Vladimir Putin reshuffles his military command and had to sacrifice his ‘bungling defence’ minister and replaced him with a ‘puppet’ with zero military experience.
In a wide-ranging reshuffle of his most senior cronies, Putin sacked his longtime friend Sergei Shoigu, 68, and has shifted him into the role of secretary of Russia‘s national security council.
Reports say he has proposed little-known civilian economist Andrey Belousov, 65, to replace Shoigu as defense minister in his new government.
Promises of the Reshuffle
Kremlin press spokesman Dmitry Peskov, explaining the timing of the decision, said it needed the defence ministry to stay ‘innovative’ and better utilise defence expenditures to win in Ukraine.
The move appears to be an astonishing snub to Shoigu, the man Putin put in charge of his war, a close ally, and Russia’s longest serving minister.
Until now, Putin had stood by Shoigu despite a string of military setbacks in the first year of the campaign and his public feud with Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin who launched a bloody insurrection last year calling for Shoigu’s removal.
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What it Means
The reshuffle of the military command is the most significant Putin has undertaken since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
What People Think
However, analysts believe it is a sign the Russia’s hardline president wants to take personal charge of the Ukraine war‘.
They argue that appointing a civilian economist as defense minister suggests Putin aims to take a closer personal role in war tactics.
Meanwhile the UK’s Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has predicted the new defence minister will just be another one of Putin’s ‘puppets’.
Putin’s reshuffle came as thousands more civilians have fled Russia’s renewed ground offensive in Ukraine’s northeast that has targeted towns and villages with a barrage of artillery and mortar shelling.
