And now let's talk about Russia
and the shake up in their defence ministry.
President Vladimir Putin has picked a new defence minister.
His wartime general, Sergei Shoigu,
is on his way out.
He's being replaced by an economist.
An economist will be Russias next defence minister.
And this switch has taken everyone by surprise.
Why would Putin dump his longtime ally and choose an
economist to lead the Russian military?
That too, in the middle of a war.
Shugu was a trusted teammate of Putin.
He served as defense minister for 12 years.
He's also believed to be quite close to Putin.
They've often been seen together on fishing trips in Siberia.
Last year, this minister faced A mutiny.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Pragoshan, and his troops rebelled against the
Russian military.
Putin sided with the defense minister,
with Shugu.
Some should. Some would say that he even protected him.
And today Putin has demoted the same man in his
due role.
He will lead Russia Security Council.
His powers will be significantly curtailed.
He won't be among the top decision makers.
This shift is expected to happen in the next few
days.
The Kremlin has issued a statement.
Putin believes it is time for Russia's Defense Ministry to
try some new ideas.
It is very important to integrate the economy of the
security sector to the economy of the whole country.
Integrate so that it is in accordance with the dynamic
of the current time.
And the second, which is important to mention,
is that today the one who is more open to
innovation and the quickest implementation wins on the battlefield.
Well, that's the official explanation.
But there is more to this move.
Let's tell you about some theories that are floating around.
The first one is about Shoigu and his track record
at the Defense Ministry.
Apparently, there were many corruption charges.
Last month, a scandal broke out.
One of Shoigu's deputies was arrested.
His name is Timur Ivanov.
He's believed to be a confidant of Shoigu.
Ivanov was accused of accepting bribes in the Defense Ministry.
He was in charge of giving lucrative contracts like construction
projects and procurement deals,
reports say, even of misused his position.
He took huge bribes to the tune of 1 billion
rubles.
That's almost $11 million, and these revelations put Chugo in
the spotlight.
Of course, he denied any wrongdoing,
but now he's lost his job as the defense minister,
so his removal could be an old fashioned cleanup.
Which brings us to his replacement,
Andre Belousov. Not exactly new to the power matrix.
Currently he serves as Russias Deputy Prime Minister.
He too is part of Putins Inner Circle,
one of his trusted economic advisers.
He has no military experience.
He has never served in the Russian military.
Then why did Putin pick him for the defense ministers
job?
The answer to that question could lie in data.
Let me show you some numbers.
This year Russia will spend
$109 billion on defense.
That's almost 30% of all expenses on defence.
Before the war in Ukraine,
defence spending was just 2.6%
of Russia's budget of Russia's GDP.
Rather, now it has crossed
6%. So defence doesn't just drive the Russian economy,
it overwhelmingly now defines it.
And Putin is trusting this new pick,
Belusov, to put Russia's massive defence budget to good use.
He could end up steering Russia's economy,
or at least a significant part of it,
directly from the Defence Ministry.
Today he spelled out some of his priorities.
Indeed, the pay received by service personnel who take part
in the special military operation in Ukraine and various allowances
reached minimal amount of
$2200 a month.
Think it's a mess when participants in the special military
operation who come back on vacation are driven from civilian
medical institutions to hospital hospitals,
which are often simply overcrowded.
Velosov talked about building homes and hospitals.
He also discussed welfare benefits for soldiers fighting the Ukraine
war.
So Russias next defence minister is giving some clear signals
They won't slow down in Ukraine.
The conflict will continue for as long as Putin desires.
Only now they have a new soldier in the war.
The Russian economy.
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