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☆ Putin has 'both eyes' on a strategic island belonging to new NATO member Sweden, army commander says
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewRussian President Vladimir Putin is targeting a strategic Swedish island that offers mastery over the Baltic Sea, the commander-in-chief of Sweden's army warned this week. Putin's goal is to gain control of the Baltic Sea," Micael Bydén told German news outlets, according to Politico's translation of his remarks. Sweden joined NATO in early March, and the alliance is now the dominant force in the Baltic Sea, thanks in large part to its control of Gotland. Advertisement"If Russia takes control and seals off the Baltic Sea, it would have an enormous impact on our lives — in Sweden and all other countries bordering the Baltic Sea," Bydén said. Swedish military officials watch a Swedish C-130H take off from a non-traditional runway on Gotland Island on October 23, 2021.

Persons: —, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Micael Bydén, Bydén, Patrik Orcutt, Ulf Kristersson Organizations: Service, Business, NATO, Nordic, Russia's Ministry of Defence, Moscow Times, US Army, Politico, Sweden's, Financial Times, Gotland Regiment, US Locations: Swedish, Baltic, Gotland, Putin's, Sweden, Russian, Kaliningrad, It's, Rhode, Russia, Bydén, Moscow, Lithuania, Finland, Latvia, Ukraine

☆ Russia Detains Another Defense Official, in New Sign of Putin Shake-Up
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Anton Troianovski | More About Anton Troianovski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russia has jailed a top defense official, the fourth in a month, state media reported on Thursday, expanding President Vladimir V. Putin’s biggest shake-up of his military leadership since the invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. A Moscow military court ordered Lt. Gen. Vadim Shamarin jailed for two months on Wednesday on suspicion of “large-scale” bribery, state news agencies said. General Shamarin was a deputy head of the Russian military’s main commanding body, the general staff, and oversaw its communications directorate. Image A photograph of General Shamarin, released by the Russian Defense Ministry. Credit... Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, via Associated PressThe detention of General Shamarin is the latest in a series of high-profile arrests that have coincided with Mr. Putin’s appointment of a new defense minister, Andrei R. Belousov, earlier this month.

Persons: Vladimir V, Vadim Shamarin, General Shamarin, Shamarin, Putin’s, Andrei R Organizations: Russian Defense Ministry . Credit, Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, Associated, Mr Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Moscow, Russian

☆ Why a Prosecutor Went Public With Arrest Warrant Requests for Hamas and Israeli Leaders
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The decision of Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, to publicly seek arrest warrants for the leaders of Hamas and Israel this week will be one of the most significant and contentious of his career. Khan accused three Hamas leaders of war crimes and crimes against humanity relating to the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and hostage taking. He also accused Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and its defense minister, Yoav Gallant, of war crimes and crimes against humanity during Israel’s military operation in Gaza, including the starvation of civilians. Khan didn’t have to announce the warrant applications publicly. He could have waited until they were granted, as with the warrant for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia last year — a process that can take weeks or months.

Persons: Karim Khan, Court’s, Khan, Israel’s, Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, —, Khan didn’t, Vladimir V, Putin Locations: Israel, Gaza, United States, Russia

☆ Russian Forces Close In on Ukrainian Town in Northeast
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Constant Méheut | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Russian forces on Tuesday inched closer to the central part of Vovchansk, a town in Ukraine’s northeast that they have been attacking for the past 10 days as part of a new offensive in the region. Roman Semenukha, the deputy head of the military administration in the northeastern Kharkiv region, said on television on Monday that Ukrainian forces had lost about 40 percent of the town, with Russian troops pushing from the north. Open-source maps of the battlefield compiled by independent groups also show that Russia now controls the northern part of the town, which had a prewar population of 17,000. Vovchansk, which lies just five miles from the Russian border, has been a prime target of Moscow’s new offensive. Both U.S. officials and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia have said the offensive is part of an effort to establish a buffer zone.

