Restructuring

Putin dismisses 4 deputy defense ministers at once

Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin continues to press ahead with the restructuring of the top echelons of the Russian Ministry of Defense.(Bild: AFP/Pool/Alexander Kazakov)

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin is pressing ahead with the restructuring of the top echelons of the Ministry of Defense. The head of state dismissed four deputy defense ministers on Monday and filled one of the vacant positions with a relative ...

The reshuffle is probably the final stage of a restructuring process that Putin initiated in May. At that time, he had surprisingly relieved his long-time defense minister Sergei Shoigu of his duties.

More than two years after the start of the war in Ukraine, Putin is thus signaling that he will no longer tolerate waste and corruption in the ministry and wants to gear Russia's war economy more effectively to the needs of the soldiers on the front.

Relatives among his successors
Putin appointed the daughter of his late cousin, Anna Tsivileva, as deputy defense minister. Among other things, she is to improve the social welfare of military personnel, for example in the search for housing. Her husband Sergei Tsivileva is Russia's Energy Minister. Putin had previously appointed Tsivileva as head of a state fund to support participants in the Russian war effort in Ukraine.

Leonid Gornin, previously first deputy finance minister, becomes first deputy defense minister under the new defense minister Andrei Belusov. Gornin's task will be to "increase the transparency of financial flows and ensure the efficient use of budget funds", the Ministry of Defense announced.

Oleg Savelyev and Pavel Fradkov, the son of former Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, were also appointed deputy defense ministers. The latter will be responsible for the management of real estate, land and construction projects related to the military.

The change of personnel at the top of the ministry began with the arrest of the then deputy defense minister Timur Ivanov on 23 April on bribery charges. Since then, four other top officials from the ministry and the General Staff have been arrested on the same charges as part of the biggest corruption scandal to rock the Russian government in years.