Milan, 13 May. (askanews) – The Russian government reshuffle focused on the military leadership marks a significant change for President Vladimir Putin’s fifth term – which began on May 7 – and shows the first real break since tens of thousands of troops were sent from Moscow to Ukraine in February 2022. Now many are waiting with bated breath for Nikolai Patrushev, former secretary of the Security Council, to head the Russian presidential administration, but nothing is a given when it comes to the Kremlin. While the novelty of the arrival of Andrei Belousov – former first deputy prime minister – at the Ministry of Defense, is not just a plot twist or the most important challenge of life for the economist who was able to predict the 2008 crisis: Belousov at Sergei Shoigu’s place during a hybrid war with the entire West, is also a way to integrate the entire defense sector with the country’s economy. Belousov is an economist, the son of an economist. A monetarist turned Keynesian who has convinced himself that the state must subjugate big business. According to some, this is a sign that the war will last for a long time: the country is adapting its economy to this. The Kremlin explained the appointment of the 65-year-old Belousov with the desire to rebuild the sector and the integration between the sector and the entire economy. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Belousov’s arrival at the Ministry of Defense is connected with the processes taking place in the Russian economy.
“It is very important – he said – to adapt the economy of the sector to the economy of the country. So that it corresponds to the dynamics of the current moment”, said Peskov. But there are also analysts according to whom Putin initiated these strange reshuffles at Ministry of Defense and other departments to prepare for the negotiation and future negotiations, leaving Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in his place, after 20 years of honorable service: testimony that the door of diplomacy is not closed. What stands out however, Shoigu was changed now – while an advance on the battlefield was underway – and not when Shoigu himself was targeted by criticism from Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin. However, Shoigu’s deputy, Timur Ivanov, was arrested last month on corruption charges and ordered to remain in custody pending an official investigation. Ivanov’s arrest was widely interpreted as an attack on Shoigu. And yet the strong ties between Putin and Shoigu speak for themselves and are long-standing. The now former Defense Minister has long been a close ally of Putin, accompanying him on hunting trips and on well-known horseback rides in Siberia, and first running the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations with certainly greater success than his last assignment. MUCH NOISE, NO REVOLUTIONThe Kremlin and the Federation Council announced changes in government bodies that evidently generated great turmoil, but in reality do not constitute a revolution. Rather an adjustment in perspective. Economist and former deputy prime minister Belousov will become the new defense minister. The chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, will remain – at least for now – in his post, and the appointment of a civilian to the Ministry of Defense is necessary not only for innovation in the military sphere, but also for the integration of the army in the general economy of the country, explained the Kremlin. Denis Manturov, who in the previous government held the positions of Minister of Industry and Trade and Deputy Prime Minister, will become the first Deputy Prime Minister. Another deputy prime minister will be Vitaly Savelyev (he was transport minister and before that head of Aeroflot). And now that Belousov moves to Defense, the economic sphere has gone to Alexander Novak, who was Deputy Prime Minister for Energy in the previous government. While 4 governors enter the government of Mishustin: Anton Alikhanov from Kaliningrad in place of Manturov, Sergei Tsivilev from Kemerovo to Energy (his wife is referred to as Vladimir Putin’s niece by the opposition media) and Mikhail Degtyarev from Khabarovsk (from the party LDPR, survived the protests), who becomes Minister of Sports. And again Roman Starovoyt from the Kursk region, one of the three regions most frequently bombed since the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine. He will be the new Minister of Transport. (by Cristina Giuliano).
