Putin proposes Andrey Belousov for the position of Russian Defense Minister, replacing Sergey Shoigu. Prior to the resignation of the cabinet of ministers, Andrey Belousov served as the First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation.
by kingkongsingsong1
30 comments
shoigu gonna accidently fAll from the window soon?
edit_: spelling
**UPDATE:**
**Shoigu has been appointed as the Secretary of the Security Council, replacing Nikolay Patrushev, announced Dmitry Peskov, the president’s press secretary.**
“Patrushev has been relieved of his duties as secretary due to a transition to another position. He continues to work, and we will announce his new role in the coming days,” Peskov said.
“Shoigu, in his capacity as Secretary of the Security Council, will also serve as the deputy chairman of the commission on military-industrial issues, and he is deeply involved in this work,” Peskov explained.
**Details:**
President Vladimir Putin has nominated Andrey Belousov, who has been serving as the First Deputy Prime Minister, as the new Minister of Defense, according to an announcement on the Federation Council’s Telegram channel.
Belousov has extensive experience within the government. He led the Ministry of Economic Development between 2012 and 2013, and from 2013 to 2020, he served as the Presidential Assistant for Economic Affairs.
In his role as First Deputy Prime Minister, Belousov was responsible for overseeing the development of key socio-economic strategies, managing unified financial, credit, and monetary policies, regulating financial markets, and supervising insurance and audit activities. He also handled the transport sector, infrastructure projects, the execution of national projects, and foreign investments.
Other government officials retaining their positions include the Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, the Minister of Emergency Situations Alexander Kurenkov, the Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and the Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov.
Additionally, Sergey Naryshkin will continue as the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Alexander Bortnikov as the FSB director, Viktor Zolotov as the head of Rosgvardiya, Dmitry Kochnev as the head of the Federal Protective Service, and Alexander Linets as the chief of the Presidential Special Programs Office.
It was also announced on May 11 that Belousov would be stepping down from his post in the government, a position he has held since 2020.
Incouming coup!
“Mr Belousov, congratulations on your new appointment. Here’s your chalice, duly poisoned.”
Doesnt matter who’s in that seat… ruskie army still gonna minced to pieces!
I’m honestly surprised he’d replace Shoigu mid-war.
Replacing a non-military man with another non-military man. What could go wrong?
Does he get to promote himself to general now?
He will recover PMC Patriot.
Poor Shoigu, has to tighten his belt as all corruption money is going to someone else. No what, Shoigu kicked up to **Secretary of the Security Council. Ahhhh fresh money.**
#
🤔 … This is one huge “Ooooopsy”!
Sergei Shoigu has/had enormous coat-tails.
He has been a leading figure in Russia’s defence establishment for decades, connected with the most powerful oligarchs, generals, and industrialists heading the modernization of the Russian army.
Sidelining Shoigu will also ostracize a large part of the military establishment leaders who owe their position to profitable business deals made with Shoigu.
He was the main remaining pillar of military/political support for Putin.
And now we hear Putin will be REPLACING Patrushev? Putin’s political daddy?
There are deep tremors in the Kremlin.
Judging by Belousov’s experience, the Russian Army is hemorrhaging money and they need someone new to figure out how to stop the bleeding. He’ll likely be dead within 5 years.
The Patrushev move is especially interesting. He’s often named as a possible Putin replacement, and Shoigu was just given the job Patrushev has held since 2008.
So his corrupt stealing of Government funds didn’t come directly from what was supposed to have been spent on the military. That means he’s OK for the position of Defense Minister.
Is that good or bad?
The ousting of Patrushev is at least as big a news story, and possibly politically more significant as the former head of the FSB and Russian Federation Security Council.
Ah, an *economist* to lead the invasion! Bravo! Everyone knows economists are hard, tough people…
> Putin **proposes** Andrey Belousov for the position
Yep, daddy putler likes to make *proposals*!
**BIO**
Andrei Belousov attended the prestigious ‘Second’ School of Mathematics and Physics.
In 1981, he graduated with honors from the Economics Faculty of Moscow State University, specializing as an economist-cyberneticist.
