MOSCOW: President of Russia Vladimir Putin on Sunday removed defense minister Sergei Shoigu in a major shake-up to the country’s military leadership after two years into its Ukraine offensive.
According to a list of ministerial nominations published by the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament, Putin named economist Andrey Belousov as Shoigu’s replacement.
Putin at the same time named Shoigu as the new secretary of the Security Council, replacing his long-standing ally Nikolai Patrushev.
State media quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Shoigu for the time being will continue to work in the defense sector, which he knows well.
He added that Shoigu knows this field very well from the inside, together with his colleagues and partners.
Putin is constitutionally required to name new ministers or reappoint existing ones after his victory in a March election.
Russian parliamentarians need to approve the nominations of the president, which they are set to do on Tuesday.
The development comes with Russian forces advancing on the war fronts for the first time in months.
Shoigu appointed defense minister in 2012
Shoigu was appointed defense minister of Russia in 2012.
Despite some military setbacks for Russia, including the failure to take control of Kyiv and retreats from the northeastern Kharkiv and southern Kherson regions Putin had stood with Shoigu until now.
Belousov, Shoigu’s nominated replacement, has been one of Putin’s most influential economic advisors.
Shoigu led Russia’s offensive in Ukraine and has been the country’s longest-serving minister, as well as being one of Putin’s few close friends.
However, his handling of the war against Ukraine was slammed by many in Russia and his reputation was further hit by recent corruption allegations against one of his deputies.
In 2023, the late chief of Wagner mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin started a very public feud against the higher echelons of the Russian military over its war strategy.
Prigozhin, who led a mutiny and died in a plane accident, blamed Shoigu in furious audio messages that went viral in Russia.
Even before the Prigozhin rebellion started, Shoigu had been under immense pressure because of initial setbacks during Russia’s offensive in 2022.
Hailing from the Tuva area of southern Siberia, Shoigu is among the few non-ethnic Russians to have occupied a top post in government after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
He started his ascent in 1994 when he was appointed emergency situations minister in the early years of the presidency of Boris Yeltsin.
Shoigu became one of Russia’s most popular politicians, as he raced around the country to deal with disasters.
