By Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin named a civilian economist as his surprise new defense minister on Sunday, aiming to prepare Russia for economic warfare by trying to make better use of defense spending and exploit more resources. innovation to win in Ukraine.
More than two years after the start of the war, which cost both sides heavy losses, Putin proposed Andrei Belousov, a 65-year-old former deputy prime minister specializing in economics, to replace his longtime ally, Sergei Shoigu, 68, as defense minister.
Putin wants Shoigu, in charge of defense since 2012 and a long-time ally, to become secretary of the powerful Russian Security Council, replacing outgoing President Nikolai Patrushev, and also to be responsible for the military-industrial complex, said Putin. declared the Kremlin. Patrushev will get a new job.
These changes, which will certainly be approved by parliamentarians, are the most significant made by Putin to the military command since sending tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine in February 2022 as part of what he called a military operation special.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the change made sense because Russia is moving closer to a situation comparable to that of the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s, when military and police authorities accounted for 7.4 % of gross domestic product (GDP).
This, Peskov said, meant it was vital to ensure that such spending was aligned and better integrated into the country’s overall economy. This is why Putin now wanted a civilian economist in the Defense Ministry.
“He who is most open to innovations is the one who will achieve victory on the battlefield,” Peskov said.
Belousov, a former economy minister known to be very close to Putin, shares the Russian leader’s vision of rebuilding a strong state, and has also worked with Putin’s top technocrats who want more innovation and are open to new ideas.
The reshuffle, which took the elite by surprise, indicates that Putin is doubling down on the war in Ukraine and wants to further exploit the Russian economy for war after the West tried, so far unsuccessfully, to to sink the economy with sanctions.
ECONOMIC WAR
Russian economists have so far largely ensured economic stability and growth despite the harshest sanctions ever imposed on a major economy, even as the Russian military’s failures were laid bare soon after the invasion.
“The proposal to appoint as head of the Defense Ministry one of the leading economists of the Court and the main state minister of the economic bloc could mean that Putin plans to win the war against the factories of the defense industry and international markets,” said Alexander Baunov, a Defense Ministry official. former Russian diplomat who is now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.
“The winning strategy in this matter will not be mobilizations and breakthroughs, but slow pressure on Ukraine with the superiority of the Russian military-industrial complex and the economy as a whole, which, apparently, is supposed to work more effectively for the front and rear.”
Putin’s decision, while unexpected, preserves the balance at the top of the complex system of personal loyalties that constitutes the current political system.
This reshuffle gives Shoigu a position that is technically considered superior to his role at the Defense Ministry, ensuring continuity and saving Shoigu’s face. Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of general staff and someone with a more concrete role in directing the war, will remain in his post.
Sergei Lavrov, the country’s former foreign minister, will also retain his post, the Kremlin said.
The move is likely seen as an attempt by Putin to subject defense spending to greater scrutiny to ensure funds are spent efficiently after a Shoigu ally and deputy defense minister, Timur Ivanov, was accused by state prosecutors of accepting bribes worth nearly $11 million.
Putin left Alexander Bortnikov and Sergei Naryshkin, the heads of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), in their posts.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; writing by Andrew Osborn; editing by Alex Richardson and Chris Reese)
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