Putin named economist Andrei Belousov as Moscow’s defense chief, replacing long-serving Sergei Shoigu. Shoigu, in turn, was made secretary of Russia’s security council, replacing ousted security chief Nikolai Patrushev — a key player in Putin’s security apparatus who will now serve as the Russian president’s aide.
Taken together, the shakeup promotes economic over military minds to sustain Putin’s war machine across several years, as well as stamping out any threat of a possible usurper, experts told The Hill.
“We will see more arrests, really as a signal more than anything else, saying, ‘Look, doesn’t matter what the old rules were new, the new rules are different,’” said Mark Galeotti, a Russia expert and head of Mayak Intelligence consultancy firm in London.
Galeotti also said the changes indicate that Putin is “digging in for the long term” on Ukraine, already more than two years into fighting.
Putin earlier this week was sworn in as president for a fifth term, ensuring he will be Russia’s leader until at least 2030.
Among his first orders of business was replacing Shoigu, the defense minister since 2012, a shake-up of the Kremlin’s national security team for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Replacing him is Belousov, a deputy prime minister and economic advisor to Putin who has never served in the military. The changeover has been portrayed as a move to streamline the country’s defense spending.
Others see the timing of the changeovers — ahead of Putin’s arrival in Beijing this week for the first state visit of his new term — as an aim to further integrate Russia’s economy more deeply with China for the sake of long-term military capabilities.
“This suggests that Putin is trying to bring China deeper into his war effort and trying to align the Russian and Chinese economies in such a way that would enable him — with China’s help — to win the war,” Jonathan Ward, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute think tank in Washington, told The Hill.
Cumulatively, the Cabinet shifts mark a turning point in Russia’s more than two-year war in Ukraine, essentially militarizing the whole structure of government and turning it into a warfighting institution.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