Persons: Roman Semenukha, Vladimir V, Putin Organizations: U.S Locations: Vovchansk, Ukraine’s, Roman, Kharkiv, Russia, Russian

☆ Russia Starts Tactical Nuclear Drills, in a Warning to Ukraine’s Allies
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Paul Sonne | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russia sent a pointed reminder on Tuesday that it could use battlefield nuclear weapons in Ukraine, releasing video of its forces beginning exercises to practice their use, two weeks after President Vladimir V. Putin ordered the provocative drills. Video released by the Russian Defense Ministry showed a caravan of military vehicles moving down a wooded road, as well as mobile Iskander missile systems — which can deliver conventional or nuclear explosives — getting into position to launch, with their warheads blurred out. The footage also showed a supersonic strategic bomber armed with missiles and an attack aircraft being prepared for takeoff. In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said the exercise, carried out near Ukraine, was aimed at preparing the force for the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons. The goal is to “unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials,” the ministry said.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, “, Emmanuel Macron, David Cameron, Britain’s Organizations: Russian Defense Ministry, Kremlin Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Russian, France

☆ Biden denounces ICC for ‘outrageous’ implication of equivalence between Israel and Hamas
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Michael Williams | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The prosecution team is also seeking warrants for Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, along with top Hamas leaders, Khan said. Khan, the ICC prosecutor, batted down criticisms over the tribunal’s efforts to secure the warrants. News that the ICC is seeking warrants for the Israeli leaders sent reverberations of condemnation across the world. Close US allies like Britain said the court’s efforts were “not helpful” in reaching a pause in fighting. Biden administration officials also questioned whether the ICC had the jurisdiction to seek those arrests.

Persons: Washington CNN —, Biden, Karim Khan, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Benjamin Netanyahu, Yahya Sinwar, Yoav Gallant, Khan, ”, Biden –, CNN’s Erin Burnett, cajole Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin, Moammar Gadhafi, Amanpour, Gallant, Antony Blinken, United States “, Mike Johnson, John Kirby, Independent Sen, Bernie Sanders –, Biden’s –, Sanders, ” Sanders, Kirby, “, Putin, ” Kirby, CNN’s Nikki Carvajal, Haley Talbot Organizations: Washington CNN, International, ICC, Israeli, Israel’s Defense, Biden, GOP, National Security, Independent, Mr Locations: Israel, Rafah, Gaza, Russian, Britain, Germany, United States, Ukraine

☆ Opinion: Hardened like diamonds, these Gen Z protesters fight for a European future
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Opinion Will Cathcart | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

They snatch protesters from the crowd and drag them back into a mass of black uniforms. Will Cathcart Will CathcartHundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets across Georgia in recent weeks to protest the government’s adoption of a Kremlin-inspired “foreign agents” bill. As with the foreign agents law, the bill’s authors claim it promotes transparency, an absurd notion. The foreign agents bill is a symptom of a deeper issue – money. The pressures of authoritarian intimidation and systematic violence have hardened Georgia’s young protestors like diamonds.

Persons: Will Cathcart, Mikheil Saakashvili, Cathcart Will Cathcart, Vladimir Putin’s, Putin, Hans Gutbrod, ”, Salome Zourabichvili, aren’t, Gen Z, Europe –, Giorgi Arjevanidze, Bidzina Ivanishvili, Party ” –, Mamuka Mdinaradze, Shalva Papuashvili, – “, “, James O’Brien’s, Ivanishvili, Zviad Organizations: CNN, Tbilisi CNN — Riot, Georgian, Ilia State University, European Union, Getty, Global, Party, Georgian Orthodox Church, US, State, Eurasian Affairs, Fletcher School of Law, NATO, Special Forces Exchange Locations: American, Tbilisi, Georgia, Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Europe, AFP, Georgian, Soviet, Russian, United States, Brussels, Washington, Moscow, EU

☆ The Technocrat Who’s Taking Control of Putin’s War Effort
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-19 | by ( Paul Sonne | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In more than two years of war against Ukraine, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has found that the technocrats he assembled to manage the Russian economy have turned out to be his most reliable foot soldiers. The Russian leader has now tapped one of them, Andrei R. Belousov, who has no military experience, to become his next defense minister. Mr. Belousov, however, has been a true believer. His rise shows how Mr. Putin is fully redirecting Russia’s economy toward the war effort and suggests that the Kremlin may grow even more deeply involved in mobilizing industry for the fight. Mr. Putin cast his new defense chief, who joined him on a trip to China in recent days, as a much-needed coordinator for a rapidly changing Russian military industrial complex that is critical to success in the war.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Andrei R, Belousov, Rembrandt, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Carl Jung, Mr Organizations: Ukraine Locations: Russia, China

