Today’s news / Putin replaces defense minister with new role
After 12 years, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will have a new defense minister, thereby replacing Sergey Shoigu. (Archive photo). Photo: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

Putin replaces defense minister with new role

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Sunday evening a reshuffling of key government positions, including replacing the long-serving Defense Minister, 68-year-old Sergey Shoigu, who held the role for 12 years. According to the Russian presidential office as reported by Reuters, Putin will appoint First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov as the new Defense Minister. Notably, unlike Shoigu, Belousov will function as a civilian rather than a military defense minister. Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, noted that Russia is approaching a situation similar to that of the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s when military and law enforcement accounted for 7.4 percent of the state’s expenditures.