He spent a significant portion of his career in academia: after graduating, he worked as a research intern and then as a junior research fellow in the laboratory of human-machine system modeling at the Central Economic Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1986, he defended his dissertation there, earning a Ph.D. in Economics. The topic of his thesis was “Simulation Approach to Modeling the Interrelated Processes of Formation and Use of Circulating Assets.”
From 1986 to 1990, he worked at the Institute for the Economy and Forecasting of Scientific and Technological Progress of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Between 1990 and 2006, he served as a senior researcher and head of the laboratory at the Institute for National Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 2006, he defended his doctoral dissertation on “Contradictions and Prospects for the Development of the Reproduction System of the Russian Economy,” earning the degree of Doctor of Economic Sciences.
In the late 1990s, he advised Prime Ministers Yevgeny Primakov and Sergei Stepashin and later served as an external advisor to Mikhail Kasyanov (recognized as a foreign agent) and Mikhail Fradkov.
From 2000 to 2006, Belousov headed the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-term Forecasting.
From 2006 to 2008, he was Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, serving under ministers Herman Gref and later Elvira Nabiullina. From 2008 to 2012, he was the Director of the Department of Economics and Finance at the Russian Government apparatus.
Belousov was often referred to as a “member of German Gref’s team.” During the 2008 crisis, Belousov personally prepared anti-crisis documents for Vladimir Putin, who was then the Prime Minister.
From 2012 to 2013, Belousov headed the Ministry of Economic Development.
From 2013 to 2020, he served as the Presidential Assistant for Economic Issues.
In January 2020, Belousov was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government. In late April-May 2020, he acted as Prime Minister for three weeks while Mikhail Mishustin was ill with COVID-19.
As the First Deputy Prime Minister, Belousov oversaw the development of major socio-economic directions, the implementation of unified financial, credit, and monetary policies, state regulation of financial markets, insurance and auditing activities, transportation sector, infrastructure projects, national projects, and foreign investments.
Funniest thing I’ve read today: “President Vladimir Putin has nominated Andrey Belousov…” Hey, maybe Belousov will decline the nomination! Maybe the Duma will decline approval! /s
I wonder why they go through the motions like this. Is there anyone that thinks that anyone (other than Putin) actually has any say in the matter?
Shoigu replaced by a economist(maybe less corruptible – a technocrat without boots). The second MD without militar experience😂😂😂. MD is not only logistics. Everything in the hands of Putin. The centralism will decide your future. Let’s go Russia. #slavaukraini 💪🌟
**OPINION**
**Alexander Baunov, senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia:**
Shoigu was first in line as he ascended the Kremlin staircase at Putin’s inauguration. Classic Kremlinologists of the past would say the clouds over Shoigu had parted. After the failures of 2022 and the coup of 2023, the situation at the front was improving.
Yet, nothing is forgotten; the coup remains in memory. The case of [Timur Ivanov](https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1cc7or4/who_is_timur_ivanov_the_russian_deputy_defense/) reminded everyone of the main motive of the coup, also the primary grievance of military bloggers: corruption within the Ministry of Defense, as volunteers In the third year of the war are crowdfunding to purchase optical sights.
The proposal to appoint one of the main court economists and the chief state manager of the economic block as the head of the Ministry of Defense could signify that Putin plans to win the war in the factories of the military-industrial complex and on international markets. This is logical in its own way; the economic sector has proven more effective during the war than the military.
The strategy for victory, in this case, would not be through mobilizations and breakthroughs but through the slow pressure on Ukraine with the overwhelming power of the Russian military-industrial complex and the economy as a whole, which is apparently expected to work more effectively for both the warfront and the home front.
Shoigu, of course, is too big to fail, but he’s being moved to a chair almost at the head of a “politburo,” yet without real command authority and without control of the purse strings.
Shoigu now Shoigone
Dmitry Peskov, the President’s press secretary, recalled that recently the military budget has grown from 3% to 6.7%. “We are gradually approaching, for known reasons, the situation of the mid-80s when the share of military expenditure was 7.4%. This is not critical, but it is extremely important. It is very important to integrate the economy of the military sector into the country’s economy,” said Peskov.