☆ Xi’s Warm Embrace of Putin in China Is a Defiance of the West
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-18 | by ( David Pierson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Days after returning from a trip to Europe where he was lectured about the need to rein in Russia, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, used a summit with President Vladimir V. Putin to convey an uncomfortable reality to the West: His support for Mr. Putin remains steadfast. Mr. Xi’s talks with Mr. Putin this week were a show of solidarity between two autocrats battling Western pressure. The two leaders put out a lengthy statement that denounced what they saw as American interference and bullying and laid out their alignment on China’s claim to self-ruled Taiwan and Russia’s “legitimate security interests” in Ukraine. They pledged to expand economic and military ties, highlighted by Mr. Putin’s visit to a cutting-edge Chinese institute for defense research. Mr. Xi even initiated a cheek-to-cheek hug as he bade Mr. Putin farewell on Thursday after an evening stroll in the Chinese Communist Party leadership compound in Beijing.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Vladimir V, Putin, Xi’s, Mr, Russia’s, Putin’s, Xi Organizations: West, Chinese Communist Party Locations: Europe, Russia, Taiwan, Ukraine, Beijing

☆ Putin’s China Visit Highlights Military Ties That Worry the West
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( David Pierson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Vladimir V. Putin attended a trade fair on Friday in a northeastern Chinese city and toured a state-backed university famous for its cutting edge defense research, highlighting how economic and military ties between the countries have grown despite, or perhaps because of, Western pressure. Mr. Putin’s visit to Harbin, a Chinese city with a Russian past, is part of a trip aimed at demonstrating that he has powerful friends even as his war against Ukraine — a campaign that he is escalating — has isolated him from the West. The visit followed a day of talks between him and President Xi Jinping of China that seemed orchestrated to convey not only the strategic alignment of the two powerful, autocratic leaders against the West, but a personal connection. State media showed Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi, neck ties off after formal talks on Thursday, strolling under willow trees and sipping tea at a traditional pavilion on the sprawling grounds of Zhongnanhai, the walled leadership compound in Beijing, with only their interpreters. As Mr. Xi saw Mr. Putin off in the evening, he even initiated a hug — a rare expression of affection for the Chinese leader.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Putin’s, Ukraine —, Xi Jinping, Xi Organizations: Ukraine Locations: Harbin, Russian, China, Zhongnanhai, Beijing

☆ In Talks With Putin, Xi Hails ‘Powerful Driving Force’ of Cooperation
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( David Pierson | Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Putin, whose economy remains largely isolated because of Western sanctions over his invasion of Ukraine, relies on Mr. Xi, China’s leader, for diplomatic cover and a financial lifeline, including huge purchases of Russian oil. But Mr. Putin will need more help to sustain his war machine, especially now as his military makes a push near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, before billions of dollars’ worth of arms arrives from the United States to shore up Ukraine’s depleted forces. In Beijing, Mr. Putin sought to show that Moscow was deepening its ties with Beijing as a bulwark against Western attempts to contain their countries. “We are working in solidarity on the formulation of a more just and democratic multipolar world order,” he said. He also said the leaders discussed working more closely in energy and nuclear power research, though made no mention of a proposed natural gas pipeline to China that Moscow would like to see built.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin of, ” Xi, Mr, Putin, Xi, ” Organizations: Russian Locations: Ukraine, Putin of Russia, Beijing, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s, United States, Moscow, China

☆ Putin wants 3 things from Xi as he seeks to deepen Russia-China ties, analyst says
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Sumathi Bala | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in China this week is the latest sign of deepening strategic ties between both sides. Putin will make a two-day state visit to China from Thursday at the invitation of Xi, it was announced on Tuesday. This will be the Russian leader's first overseas trip since Putin kicked off his fifth term in office last week. Putin also wants access to Chinese financial markets and to use the "Chinese currency to further Russia's trade," Hess said. "So, it's really Putin going to China seeing what he can get."

