Why did Putin make such a move by making an economist the Minister of National Defense？

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On the 12th local time, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree to replace the Russian Minister of Defense and Security. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, said that Sergei Shoigu, the former Russian defense minister, had been "dismissed" from his post as defense minister and was appointed secretary of the Russian Security Council and vice chairman of the Russian Military Industry Committee. Belousov, a 65-year-old economist, will take over the post of Russian Defense Minister. In addition, Nikolai Patrushev, former secretary of the Russian Security Council, was also dismissed and will be "transferred to other jobs".

Economists should be defense chiefs.

In Russia, Belousov is known as a "civilian economist", but according to public information, he has never served in the army before, and he has never been a soldier. Belousov was born into a senior intellectual family in Moscow in 1959. His father was Rem Belousov, a Soviet economist. He had participated in every major economic reform in the Soviet Union since the 1960s. He was a professor of economics at Moscow University who worked in economic research for a long time, and he was also an excellent mathematician. In 1978, Belousov was admitted to Moscow University, which ranked first in the Soviet Union at that time, to study in the Department of Economics, and entered the Economic Mathematics Research Institute as an intern by virtue of his father’s relationship. Belousov witnessed a series of radical reforms in Gobar Geoff, and realized that the liberalized market economy could not save the Soviet Union, thus becoming a firm planned economy faction, believing that the Soviet Union’s economy could be stabilized only through the government’s strong economic control.

In 1992, Belousov joined the Russian Institute of Economic Forecasting. After that, with Putin coming to power, Belousov’s economic proposal began to be taken seriously. He once suggested that some industries related to the lifeline of the country, including energy, chemical industry, electric power and transportation, should be taken into the hands of the government, and he also successfully predicted the global economic crisis in 2008, which made Putin trust him more. Since then, Belousov has successively served as Minister of Economic Development, Assistant to the President for Economic Affairs and First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. Russian media RBC said that Belousov was one of the officials who convinced Putin that the digital economy and blockchain were crucial to Russia’s future. In 2020, when Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin infected COVID-19, Belousov briefly took over the post of Prime Minister.

The decision to nominate an economist as the Minister of National Defense still caused some controversy. In this regard, Kremlin spokesman peskov said that Russia was approaching the situation of the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s, when the military and law enforcement authorities accounted for 7.4% of the national expenditure. Therefore, for the sake of military expenditure, it was necessary to let a civilian official Belousov take over as the Russian defense minister, which required "innovation". He added: "In today’s battlefield, whoever is more open to innovation will win. Therefore, under the current circumstances, the President naturally decided that the Russian Ministry of Defense should be led by a civilian. "

Igor Korotchenko, a Russian military analyst, believes that the proposal to appoint Belousov as Russian Defense Minister is a very appropriate decision. First of all, he "has rich practical work experience". Korotchenko said, "He is famous for his strategic vision and unconventional methods to accomplish a series of the most complicated and urgent tasks facing the Russian Federation. His proposed appointment as Minister of Defense is undoubtedly the President’s personal trust in Andrei Belousov. ". In addition, Belousov "will integrate everything needed" and continue to carry out well-coordinated team work in the Ministry of National Defense-these are needed to win special military operations. Korotchenko pointed out that if Belousov becomes the Minister of National Defense, the efficiency of the use of Russian defense financial resources will be improved, and the supply of modern weapons and military equipment in the special military operation zone will also be optimized.

Sputnik news agency & radio said that it is not a precedent for a "civilian" to be the defense chief in Russia, which is conducive to improving the economic situation of the Ministry of National Defense, so as to more effectively list weapons and armaments. Luppov, a Russian military expert, pointed out that Andrei Belousov is a "quite high-level economist" who understands economic-related issues. If he is appointed as the Minister of National Defense, it means that tasks of an economic nature will be formulated. "Improving the economic situation of the Ministry of National Defense will also help to install new weapons and adopt research and development results more effectively."

Oleksiy Kushch, a Ukrainian economist, said that the proposal to appoint Belousov as Russian Defense Minister was "bad news" for Ukraine. According to the report, he speculated that "everything is developing in the direction of the rapid rise of Russian military-industrial complex activities and the growth of Russian military production." Cushi wrote on Facebook: "This is very bad news for us, because our ministerial position is the person who pursues the opposite policy of Belousov. You can judge the result for yourself. " Kushi believes that Belousov has played a role in "creating Russian economic growth model, deep structural transformation and adapting to sanctions".

Putin’s new cabinet

Putin was sworn in at the Kremlin on the 7th and began his fifth presidential term. He officially appointed Mishustin as the new Prime Minister on 10th. Putin signed an order on 11th to approve the new government structure plan submitted by Mishustin. According to the law, Mishustin will then submit to the Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament) a proposal for the selection of new government ministers, which will be appointed by the Russian President after approval by the State Duma, among which the heads of the Ministry of National Defense, the Federal Security Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be appointed by the President after consultation with the Federal Council.

According to the news released by the Russian Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) on social media on the evening of the 12th, Putin submitted the nomination list of the heads of relevant departments of the new federal government to the Russian Federation Council on the same day. In addition to the transfer of the post of Defense Minister, Putin nominated Sergei Lavrov as Foreign Minister, sergey Naryshkin as Director of Foreign Intelligence Agency, Alexander Kurenkoff as Emergency Minister, Vladimir Kolokoltsev as Interior Minister, Konstantin Trichenko as Minister of Justice and Alexander Bortnikov as Director of Federal Security Service.

According to the Tass news agency, the Russian Federation Council needs to review the relevant nominations within one week and report the results to Putin. If there is no objection, Putin will sign a presidential decree to appoint relevant personnel.

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Original title: "Let the economist be the Minister of National Defense. Why did Putin make this move? 》

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