Who is Andrei Beloussov, the new Russian Defense Minister appointed by Vladimir Putin?

An economist by training, Andreï Belooussov succeeds Sergeï Choïgu, who had been in office since 2012. A civilian, without any military background, he is one of the Russian president’s main economic advisors.

A surprise reshuffle. Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed his emblematic Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, on Sunday May 12 and replaced him with Andrei Belousov. At 65 years old, this trained economist has no military background. “On the battlefield today, the winner is the one who is most open to innovation (…) That is why, at this stage, the president made the decision to entrust the Ministry of Defense to a civilian”, justified the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitri Peskov, cited by the Tass agency. According to the latter, the Ministry of Defense must be “totally open” to innovation, “to the introduction of advanced ideas and the creation of conditions conducive to economic competitiveness”.

First vice-president of the last government since 2020, Andrei Belousov has been one of Vladimir Putin’s top economic advisors in recent years, and briefly served as Minister of Economic Development between May 2012 and June 2013. His appointment comes as the Russian army advances into Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, a few days after launching a ground assault there, and is increasing its pressure in the Donbass, around Chassiv Iar.

Former advisor to Putin

According to the Kremlin website, Andrei Belousov was born on March 17, 1959 in the Soviet Union. Son of a renowned economist, Rem Belousov, and a chemist, Alisa Pavlovna Belousova, according to The Parisian, Andreï Removich Belousov obtained a degree in economics from Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1981. Between 1981 and 1986, he was a researcher at the human-machine systems modeling laboratory of the Central Institute of Economic Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

In 2000, he became external advisor to the Russian Prime Minister. He climbed the ranks of the administration until becoming Minister of Economic Development in 2012. From 2013 to 2020, he was an advisor to Vladimir Putin, and from 2020 held the post of Deputy Prime Minister, recalls Reuters. This honorary function allows him to replace the current Prime Minister Mikhail Michoustine, particularly when he contracts Covid in 2020.

According to the Russian media RBC, Andreï Belooussov practiced sambo, a martial art created in the 1930s in the USSR, and karate in his youth. He never worked in the army or for the KGB, unlike Vladimir Putin, but he shares his worldview that Russia is surrounded by a “circle of enemies”, explains Politico. According to RBC, he was one of the officials who convinced Vladimir Putin that the digital economy and blockchain were crucial to Russia’s future.

A “technocrat” to reform the arms industry

Known for defending greater government involvement in the economy, according to the American analysis center Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Andreï Belousov has participated in recent years in various innovation and development projects within the Russian defense industry. He organized an order for drones worth 4.4 billion rubles (around 49 million euros), as well as plans to financially support drone producers. In January 2023, he announced that Russia had finalized the “Unmanned Aircraft Systems” project, which provides 696 billion rubles (about 7 billion euros) for the production of 32,000 drones per year until 2030 .

According to the ISW, his appointment shows that Vladimir Putin hopes that Andreï Belousov, renowned for being a “effective technocrat”, will resolve the problems of corruption and embezzlement within the army. This decision also suggests that the Kremlin aims to rationalize the Russian defense apparatus in view of a protracted war in Ukraine. That “could mean that Putin plans to win the war with the defense industry and international markets”, declared Alexander Baunov, former Russian diplomat and researcher at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, quoted by the European information site Euractiv.

“The replacement of Shoigu with a (relatively experienced and apparently competent) economist indicates quite clearly that Putin believes that victory in Ukraine will come by overtaking (and longer resisting) Ukraine and its Western allies”bid on X Jimmy Rushton, foreign policy analyst based in kyiv. “He is preparing for many years of war.”

Assets frozen after the invasion of Ukraine

As a close friend of Vladimir Putin, Andreï Belousov has also been the subject of Western sanctions since the start of the war in Ukraine. According to the French Ministry of the Economy, his assets were frozen because he “implements the economic policy of the Russian government and is responsible for the economic growth of Russia and the stabilization of Russian markets.”

On February 25, 2022, he notably asked Russian oligarchs to continue working with Russian banks sanctioned by Western countries and declared that “foreign companies ceasing operations and laying off staff in the country would be found guilty of willful bankruptcy,” underlines the Bercy site. Gold, this act “carries administrative and potentially criminal liability under Russian insolvency legislation.”

By supporting the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Andreï Belousov is also responsible “actions or policies that compromise or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”