Persons: Vladimir Putin's, Xi Jinping, Putin, Xi, Max Hess, CNBC's, Hess, it's Organizations: Foreign Policy Research Institute Locations: China, Russian, Beijing, Siberia, Ukraine

☆ Opinion | It’s Not Just Putin. Russia Needs China, Too.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Alexander Gabuev | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Vladimir Putin’s trip to Beijing this week, where he will meet with Xi Jinping and top Chinese officials, is another clear demonstration of the current closeness between Russia and China. Yet many in the West still want to believe that their alliance is an aberration, driven by Mr. Putin’s emotional anti-Americanism and his toxic fixation on Ukraine. Never since the fall of the Soviet Union has Russia been so distant from Europe, and never in its entire history has it been so entwined with China. The truth is that after two years of war in Ukraine and painful Western sanctions, it’s not just Mr. Putin who needs China — Russia does, too. China has emerged as Russia’s single most important partner, providing a lifeline not only for Mr. Putin’s war machine but also for the entire embattled economy.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Xi Jinping, Putin, —, it’s Organizations: Soviet Locations: Beijing, Russia, China, Ukraine, Moscow, Europe, Soviet Union

☆ To Talk With Putin or Iran, the West Turns to the World’s Nuclear Inspector
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( David E. Sanger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Rafael Grossi slipped into Moscow a few weeks ago to meet quietly with the man most Westerners never engage with these days: President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Mr. Grossi is the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, and his purpose was to warn Mr. Putin about the dangers of moving too fast to restart the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has been occupied by Russian troops since soon after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But as the two men talked, the conversation veered off into Mr. Putin’s declarations that he was open to a negotiated settlement to the war in Ukraine — but only if President Volodymyr Zelensky was prepared to give up nearly 20 percent of his country. A few weeks later, Mr. Grossi, an Argentine with a taste for Italian suits, was in Tehran, this time talking to the country’s foreign minister and the head of its civilian nuclear program. At a moment when senior Iranian officials are hinting that new confrontations with Israel may lead them to build a bomb, the Iranians signaled that they, too, were open to a negotiation — suspecting, just as Mr. Putin did, that Mr. Grossi would soon be reporting details of his conversation to the White House.

Persons: Rafael Grossi, Vladimir V, Putin, Grossi, Mr, Volodymyr Zelensky Organizations: International Atomic Energy Agency, United Nations Locations: Moscow, Russia, Ukraine, Argentine, Tehran, Israel

☆ What to Know About the Summit Between Putin and Xi in China
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( David Pierson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, hosts President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia this week, the two leaders are expected to present a united front. Mr. Putin is trying to escalate his war in Ukraine before Ukrainian forces can receive a replenishment of arms from the United States, and likely wants to know he can rely on China. Mr. Xi will seek to bolster his strategic partner and “old friend,” but is also under pressure to avoid further alienating the West over his support for Russia. Mr. Putin will most likely seek more help from Beijing, which has provided a lifeline to the Kremlin ever since Western sanctions were imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. China purchases huge quantities of Russian oil and provides technologies that help Moscow withstand its economic isolation and sustain its war machine.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Vladimir V, Putin, Mr, Xi, Putin’s Organizations: West, Russia, Kremlin Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Ukrainian, United States, China, Beijing, Harbin

☆ Putin Is Selling Victory, and Many Russians Are Buying It
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | Nanna Heitmann | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The word “victory” is everywhere in Moscow these days. It is being projected from gargantuan LED screens alongside major intersections and highways and written on red flags whipping in the wind. It’s prominent at an exhibit of Western weapons destroyed on Ukrainian battlefields and lugged back to Moscow as war trophies on display in — where else? “Together, we will be victorious!” Mr. Putin said at his inauguration last week after securing a fifth term as president. Two days later, the country celebrated Victory Day, Russia’s most important public holiday, which commemorates the Soviet contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Mr Locations: Moscow, —, “, Nazi Germany

The Biden administration is increasingly concerned that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is gathering enough momentum to change the trajectory of the war in Ukraine. Credit... Nanna Heitmann for The New York Times

Persons: Biden, Vladimir V, Putin, Nanna Heitmann Organizations: The New York Locations: Russia, Ukraine

