Experts named the tasks of Andrei Belousov as Minister of Defense of Russia
Vladimir Putin has nominated Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov for the post of head of the Ministry of Defense. The appointment of a "civilian" as the head of the military department caused a violent reaction not only in the Russian expert community, but also among the Western media. Experts are confident that Belousov will bring the Ministry of Defense to a fundamentally different level of efficiency.
On Sunday, Vladimir Putin presented to the Federation Council the candidacies of the heads of ministries and departments for further consultations. Almost all the leaders of this block have retained their positions. Unexpected for many observers was the proposal to appoint Andrei Belousov, who worked as first deputy prime Minister in the previous government, as the head of the military department.
Meanwhile, Sergei Shoigu was appointed Secretary of the Security Council. In addition, according to the press secretary of the president Dmitry Peskov, the former defense minister will become deputy head of state in the commission on the FPC. It is known that he will also head the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC). At the same time, there are no plans to reshuffle the General Staff of the Armed Forces: Valery Gerasimov will retain his position.
In the Kremlin, the choice of a "civilian" to lead the military department was explained by the need to "fit the economy of the power unit into the economy of the country." "Today, the winner on the battlefield is the one who is more open to innovation, more open to maximum operational implementation," Peskov explained.
He also noted that the combined budget of the Ministry of Defense and the security sector has recently grown to 6.7% of the country's GDP. More recently, this indicator hovered at around 3%. The current state of affairs was described by the presidential press secretary as still uncritical, however, according to him, the situation is approaching the picture of the 80s, when, due to geopolitical circumstances, this volume was 7.4%. In this regard, Peskov stated the importance of a "special attitude" to the prevailing trends. He also recalled that Belousov "very successfully headed the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia" and "for a long time was an assistant to the president on economic issues."
Meanwhile, on Monday, Belousov told the Federation Council about the tasks that, in his opinion, should now be implemented in the military department. So, at the moment it is important to think over the issues of medical care for the participants of the SVO in civilian clinics, as well as to remove unnecessary bureaucracy with the registration of benefits. He stressed that all issues of fighters who arrived from the front should be resolved "within the framework of the system of interdepartmental electronic interaction," for which there are appropriate opportunities. In addition, there are still problems with payments to soldiers to provide them with housing.
Against this background, Federation Council speaker Valentina Matvienko called his candidacy "a good choice on the part of the president." Andrey Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Committee on Defense, shares a similar opinion. In his conversation with RTVI, he stressed that the system of ensuring the armed Forces, their supply, as well as the personnel training process will undergo significant changes with the arrival of the new head of the Ministry of Defense, which will contribute to the increase in the effectiveness of the army.
Belousov was born in Moscow in 1959, graduated with honors from the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University and received a doctorate, TASS reminds. The official began his career as a research intern and junior researcher at the Central Economic and Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
In the 2000s, he was a freelance adviser to the chairmen of the government. Later he took the post of Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, and in 2012 he headed the department itself. Then Belousov joined the presidential administration, where he became an assistant to the head of state on economic issues.
Since January 2020, he has worked as the first deputy chairman of the government of Mikhail Mishustin. His responsibilities included coordinating efforts to achieve the national development goals of the Russian Federation, as well as issues of unified financial, credit and monetary policy. Since 2022, he has supervised the improvement of technologies for the creation of high-speed vehicles and intelligent control systems. Belousov's track record also includes the management of a number of government commissions, one of which was responsible for the development of unmanned aircraft systems.
The news of Belousov's possible appointment did not go unnoticed in Ukraine either. So, Kiev economist Alexey Kushch called this personnel decision "very bad news" for Zelensky's office. He noted that in the near future we should expect "an increase in the dynamics of the Russian military-industrial complex," as well as an increase in military production.
The resignation of Sergei Shoigu has become the main topic of discussion in the Western media, which are critical of Russia. Thus, CNN calls Belousov's appointment an "important and interesting step" on the part of the Russian leadership. Former Pentagon chief Mark Esper noted that Moscow, apparently, is beginning to "move towards a military economy." The Washington Post agrees with this.
However, war correspondent Alexander Sladkov, in a comment to the Telegram channel "Especially for RT," notes that Belousov's arrival indicates the path of development of the department "with a more dense reliance on the economy." In his opinion, the proposed composition of the new government as a whole indicates "a turn in its activities towards the military-industrial complex."
