From the linked article:
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday replaced his defense minister Sergei Shoigu, a longtime ally, nominating an economist to replace him in the most substantial shake-up to the military’s command structure since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
In a decree published Sunday, Putin nominated Andrei Belousov, a former deputy prime minister who specializes in economics to replace Shoigu, who in turn was named as the new secretary of the Security Council, a post until now held by Nikolai Patrushev.
The elevation of an economist to lead Russia’s defense ministry signals the extent to which the war has become central to Russia’s economic paradigm. The Russian parliament was expected to approve of Putin’s appointments this week.
Shoigu, who has served as defense minister since 2012, has faced increasing scrutiny since Moscow launched its war on Ukraine, most recently last month when one of his stalwart allies Timur Ivanov, a deputy defense minister responsible for construction projects was arrested on bribery charges for allegedly receiving payoffs in the course of processing defense contracts, according to the country’s Investigative Committee.
Critics inside the Russian military have also blamed Shoigu, who has never been a professional soldier but holds the rank of general of the army, for failing to prepare the Russian Armed Forces for the war in Ukraine. His initial strategy to quickly topple the Ukrainian government and take Kyiv with minimal losses failed. While Russia’s defense ministry has only provided a public accounting of the number of its soldiers killed in Ukraine and put that tally at 5,937, the U.S. estimates that more than 300,000 Russian troops have been wounded or killed.
Last year, Shoigu was a key target of an aborted coup led by paramilitary Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who demanded the defense minister’s removal.
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