He removed from the military’s helm a man whom Russian pro-war commentators and Western analysts alike held partly responsible for Moscow’s many failures at the outset of the invasion.
Now, with the Russian military having gained the battlefield initiative, Mr. Putin is signaling a greater willingness to make changes and to show that Russia has the discipline and economic capacity to wage a long war.
The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told reporters that Mr. Putin made the decision as Russia was once again approaching Soviet-era levels of military expenditure due to “geopolitical circumstances.”
For months last year, Mr. Prigozhin railed against him in videos posted online, assailing him for incompetence in a fight for influence that ultimately ended with the mercenary leader trying to oust him in a failed uprising last summer.
His arrest, the removal of Mr. Shoigu and the installation of a trusted technocrat to head the defense ministry may also be a signal that the Kremlin, after turning a blind eye to corruption that has blossomed alongside military spending, will now mount a campaign to rein in graft in the sector.
“Belousov’s first task will be fighting corruption,” Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst, wrote on the Telegram messaging app, referring to the newly appointed defense minister.
The original article contains 1,268 words, the summary contains 211 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
He removed from the military’s helm a man whom Russian pro-war commentators and Western analysts alike held partly responsible for Moscow’s many failures at the outset of the invasion.
Now, with the Russian military having gained the battlefield initiative, Mr. Putin is signaling a greater willingness to make changes and to show that Russia has the discipline and economic capacity to wage a long war.
The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told reporters that Mr. Putin made the decision as Russia was once again approaching Soviet-era levels of military expenditure due to “geopolitical circumstances.”
For months last year, Mr. Prigozhin railed against him in videos posted online, assailing him for incompetence in a fight for influence that ultimately ended with the mercenary leader trying to oust him in a failed uprising last summer.
His arrest, the removal of Mr. Shoigu and the installation of a trusted technocrat to head the defense ministry may also be a signal that the Kremlin, after turning a blind eye to corruption that has blossomed alongside military spending, will now mount a campaign to rein in graft in the sector.
“Belousov’s first task will be fighting corruption,” Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst, wrote on the Telegram messaging app, referring to the newly appointed defense minister.
The original article contains 1,268 words, the summary contains 211 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!