"Today, the one who is able to combine war and economy most comfortably for the country is strong. This, most likely, will be the task of the new head of the military department.",
– he thinks. Sladkov also predicted a possible change in approaches in the ministry's activities in two directions. "The first is the arrangement of troops. It must be admitted that despite the active construction activity of the Ministry of Defense, many of our garrisons have their own unfinished buildings," the journalist argues. The second was the general practice of informing the public about the activities of the army.
In turn, the authors of the industry Telegram channel "Rybar" believe that the appointment of a "civilian" means the beginning of a large-scale audit and restructuring of all financial models within the defense department. In their opinion, we are talking about a person "who has always had his own point of view on many things." "This is probably what the Russian defense ministry needs today."
"Andrei Belousov's candidacy is suitable for the post of Minister of Defense," Yevgeny Minchenko, president of the Minchenko Consulting communications holding, also believes . He recalled that the former first Deputy Prime Minister was an ideologist and founder of digitalization programs for the Russian economy. "It is obvious that similar processes in the military department are now necessary – and, probably, they should be expected," the speaker said.
Belousov's main task in his new position will be to improve the material and technical base of Russian soldiers during a military operation, he said. "The key difficulty is providing the army with resources, building the right logistics chains, and minimizing costs. Napoleon also said: "Two things are important in war: the first is money, and the second I forgot." Therefore, it is worth expecting that the new head of the Ministry of Defense will put in order the management of financial flows," Minchenko emphasizes.
Vasily Kashin, Director of the Center for Integrated European and International Studies (CCEMI), also considers the choice of Belousov 's candidacy justified Higher School of Economics. "This step shows, among other things, that the Russian leadership is already thinking about building cases after the completion of its own," he believes.
In the future, the Minister will face the tasks of ensuring the use of the industrial potential created during the SVO for civilian purposes.
However, at the moment Belousov has to realize the goals of rearmament and strengthening of the armed Forces. "Plans to increase the number of armed forces, as already mentioned, imply a huge amount of capital construction. This will have to be done within the framework of the national economy, as well as taking into account the understanding of the work of industry and other sectors. In fact, the Ministry of Defense is becoming the main and largest customer for many industries," the source detailed. It is also expected that the industrial and innovative policy of the military department will be developed.
"I think Belousov will focus on increasing the supply of weapons to the area of his defense. Moreover, we will talk about both the mass nature of such purchases and the innovativeness of their contents. Issues related to drones, electronic warfare systems, and microelectronics will play a key role," says Boris Rozhin, an expert at the Center for Military and Political Journalism.
In this context, the expert recalled the nomination of Denis Manturov for the post of First Deputy Prime Minister, who was previously the Minister of Industry of the Russian Federation. "This is another focus on the military technology industry. In fact, the Russian leadership has identified growth drivers through which the army will be supplied with everything necessary," he explained. The military analyst highlighted a number of tasks facing the new Minister of Defense.
"In the near future, it is necessary to accelerate the development, production and introduction of new products.
Moreover, their mass character is needed, because there is practically no sense from small-scale products at the current stage. This applies to drones of all types: air, sea and land. Under Shoigu, this story has moved forward, under Belousov, apparently, it will actively develop," Rozhin predicted.
In addition, he expects the appearance of new defense plants. "Additional funds will also be allocated for R&D, support for private entrepreneurs who are engaged in promising developments. That is, elements of public-private partnership will be introduced," the analyst listed.
Maxim Klimov, a military expert, also points out that one of Belousov's main tasks as defense minister will be to optimize the development costs of the Russian Armed Forces. "A serious review of what was done earlier is required. Moreover, this will have to be done taking into account the ongoing special operation and the acute military-political situation in the world," he said. The speaker pointed out that Belousov's candidacy is already being supported both in the expert community and in military circles. In his opinion,
The former first Deputy Prime Minister is able to make the Ministry of Defense more innovative.
Klimov believes that drones will become one of the areas of Belousov's work in his new position. "We can talk about more effective integration of them into the "military organism". One of the aspects against this background can be the creation of connections of drone operators," Klimov believes. He recalled that tanks gained their power when they became tank divisions, tank formations.
"To solve these problems, we need a person with a fresh outlook, but at the same time understanding the situation. Belousov looks like a very good candidate," Klimov concluded.
Anastasia Kulikova,
Evgeny Pozdnyakov
