Russia’s new Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, an economist with no military experience, said Tuesday he intends to modernize the military and achieve victory in Ukraine with minimal loss of life.
“The main goal of the special military operation [na Ucrânia] “This is, of course, to achieve victory (…) and to do it with minimal human losses,” Belousov said in parliament in Moscow, as quoted by the French agency AFP.
Belousov, who replaced Sergei Shoigu at the Defense Ministry, did not specify what level of casualties would be acceptable to Moscow, which does not disclose the number of Russians killed and wounded in the war against Ukraine.
Since the launch of the offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, many military experts have acknowledged that the Russian army has suffered heavy losses, estimated at tens of thousands of people.
Belousov also said that he wants to optimize military spending.
“First [objetivo] is to ensure the integration of the economy of the armed forces into the economy of the country as a whole. This is not easy and involves cost optimization (…). This does not mean reducing them,” he said.
The second goal is to make “the defense economy as open as possible to innovation,” especially digital technologies, he said.
After being inaugurated for a fifth term, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday night carried out a surprise shakeup of the defense sector following more than two years of conflict in Ukraine.
Putin fired Shoigu, who had been in power since 2012, and appointed him secretary of the Security Council, a body that brings together top Russian officials but has no prerogatives of its own.
At the same time, a purge was launched in the ministry on corruption charges: the deputy minister was arrested in April, and today the arrest of the head of the personnel department, General Yuri Kuznetsov, was announced.
Belousov’s appointment comes at a time when the military industry has become a driving force of the Russian economy due to the attack on Ukraine and Western sanctions.
Shoigu replaced Nikolai Patrushev as Secretary of the Security Council, whom Kremal (Russian President) today announced as an adviser to Putin.
Patrushev, who has been close to Putin for decades, will be in charge of shipbuilding.
Before becoming secretary of the Russian Security Council, Patrushev was director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) from 1999 to 2008.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not specify the reasons for Patrushev’s demotion, saying he would play a key role in naval construction.
As for Shoigu, he considered it inappropriate to talk about demotion, saying that as Secretary of the Security Council, Shoigu “is in direct contact with the head of state and has great responsibility.”
Shoigu has been criticized over the past two years, first over the failure of the initial offensive in Ukraine and then over supply problems for Russian troops.
He also came under fire almost a year ago over the uprising of Wagner paramilitary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who occupied army headquarters in Rostov (south) and marched against Moscow before changing his mind.
Prigozhin died on August 23, 2023, in a plane crash, which is still under investigation.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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