This week, Xi is welcoming him to China for a two-day state visit — their fourth in-person meeting since Russia’s onslaught in Ukraine began. China has repeatedly defended its trade with Russia as part of normal bilateral relations. Russia has also become China’s main oil supplier, overtaking Saudi Arabia, according to official Chinese trade data. Governments warn against support for Russia’s war effortThe wartime surge in trade, and growing purchases of oil, have sparked criticism in the West that China was helping to fund Russia’s war. It mirrors Xi’s state visit to Russia in March 2023, which was the Chinese leader’s first overseas trip after starting a norm-shattering third term as president.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, Xi, Putin, Antony Blinken, Emmanuel Macron, Ursula von der Leyen, Von der, ’, Volodymyr Zelensky, Joe Biden, Biden Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, United, European Union, International Monetary Fund, —, EU, White, European Commission Locations: China, Hong Kong, Russia, Ukraine, Russian, United States, Saudi Arabia, India, West, Beijing, France, Chinese

☆ Putin Will Visit Xi, Testing a ‘No Limits’ Partnership
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( David Pierson | Paul Sonne | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, hosts President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in China this week, it will be more than two years since the two autocratic leaders declared a “no limits” partnership to push back against what they consider American bullying and interference. Growing challenges from the West have tested the limits of that partnership. Mr. Xi is walking a narrowing tightrope, coming under increasing diplomatic and economic pressure to curtail Chinese support for Russia and its war in Ukraine. “China sees Russia as an important strategic partner and wants to give Putin proper respect, but it also wants to maintain sound relations with Europe and the United States for economic reasons and beyond. It is a very difficult balancing act,” said Shen Dingli, a Shanghai-based international relations scholar.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Vladimir V, Putin, ”, Shen Dingli Locations: Russia, China, Ukraine, Europe, Beijing, United States, Shanghai

☆ Russia Detains Senior General, Widening Military Purge
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Anatoly Kurmanaev | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Russian security agents detained a senior general early Tuesday, widening a purge of the country’s sprawling Defense Ministry amid President Vladimir V. Putin’s broader shake-up of his government. Lt. Gen. Yuri Kuznetsov, who oversaw the ministry’s personnel department, was detained on an accusation of “large-scale” bribery, Russia’s Investigative Committee, a federal law enforcement agency, said in a statement on Tuesday. His detention came after Mr. Putin unexpectedly removed his long-serving defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, from his post and replaced him with a member of his economic team. Prosecutors said General Kuznetsov received a bribe from “commercial interests” between 2021 and 2023, when he worked on the protection of state secrets at the Armed Forces’ General Staff. The prosecutors claimed that security agents discovered cash equivalent to $1 million and luxury items during a search of General Kuznetsov’s home.

Persons: Vladimir V, Yuri Kuznetsov, Putin, Sergei K, General Kuznetsov, Kuznetsov’s Organizations: Mr, Prosecutors, Armed Forces ’, Staff

Just 18 months ago, White House and Pentagon officials debated whether Russia’s forces in Ukraine might collapse and be pushed out of the country entirely. Now, after months of slow Russian ground advances and technological leaps in countering American-provided arms, the Biden administration is increasingly concerned that President Vladimir V. Putin is gathering enough momentum to change the trajectory of the war, and perhaps reverse his once-bleak prospects. In recent days, Moscow’s troops have opened a new push near the country’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv, forcing Ukraine to divert its already thinned-out troops to defend an area that it took back from Russian forces in a stunning victory in the fall of 2022. Artillery and drones provided by the United States and NATO have been taken out by Russian electronic warfare techniques, which came to the battlefield late but have proven surprisingly effective. And a monthslong debate in Washington about whether to send Ukraine a $61 billion package of arms and ammunition created an opening that Russia has clearly exploited, even though Congress ultimately passed the legislation.

