability of being approved.

From a political perspective, changing Belousov from the position of First Deputy Prime Minister to Minister of Defense is somewhat of a "downgrade".

But at this special moment when Russia continues to launch attacks on Ukraine, the position of the Russian Defense Minister seems to be even more important.

So why did Putin appoint “a civilian economist” as his new defense minister?

Kremlin spokesman Peskov gave an explanation. Since the crisis in Ukraine escalated, Russia's military budget has grown from 3% of GDP to 6.7%, close to the situation in the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s, when it accounted for 7.4%.

When major changes occur at the economic level, there will be corresponding adjustments in personnel.

Peskov said it was crucial to ensure that defense spending was in line with the overall national interest, so Putin wanted a civilian with an economic background to serve as defense minister.

Analysts believe that this is a sign that Putin is increasing investment in Ukraine on the battlefield, hoping to use more of Russia's economic resources and defense budget to deal with Ukraine, while subjecting defense spending to stricter scrutiny to ensure that funds are used effectively.

Just at the end of last month, Russia's former Deputy Minister of Defense Ivanov was arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes. Reports said that the amount of bribes he accepted in various forms may be nearly 11 million US dollars.

Previously, the West tried to crush the Russian economy through sanctions, but Russia successfully stabilized the economy. Recently, the International Monetary Fund also raised Russia's GDP growth forecast for 2024 from 2.6% to 3.2%.

After the news of Putin’s appointment of a new defense minister was released, Ukrainian economist Alexei Kusi said that Belousov would help Russia cope with the pressure of Western sanctions and allow the Russian economy to transition to a growth stage.

He said that Belousov played a role in "creating Russia's economic growth model, deep structural transformation and adapting to sanctions" and that his appointment as defense minister may accelerate the development of Russia's military industry. And this is "bad news" for Ukraine.

In September last year, Ukraine’s Defense Minister was replaced by Rustem Umerov from Leznikov. Both Russia and Ukraine are carefully arranging their troops.

Although Putin's current round of appointments seems to be vigorous and resolute, he has also achieved a certain balance among Russia's top leaders.

First, former Defense Minister Shoigu, who is well known to the public, has received a "favor" and will serve as Secretary of the Russian Federation Security Council and be in charge of the military-industrial complex. Industry insiders say this is technically considered a higher position than the secretary of defense. Shoigu has been appointed Minister of Defense since 2012 and was awarded the title of "Hero of Russia".

However, Shoigu’s tenure as Defense Minister was not entirely without controversy. After the crisis in Ukraine escalated, the Russian army retreated significantly, and Shoigu was severely criticized by some Russian military figures. Prigozhin, the founder of the Russian private military entity Wagner Organization, is one of them.

Second, most of the heads of key departments remain unchanged.

According to news released by the Russian Federation Council on social media on the evening of the 12th, Putin nominated Sergey Lavrov to remain as Foreign Minister, Sergey Naryshkin to remain as Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service, and Alexander Kulenkov to remain as Emergency Secretary. Minister of Situation, Vladimir Kolokoltsev remains as Minister of Internal Affairs, Konstantin Trichenko remains as Minister of Justice, Alexander Bortnikov remains as Director of the Federal Security Service, and Viktor Zolotov remains as National Guard Team Commander.

In addition, Valery Gerasimov remains as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

Some analysts said that as the front-line leader, Gerasimov has always hoped to have more funds to serve the defense sector. In this context, he needs a reliable economist by his side, and Belousov can do it. to this point.

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