Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday replaced Sergei Shoigu as defense minister in a cabinet reshuffle as he begins his fifth term.
In accordance with Russian law, Russia's entire cabinet resigned on Tuesday following President Putin's glittering inauguration in the Kremlin, and most were widely expected to remain in office while Shoigu's fate appeared uncertain.
President Putin signed a decree on Sunday appointing Shoigu as secretary of Russia's Security Council, the Kremlin said. The appointment was announced shortly after Putin proposed Andrei Belousov to replace Shoigu as defense minister.
The announcement of Shoigu's new role came amid reports that 13 people were killed and another 20 injured in the Russian border city of Belgorod. 10-story apartment building partially destroyed After Russian officials announced shelling of Ukraine. Ukraine has not commented on the incident.
Belousov's candidacy must be approved by Russia's upper house of parliament, the Federation Council. The newspaper reported on Sunday that Putin had also proposed candidates for other cabinet positions, but Shoigu was the only one on the list to be replaced. Several other new federal ministerial candidates were proposed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Saturday. He will be reappointed by President Putin on Friday..
Mr Shoigu's deputy, Timur Ivanov, was arrested last month on bribery charges and ordered to be detained pending an official investigation. Mr. Ivanov's arrest was widely interpreted as an attack on Mr. Shoigu and a possible precursor to his removal, despite his close personal ties to President Putin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday that Putin decided to give the role of defense minister to a civilian because the ministry needs to “embrace innovation and cutting-edge ideas.” . He also said that the increasing defense budget “must be compatible with the country's overall economy,” and said Belousov, who most recently served as first deputy prime minister, was the right person for the job.
Belousov, 65, has held leadership positions in the Finance and Economic Department of the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Economic Development. He was appointed as an advisor to President Putin in 2013 and became First Deputy Prime Minister seven years later in January 2020.
Peskov said the changes would not affect the “military side,” which “has always been the prerogative of the chief of staff,” and that the current holder of the post, General Valery Gerasimov, would continue in his role.
Tatyana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center, said in an online commentary that Shoigu's new appointment to Russia's Security Council is a sign that the Russian leader has decided to hold the body as a “former” leading figure. , he said, indicating that he viewed the Security Council as a “repository” of people. He can never let go, but he has no place. ”
Figures such as former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev were also appointed to the Security Council. Medvedev has been the association's vice president since 2020.
Shoigu was appointed to the Security Council to replace Nikolai Patrushev, a longtime ally of President Putin. Peskov said on Sunday that Patrushev was taking on a different role and promised to reveal more details in the coming days.
Shoigu is considered a key figure in President Putin's decision to send Russian troops to Ukraine. Russia expected the operation to quickly overwhelm the much smaller and less well-equipped Ukrainian army, and that the Ukrainian population would broadly welcome the Russian forces.
Instead, the conflict prompted Ukraine to mount a fierce defense that dealt humiliating blows to Russian forces, including a retreat from an attempt to take the capital, Kiev, and a counterattack that drove Moscow's forces out of the Kharkov region.
Before being appointed defense minister in 2012, Shoigu spent more than 20 years leading markedly different jobs. In 1991, he was appointed head of the Disaster Response Department of the Russian Rescue Service, which later became the Ministry of Emergency Situations. He became prominent with his posts. This mission also allowed him to be designated a general, even though he was not in military service, as the relief forces absorbed militarized civil defense forces.
Mr. Shoigu does not wield as much power as Mr. Patrushev, who has been the country's top security official for many years. But Mark Galeotti, head of the Mayak intelligence consulting firm, said the role he would take is the same one in which Patrushev worked to transition from a low-level bureaucratic role to a position of great influence. Officials still have a certain amount of authority.
Even if there is a change at the top, high-level security documents intended for the president's attention will still pass through the Security Council Secretariat. “You can't institutionally change the bureaucracy and how it works overnight,” he said.
Thousands of civilians fled Russia's flare-up ground attack in northeastern Ukraine Target towns and villages Officials said Sunday there was a barrage of artillery and mortar fire.
Heavy fighting forced at least one Ukrainian military unit to withdraw. Kharkiv regionsurrendered more land to Russian forces across poorly defended settlements in the so-called disputed gray zone along Russia's border.
By Sunday afternoon, the city of Vovtyansk, the largest town in the northeast with a pre-war population of 17,000, had emerged as the focus of the fighting.
Kharkiv regional police chief Volodymyr Timoshko said Russian troops were on the outskirts of the town and approaching from three directions.
An Associated Press team in a nearby village saw Russian troops hurling shells and smoke billowing from the town. Evacuation teams worked tirelessly throughout the day to get residents, most of them elderly, out of danger.
At least 4,000 civilians have been evacuated from the Kharkov region since Friday, when Moscow's forces launched the operation, Governor Oleh Sinyevov said in a social media statement. He said heavy fighting broke out along the northeastern front on Sunday, with Russian forces attacking 27 settlements in the past 24 hours.
Analysts say the Russian attack is planned to take advantage of ammunition shortages. promised to supply Western countries You can reach the front line.
Ukrainian soldiers said the Kremlin was following Russia's standard practice of launching disproportionate amounts of artillery and infantry attacks to deplete Ukrainian troops and firepower. By escalating the fighting that has so far been a static part of the front, Russian forces threaten to overwhelm Ukrainian forces in the northeast, while fierce fighting is taking place further south, where Russian forces are also gaining ground. .
This comes after Russia stepped up attacks targeting energy infrastructure and residential areas in March, which analysts expected to be a joint effort. prepare the conditions for the attack.
Russia's Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Russian troops had captured four border villages along Ukraine's Kharkiv region, as well as five villages It was reported that it was seized on Saturday. These areas may have been poorly defended due to the dynamic fighting and constant heavy artillery bombardment, which facilitated the Russian advance.
Ukraine's leadership does not recognize Moscow's interests. However, Kharkov regional police chief Timoshko said that Strylecha, Pirna and Borsivika were under Russian occupation and that it was on Russian instructions that he brought in infantry to attack the other warring villages of Hriboke and Lukiansi. Stated.
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Associated Press reporter Samiya Crabb in Kiev, Ukraine. Vasilisa Stepanenko in Vilcha, Ukraine. Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, UK, and Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia contributed to this report.
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Follow AP's coverage of the Ukraine war. https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine