” data-script=”https://static.lefigaro.fr/widget-video/short-ttl/video/index.js” >
Minister of Defense since 2012, and close to Vladimir Putin, Sergei Shoigu is appointed secretary of the Security Council, according to a decree published by the Kremlin.
Correspondent in Moscow,
In the midst of the Russian troops’ offensive on Kharkiv, Vladimir Putin decided to dismiss his Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, who had held this position for twelve years. To succeed him, the head of the Kremlin chose a technocrat with an economic profile, former Deputy Prime Minister Andreï Belooussov, 65 years old. Former Minister of the Economy and presidential advisor, he led the Russian interim government for a few months in 2020 when Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin was hospitalized due to Covid. His appointment must now be approved by the Federation Council, the Russian Senate, but this is a formality at best. On the other hand, the head of the Kremlin, inaugurated last week for his fifth term, chose to maintain in his post another tenor of the Russian government, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, 74 years old.
The departure of Sergei Choigou, 68 years old, if it does not constitute a real surprise, is nonetheless significant, more than two years after the start of the invasion of Ukraine and while the Russian army is engaging a critical offensive phase for the Ukrainian forces, lacking ammunition and manpower. A major battle was launched last week by the Russians for control of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, and a strategic node in the northeast of the country.
A damaged image
It is true that Sergei Shoigu’s star had seriously faded in recent years. He was no longer shown in the media as was previously the case as a “best friend” of the president, sharing mountain hikes or fishing trips with him. The image of the Minister of Defense, a face most often closed and austere, had been damaged by the Prigojine episode, the late leader of Wagner’s mercenaries, who had made the Minister of Defense the main target of his harsh criticism against the Moscow “bureaucrats”, incapable according to him of meeting the demands of the fighters on the ground. Sergei Shoigu had nevertheless maintained the support of Vladimir Putin against the boss of Wagner who, with regard to the “force services” (including the Ministry of Defense), had largely crossed the yellow line by engaging his mercenaries in a “march on Moscow » in spring 2023.
Last month, Sergei Shoigu had to concede the dismissal of his vice-minister, Timur Ivanov, at the head of all military infrastructures and accused of large-scale embezzlement, linked to the reconstruction of the city Mariupol of which he was responsible. one of those responsible. The expensive life of Ivanov’s ex-wife, from whom he had divorced, supposedly in order to protect her from Western sanctions, had also greatly fueled social networks. According to political scientist Sergei Markov, close to the Kremlin, the objective of the appointment of Andrei Belousov as head of the Ministry of Defense is precisely to send a signal on the need to “reducing corruption and the role of personal affairs that had accumulated around the Ministry of Defense”.
Maxim Shemetov / REUTERS
Beloussov to take control of arms production
For political scientist Tatiana Stanovaya, the arrival of Mr. Belooussov at Defense would not aim at a change in military leadership – his experience in this area being a priori weak – but would rather concern the governance of the military-industrial complex, a key area in moment when absolute priority is given to the production of armaments for the war in Ukraine. “The main thing now is to know whether General Valery Gerassimov will remain in his post,” asked Tatiana Stanovaya on Sunday about the chief of staff of the Russian armies and main contractor of operations in Ukraine.
Faithful to his method which most often consists of re-employing the relatives he has dismissed, Vladimir Putin will not leave Sergei Shoigu without a job. He became secretary of the Security Council, a position previously held by Nikolai Patrushev, 72 years old. The Security Council, chaired by former President Dmitri Medvedev, brings together the main leaders of the Russian state’s security services and ministries. An organization that is in the process of becoming a “reservoir for Putin’s former key figures, those who cannot be let go and who have nowhere to go”, commented Ms. Stanovaya.
” data-script=”https://static.lefigaro.fr/widget-video/short-ttl/video/index.js” >