“Today, on the battlefield, the victor is the one who is more open to innovations, more ready for their rapid implementation. Therefore, it is natural that at this stage, the president has decided that the Ministry of Defense should be headed by a civilian—not just any civilian, but someone who has successfully led the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, who has been the presidential assistant for economic issues for a long time, and also served as the first deputy chairman of the previous cabinet of ministers. The Ministry of Defense must be fully open to innovations, to the implementation of all cutting-edge ideas, and to creating conditions for economic competitiveness,” Peskov noted.
He emphasized that the new appointment will not alter the existing framework, as the military component “has always been the prerogative of the Chief of the General Staff” (Valery Gerasimov has led the General Staff since 2012), who will continue his work.
Here are the initial reactions to the appointments:
“Very progressive, a civilian defense minister. One could say it’s in line with the best global practices,” quips a former presidential administration employee in a conversation with Important Stories. “Putin is the worst HR ever. Simply put, Shoigu became unnecessary under the conditions of war: Putin has been working directly with Gerasimov, talking to him several times a day. Belousov won’t aspire to command the troops. Putin has copied Zelensky with [former head of Ukraine’s State Property Fund at the post of defense minister Rustem Umerov].”
“It’s shocking for everyone, hard to predict but explainable. A masterful move. The minister doesn’t move troops, doesn’t prepare offensive operations. He must, together with the government, skillfully organize work and logistical processes, ensure necessary production and supplies, orient the economy towards the Special Military Operation, and extract the technological maximum from the defense industry. ARB [Andrey Removich Belousov] is a close confidant of VVP [Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin], already involved, after managing the drone direction and the relevant national project. Now, together with [Denis] Manturov, ARB will tilt the economy even closer to the SMO, meaning this is for the long haul,” says a current federal official.
“Belousov in the Ministry of Defense is certainly not about military leadership. It’s about the ’state planning’ in the defense industry. Shoigu’s appointment to Nikolai Patrushev’s position finally shows Putin’s real attitude towards this institution. It answers those who considered it almost a shadow cabinet. Interesting to see where Medvedev fits… The Security Council becomes a reservoir for Putin’s ’former’ key figures—those who can’t be let go but also have nowhere else to be placed. It seems they will be creating something new under Patrushev,” writes political analyst Tatyana Stanovaya.
“In practice, Belousov’s appointment as Defense Minister signifies the start of a massive audit and restructuring of all financial models within the defense department, and potentially an end to superficial splendor. <…> In a situation of severe time deficit, Belousov will definitely prefer not slide presentations but two Excel sheets on one page with two economic scenarios. He will make decisions based on this sheet because he knows how to count,” comment authors close to the General Staff on the “Rybar” channel.
Meanwhile, other pro-government Z-channels are either publishing lengthy laudatory posts or keeping silent. Pro-Kremlin blogger Anastasia Kashevarova, for example, is comparing portraits of Belousov and Generalissimo Suvorov. The Wagner Group’s Telegram channel Grey Zone is even posting memes about the situation (it was the Wagner Group mercenaries who marched on Moscow to overthrow Shoigu as head of the Ministry of Defense).
“Putin removed one general but prevented a clash of epaulets by appointing a civilian. Another plus is that he took a very loyal person. He also demonstratively reassigned other security officials. And now it’s clear why Timur Ivanov. Also, let me add a bit of conspiracy theory. According to my information, General Sergey Surovikin will arrive in Moscow on May 15,” wrote Ksenia Sobchak.
Wonder if Sergey will trip out of a window at his going away party.
Just a thought, military spending would be lower if you stopped invading other countries.
This guy is probably a good move for Russia, so and for Ukraine. He’ll probably be a relatively short term appointment used to push through defence economy reforms.
Gerasimov will also go at some point despite Peskov saying no decision to replace him, could see the likes of Surovikin back to prominence
Where’s Gerasimov been hiding, while we’re at it?
Peskov, the hilly billy, doing gymnastics with words when announcing the news:
* “it is important to fit the economy of the power bloc into the country’s economy so that it corresponds to the dynamics of the moment.”
* “technologize the economy”
* “appointment will not change the ‘system of coordinates in the military component of the department'”
LOL. This ship is going down. They are running out of money and rearranging chairs on the deck.
Has Shoigu ‘fallen out a window’ yet?