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Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin has removed Sergei Shoigu as the country's defence minister in a cabinet reshuffle. On Sunday (May 12), President Putin proposed Andrey Belousov to be the new defence minister. Belousov’s candidacy will need to be approved by Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, a report by the news agency Associated Press said.
President Putin introduced proposals for other Cabinet positions as well but Shoigu is the only minister on that list who is being replaced.
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Addressing a press conference, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the decision to appoint Belousov as the defence minister was linked to the need to "making the economy of the security bloc part of the country’s economy."
Who is Andrey Belousov?
Born in 1959, Andrey Belousov is an economist by profession and has previously served in different positions. Belousov, 65, graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the Moscow State University in 1981 with distinction. He defended his dissertation on "An imitative approach to modelling interrelated processes for the formation and use of working capital."
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In 2000, Belousov was appointed a non-staff adviser to the Russian prime minister and joined the economy ministry as deputy minister six years later. Between 2008 and 2012, he was director of the Department for Economics and Finance in the government apparatus, the same years Putin served as PM.
Belousov briefly took on PM duties in 2020
In late May 2012, he was made economics minister. From 2013 until 2020, Belousov served as adviser to Putin.
From 2020, he worked as first deputy prime minister. When Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin got Covid in 2020, Belousov briefly took on the prime minister's duties while Mishustin got better.
The appointment of the 65-year-old has shocked many as he has no military background, but Belousov has been one of Putin’s most influential economic advisors over the last decade.
(With inputs from agencies)