By Athena Papakosta

Vladimir Putin is making surprise changes to the leadership of Russia’s armed forces, two months after his re-election and just days after being sworn in for a fifth term as president.

THE Sergei Shoiguthe 12-year defense minister of the Russian Federation, the man who, according to Moscow, brought back the Crimean peninsula and the confidant of the Russian president for the euphemistic “special military operation” in Ukraine, is now a thing of the past by the leadership of the country’s Ministry of National Defense.

His position is taken by a technocrat with little military experience, being an economist by profession. It is called Andrei Belusov and is 65 years old. His appointment, analysts say, to this particular post and given time is about nothing more than the fact that Mr. Belousov is coming so that the Russian defense industry can have enough money to be able to finance Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The words of the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, are illustrative: “now on the battlefield, those who are more open to changes and more open to their quick implementation, win.”

Western media have long been trying to find out how relations between the two longtime allies, who once even went fishing together, were shaping up as Moscow’s aims for a quick military operation in Ukraine dubbed “special” failed, as the war is now two years, two months and 20 days old.

At the moment, the Russian armed forces are recording gains in the north-east of Ukraine, specifically in the Kharkiv region. In just a few days, after their surprise cross-border ground attack, the Russians are gaining ground at this point on the map with thousands of Ukrainian civilians hastily evacuating their homes.

Who is the new defense minister?

The new Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation is a staunch defender of the Russian nation who believes his country is surrounded by enemies.

He has in common with the Russian president such as his close ties with the Church of Russia but also his love for martial arts such as karate and sambo.

Andrei Belusov is an old acquaintance of Vladimir Putin. He worked alongside him as an aide and was the sole member of the Russian president’s financial support team for the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

Sergei Shoigu replaces – for many – Vladimir Putin’s right-hand man, head of the National Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, but no one has clarified what his new position will be. It is also unclear whether Shoigu will be important or decorative in his new role.

Putin’s Russia and the West

In Russia, however, times and faces may change, but the country’s president has remained the same for 24 years, said a few days ago in his report from the Russian capital, the correspondent of the British BBC network, Steve Rosenberg, to continue explaining the how Vladimir Putin is trying to cultivate the image of a modern emperor, “Vladimir the Great”.

“We do not deny the dialogue with the West. It depends on her: whether she will continue to try to hold Russia back (…) or she will look for a path towards cooperation and peace”, stressed the president of Russia on May 7 during his inauguration.

Yesterday, however, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who remains in his post – now completing 20 years – warned the West that if it wants to fight for Ukraine on the battlefield, Russia is ready and waiting.

The French president’s statements have been made a few months ago, when he refused to rule out the possibility of Western troops being sent there at some point while, yesterday, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, warned that “President Putin’s recklessness has brought us closer to dangerous nuclear escalation than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis.”