The first wave of changes occurred in mid-May, when the Kremlin leader, a few days after taking office for a fifth term, replaced Shoigu, who had been in power since 2012, with Andrei Belousov, an economist with no military experience.
Vladimir Putin justified the unexpected ministerial reshuffle by the need to optimize military spending, which has increased sharply to meet the needs of the army in Ukraine.
Since then, at least five generals and officials, including members of the former minister’s family, have been arrested for corruption, an example of the rise to power of technocrats in the Kremlin’s military apparatus.
Among the 12 deputy ministers appointed today by presidential decree, Anna Tsivileva, Vladimir Putin’s cousin, who is under sanctions from the UK and the European Union, stands out.
This relative of the Russian president still headed the important Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation, created in 2023, whose official purpose is to provide individual social support to veterans of the conflict in Ukraine and the families of soldiers killed in the conflict.
According to the Ministry of Defense, Tsiviliova will be responsible for all issues related to social assistance to military personnel.
Also on the list is the name of Pavel Fradkov, the son of the former prime minister (2004-2007) and director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) in 2007-2016. Mikhail Fradkov, who will be responsible for the construction sector of the army.
Former Finance Ministry official Leonid Gornin was also appointed First Deputy Defense Minister.
Corruption in the highest echelons of the Russian military, which has become endemic since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, was one of the criticisms leveled by the head of the Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was at the origins of the failed uprising in Russia in June 2023 and died in a plane crash two months ago later.
The Kremlin has rejected any idea of a purge, saying it is merely the result of an anti-corruption operation.
Since coming to power nearly a quarter of a century ago, Vladimir Putin has surrounded himself with many close friends, especially from his days in the KGB and later as mayor of St. Petersburg in the 1990s.
In recent years, several of his family’s children have been appointed to senior political and administrative positions.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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