IN an unexpected move, Vladimir Putin has sacked his long-term defence minister and appointed a tech geek with zero military experience.
Civilian Andrei Belousov, 65, will now take the reins of Russia's war in Ukraine as the Kremlin ruler carries out a major shake-up of his cabinet.
On Sunday, Putin fired his closest confidante and longest serving minister Sergei Shoigu, 68, and shifted him to a new role as Security Council Secretary.
Shoigu took charge of Russia's defence in 2012 - two years before the invasion and annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
The move to appoint little-known economist Belousov is seen as a humiliating snub to his decades-old friendship with Shoigu.
Shoigu, whose presence at the centre of power in Moscow predates that of Putin himself, will replace the powerful arch-hawk Nikolai Patrushev.
Belousov is said to be close with Putin after being one of his most trusted economic advisers for over a decade but has no experience as a military strategist.
UK Defence Minister Grant Shapps branded Belousov as just another of Putin's "puppets".
He : "Sergei Shoigu has overseen over 355k casualties amongst his own soldiers and mass civilian suffering with an illegal campaign in Ukraine.
"Russia needs a Defence Minister who would undo that disastrous legacy and end the invasion - but all they’ll get is another of Putin’s puppets."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov defended the decision, stating the defence ministry should be open to "cutting-edge ideas".
"The battlefield is won by whoever is more open to innovation," he added.
And yet, observers say Putin's biggest military overhaul in years could signal he plans to take a more hands-on role in battle plans moving forward.
The Institute for the Study War said the high-level reshuffle signals that Putin is taking significant steps to prepare for a protracted war in Ukraine and a possible future confrontation with Nato.
Belousov held leading positions in the finances and economic department of the prime minister's office and the Ministry of Economic Development.
The technocrat has been a forceful character in convincing Putin the digital economy and blockchain were crucial to Russia's future.
IN a shock move, Putin dismissed his close confidant and long-term defence minister in favour of a former economic minister with no prior military experience.
As Russia's war in Ukraine stalls after 27 months, the conflict has seen the downfall of some of Putin's most trusted cronies.
The fault lines in the despot's regime have been exposed and it appears a paranoid Putin has been readying his defences, consolidating his power and seemingly purging the weak links.
Some have been relegated to backroom roles, others have fallen out the sky in planes and some have vanished.
Sergei Shoigu - On May 12, Putin fired his closest confidante and longest serving minister Sergei Shoigu, 68, and shifted him to a new role as Security Council Secretary.
Timur Ivanov - Shoigu's deputy Timur Ivanov, 48, was charged with corruption in April. The arrest of the millionaire Putin crony was widely seen as an attempt to discredit his boss ahead of his dismissal.
Yevgeny Prigozhin - The Russian warlord and Wagner Group, 62, boss met his fiery end in a plane crash last August in what was seen as a Kremlin-ordered assassination after he in a short-lived mutiny.
Sergei Surovikin - dubbed "General Armageddon" and renowned for his merciless manoeuvres and known links to Prigozhin, Surovikin, 56, disappeared after the Wagner rebellion. He is believed to have been jailed, or possibly killed, with only one alleged sighting since last June.
Valery Gerasimov - Russia's Chief of the General Staff, 68, has long feared to have been fired from his role after he was only spotted in public twice the year amid a slew of battlefield disasters. However, the Kremlin has repeatedly stated he is still at the helm.
In 2013, Belousov was appointed an adviser to Putin and seven years later, in January 2020, he became first deputy prime minister briefly while Mikhail Mishustin recovered from Covid.
Keir Giles, a senior fellow at Chatham House's Russia programme, told The Sun that while a lot of attention is given to Russian military shakeups it is not "unusual" for a country in the middle of war.
And while Belousov may look like a strange choice, moving him into Vlad's inner circle indicates a "prioritisation of the economic and management aspects of the defence minister as opposed to actual war fighting".
As always within the Kremlin, Giles said, "it's like bulldogs fighting under a rug and we don't know who is coming out on top until bones fly out".
Professor David Lewis, a Russia expert from the University of Exeter, argued that Belousov is an "unexpected" but "safe" choice for Putin as he takes greater charge of the war.
He said: "The choice of Belousov as defence minister is unexpected but one that makes sense...
"Putin is thinking about the war against Ukraine as a long-term effort – and as part of a much longer, historic confrontation with the West that could continue for years, if not decades.
"That means he needs a military that is both effective and economically sustainable. Belousov is a safe pair of hands to manage the budget and to clamp down on corruption."
Lewis added: "The big winner from Putin’s reshuffle is Putin – with this move he makes sure that the MOD is fully under control and signals to everybody else that he is completely in charge."
Prior to Russia launching its full-scale military campaign on Ukraine in February 2022, Shoigu was seen as one of Putin's most trusted lieutenants.
The pair were regularly photographed on macho nature retreats in the Siberian wilderness, hunting and fishing together - even pictured relaxing half-naked by a lake.
Until recently, Putin had stood firm in his support for bungling Shoigu despite setbacks in Ukraine and his far too public feud with former Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Despite a string of military setbacks in the first year of the campaign - including the failure to capture the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and retreats from the Kharkiv and southern Kherson regions - Putin refused calls for his dismissal.
Shoigu even took a starring role at the scaled-back May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow as he was lauded with cheers from thousands of fans and troops just three days before his removal.
In line with Russian law, Putin's entire cabinet resigned last week after Putin was inaugurated.
Belousov's appointment will still need to be approved by the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's rubber-stamp parliament.
Shoigu's deputy Timur Ivanov, 48, was charged with corruption last month and humiliatingly paraded through court.
The millionaire will remain in custody as he awaits an official investigation but his arrest was widely interpreted as an attack on Shoigu and a possible precursor of his dismissal.
The major reshuffle comes at a key time in the conflict with Russian troops advancing in eastern Ukraine and a major new ground offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
Thousands more civilians have now fled as heavy fighting raged on Sunday along the northeast front line, where Russian forces attacked 27 settlements in the past 24 hours.
The intense battles have forced at least one Ukrainian unit to withdraw in the Kharkiv region, capitulating more land to Russian forces.
Analysts say the Russian push is designed to exploit ammunition shortages before promised Western supplies can reach the frontline.
Ukrainian soldiers said the Kremlin is using the usual Russian tactic of launching a disproportionate amount of fire and infantry assaults to exhaust Ukrainian troops and firepower.
Russia stepped up attacks in March targeting energy infrastructure and settlements, which analysts predicted were a effort to shape conditions for an offensive.
