The president proposes Andrey Belousov as Protection Minister and Sergei Shoigu as Secretary of the Safety Council.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has initiated a cupboard reshuffle, proposing to take away Sergei Shoigu as protection minister and reappoint him Secretary of the Safety Council.
Putin proposed appointing Andrei Belousov, a former deputy prime minister specializing in economics, as the brand new protection minister, the Kremlin stated on Sunday.
The shakeup comes as Putin begins his fifth time period. In accordance with Russian regulation, the complete cupboard resigned on Tuesday following Putin’s inauguration within the Kremlin.
Belousov’s candidacy have to be permitted by the higher home of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council.
Shoigu was appointed protection minister in 2012, two years earlier than Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.
Shoigu’s deputy, Timur Ivanov, was arrested final month on costs of bribery and ordered to stay in custody pending an official investigation. The arrest was broadly interpreted as an assault on Shoigu and a potential precursor to his dismissal regardless of his shut ties to Putin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated Sunday that Putin had determined at hand over the protection portfolio to a civilian as a result of the ministry ought to be “open to innovation and cutting-edge concepts” and Belousov, who till not too long ago served as first deputy prime minister, is the best one for the job.
Putin gained the March election with 87 % of the vote in a ballot that analysts stated lacked democratic legitimacy after the Central Election Fee banned a number of candidates against the battle in Ukraine from competing.
The shakeup got here as 1000’s extra civilians fled Russia’s renewed floor offensive within the Kharkiv area of northeastern Ukraine, which has hit cities and villages with a barrage of artillery and mortars.
Intense battles have pressured at the very least one Ukrainian unit to withdraw as Russian forces seize extra territory in much less defended settlements within the so-called grey zone alongside the Russian border.
On Sunday afternoon, town of Vovchansk, one of many largest within the northeast with a prewar inhabitants of 17,000, emerged as a focus of the battle.