Persons: Biden, Vladimir V, Putin Organizations: Pentagon, Artillery, NATO Locations: House, Ukraine, Kharkiv, United States, Washington, Russia

☆ Putin’s New War Weapon: An Economist Managing the Military
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Anton Troianovski | Anatoly Kurmanaev | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

To President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, appointing a new defense minister provides a new building block toward fighting a long war. That was evident in Moscow on Monday when Andrei R. Belousov, the economist who was Mr. Putin’s surprise pick to lead Russia’s sprawling defense ministry, made his first public appearance in his new role and spoke about bureaucracy rather than the battlefield. It reflects an acknowledgment that the military production that is supplying Russia’s war, and heating its economy, must be carefully managed to sustain a war of attrition with Ukraine. At the same time, Russia is playing the long game on the battlefield. In northeastern Ukraine, Russian forces mounting a new offensive are pushing forward slowly rather than attempting major breakthroughs to big cities, as they did at the beginning of the war — with disastrous results.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Andrei R, Putin’s Locations: Russia, Moscow, Ukraine, Russian

☆ Putin replaces Russia's defense minister with civilian economist in unexpected move
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on May 9, 2024. Mikhail Klimentyev | Afp | Getty ImagesRussian President Vladimir Putin tapped a civilian economist as his surprise new defense minister on Sunday in an attempt to gird Russia for economic war by trying to better utilize the defense budget and harness greater innovation to win in Ukraine. More than two years into the conflict, which has cost both sides heavy casualties, Putin proposed Andrei Belousov, a 65-year-old former deputy prime minister who specializes in economics, to replace his long-term ally, Sergei Shoigu, 68, as defense minister. That, said Peskov, meant it was vital to ensure such spending aligned with and was better integrated into the country's overall economy, which was why Putin now wanted a civilian economist in the defense ministry job. Putin's move, though unexpected, preserves balance at the top of the complex system of personal loyalties that make up the current political system.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Klimentyev, Putin, Andrei Belousov, Sergei Shoigu, Nikolai Patrushev, Patrushev, Dmitry Peskov, Peskov, Belousov, Alexander Baunov Organizations: Sputnik, Victory Day, Afp, Getty, Security, Putin, West, Defence, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center Locations: Russian, Moscow, Russia, Ukraine, Soviet Union

☆ Andrey Belousov: Shifting his fishing buddy sideways, Putin chooses an economy expert for the war in Ukraine. Here’s why
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Nathan Hodge | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Alexandra Prokopenko, a former adviser at Russia’s Central Bank, put the shakeup down to the growing interrelationship between the war and Russia’s economy. “Putin’s priority is war; war of attrition is won by economics,” Prokopenko wrote in a thread on X. Russia's President Vladimir Putin, center-right, with Sergei Shoigu, at Red Square for the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on May 9, 2024. Putin has shifted Shoigu sideways to a post as the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, meaning that Shoigu is not completely out of the picture. Discussing Shoigu’s new appointment, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the former defense minister would remain immersed in matters of military production.

Persons: Vladimir Putin’s, shakeup, Andrey Belousov, Sergei Shoigu, Alexandra Prokopenko, ” Prokopenko, Belousov, Vladimir Putin, Natalia Kolesnikova, Prokopenko, Pyotr Stolypin, Putin, Shoigu’s, Dmitry Peskov, Peskov, ” Peskov, General Valery Gerasimov, Nikolai Patrushev, Patrushev, Mikhail Mishustin, Dmitry Patrushev, “, ”, Tatiana Stanovaya Organizations: CNN, Kremlin, Russian Ministry of Defense, Russia’s Central Bank, Russia's, Victory Day, Getty, NATO, Putin, US Congress, Ministry of Defense, Security, Russia’s General Staff, subjugating, Security Council, Federal Security Service Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Moscow, AFP, Europe, Kyiv, Shoigu, Russian, Japan, Soviet Union, subjugating Ukraine, Patrushev

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia replaced his minister of defense on Sunday as he shook up his national security team for the first time since his invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Putin kept the minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, in his inner circle, tapping him to run the country’s security council. Andrei R. Belousov, an economist who served as first deputy prime minister in the last government and previously was the economic development minister, was nominated to become the new defense chief. It is unclear how much authority over the war effort Mr. Shoigu will retain. colleague of Mr. Putin who has headed the Russian security council for 16 years, would be moved to another position to be announced in the coming days.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Sergei K, Andrei R, Shoigu, Nikolai P, Mr Locations: Russia, Ukraine

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