Putin Expands Defense Shuffle, Appoints Allies From Inner Circle
- President names son of ex-premier, reputed relative to posts
- Kremlin continues post-election shake-up at Defense Ministry
This article is for subscribers only.
President Vladimir Putin dismissed four deputy defense ministers and appointed two people with close ties to the Kremlin elite as he continued a shake-up of Russia’s wartime leadership.
Putin named Anna Tsivileva and Pavel Fradkov as deputies to Defense Minister Andrey Belousov in an order published Monday. Tsivileva has been named as a relative of Putin in UK government sanctions, while Fradkov’s father is former Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, who headed Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service for nine years.