Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday night replaced the current defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, with Andrey Belousov amid Moscow achieving advancements against Kyiv at the warfront, CNN reported.  

Following his dismissal from the position of defence minister, Shoigu has been made secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and will act as Putin’s deputy in the Military-Industrial Commission of the Russian Federation.  

As per ANI’s report, “Sergei Shoigu was relieved of his post as Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation by presidential decree and was also appointed by decree of the President of the Russian Federation as Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.  

The spokesperson further added that the decision to appoint Belousov is linked to the necessity of incorporating the economy of the security sector into the nation’s economy. Peskov said that the budget of the Russian military department has almost reached the level of the 1980s. He emphasised that although this is not critical, it is significant.  

Belousov, assuming his role at a critical moment, has a diverse professional background, which includes being Russia’s former first deputy Prime Minister. The 65-year-old has also served as an aide to President Vladimir Putin on economic matters, as the Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, as the Director of the Department of Economics and Finance of the Russian Government, as the General Director of the Centre for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting, and he also worked at the Russian Academy from 1981 to 2006 (until 1991, it was the USSR Academy of Sciences), as reported by ANI citing TASS.  

As per the report, the position of the rest of the heads of security ministers and services remains unchanged.  

The Russia-Ukraine War started in 2022 on February 24 and has entered its third year.