Belousov will make the Ministry of Defense innovative, by Anastasia Kulikova and Evgeny Pozdnyakov for VZGLYAD. 05.13.2024.
Experts named the tasks of Andrei Belousov as Russian Defence Minister.
Vladimir Putin nominated Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov for the post of head of the Ministry of Defence. The appointment of a “civilian” as head of the military department caused a strong reaction not only in the Russian expert community, but also among the Western media. Experts are confident that Belousov will take the Ministry of Defence to a fundamentally different level of efficiency.
On Sunday, Vladimir Putin presented the Federation Council with nominations for heads of ministries and departments for further consultations. Almost all the leaders of this bloc retained their positions. What came as a surprise to many observers was the proposal to appoint Andrei Belousov as head of the military department, who served as first deputy prime minister in the previous government.
Meanwhile, Sergei Shoigu was appointed secretary of the Security Council. In addition, according to presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, the ex-minister of defence 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.
The Kremlin explained the choice of a “civilian” to lead the military department by the need to “integrate the economy of the security bloc into the economy of the country.” “Today, the winner on the battlefield is the one who is more open to innovation, more open to the most rapid implementation,” Peskov explained.
He also noted that the combined budget of the Ministry of Defence and the security bloc has recently grown to 6.7% of the country's GDP. Until recently, this figure fluctuated around 3%.
The president's press secretary described the current state of affairs 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 current trends. He also recalled that Belousov “very successfully headed the Russian Ministry of Economic Development” and “for a long time was the president’s assistant on economic issues.”
Meanwhile, on Monday, Belousov spoke at the Federation Council about the tasks that, in his opinion, should now be implemented in the military department. Thus, at the moment it is important to think through the issues of medical care for SVO participants in civilian clinics, as well as to remove unnecessary bureaucracy with the registration of benefits. He emphasized that all issues of soldiers arriving from the front should be resolved “within the framework of the system of interdepartmental electronic interaction,” for which there are appropriate opportunities. In addition, problems remain 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.” Andrei Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Committee on Defense, shares a similar opinion. In his conversation with RTVI, he emphasized that the system of supporting the Armed Forces, their supplies, as well as the process of personnel training, with the arrival of the new head of the Ministry of Defense, will undergo significant changes that will contribute to the growth of the army’s efficiency.
Belousov was born in Moscow in 1959, graduated with honors from the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University and received a doctorate, recalls TASS . The official began his career as a trainee researcher and junior researcher at the Central Institute of Economics and Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
In the 2000s, he was a freelance adviser to government chairmen. Later he took the post of Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, and in 2012 he headed the department itself. Then Belousov went to work in the presidential administration, where he became an assistant to the head of state on economic issues.
Since January 2020, he worked as the first deputy chairman of the government of Mikhail Mishustin. His area of responsibility included coordination of work to achieve the national development goals of the Russian Federation, as well as issues of a unified financial, credit and monetary policy. Since 2022, he has supervised the improvement of technologies for creating high-speed vehicles and intelligent control systems. Belousov’s track record also includes managing a number of government commissions, one of which was responsible for the development of unmanned aerial systems.
The news about Belousov’s possible appointment did not go unnoticed in Ukraine. Thus, Kiev economist Alexei 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 subject of discussion in Western media critical of Russia. Thus, the CNN channel calls the appointment of Belousov “an important and interesting step” on the part of the Russian leadership. Former Pentagon chief Mark Esper noted that Moscow appears to be beginning to “move toward a war economy.” The Washington Post agrees with this.
However, military correspondent Alexander Sladkov, in a commentary on the Telegram channel “Especially for RT,” notes that Belousov’s arrival indicates the path of development of the department “with a more dense focus 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 strongest is the one who can most comfortably combine war and economics for the country. 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 to the ministry’s activities in two areas. “The first thing is to equip the troops. It must be admitted that despite the active construction activity of the Ministry of Defense, many of our garrisons have their own unfinished construction,” the journalist argues. The second thing he named 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 always had his own point of view on many things.” “Probably this is exactly what the Russian defense department needs today.”
“Andrei Belousov’s candidacy is suitable for the post of Minister of Defence,” also believes Evgeniy Minchenko, president of the communications holding Minchenko Consulting. He recalled that the former first deputy prime minister was the 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 clarified.
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 indicated. “The key difficulty is providing the army with resources, building the right logistics chains, and minimizing costs. Napoleon also said: “In war, two things are important: the first is money, and I forgot the second.” Therefore, we should expect that the new head of the Ministry of Defense will put financial flow management in order,” Minchenko emphasizes.
Vasily Kashin, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies (CCEMS) at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, also considers the choice of Belousov’s candidacy justified. “This step indicates, among other things, that the Russian leadership is already thinking about building things up after the completion of the SVO,” he believes.
In the future, the minister will be tasked with 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 aircraft, as already mentioned, imply a gigantic volume of capital construction. This must be done within the framework of the national economy, as well as taking into account an 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 interlocutor detailed. It is also expected that an industrial and innovation policy for the military department will be developed.
“I believe that Belousov will focus on increasing the supply of weapons to the Northern Military District zone. Moreover, we will talk about both the massive scale of such purchases and the innovativeness of their content. Issues related to drones, electronic warfare systems, and microelectronics will play a key role,” says Boris Rozhin, an expert at the Center for Military-Political Journalism.
In this context, the expert recalled the candidacy 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 essence, the Russian leadership has outlined growth drivers with the help of which the army will be supplied with everything it needs,” he explained. The military analyst highlighted a number of tasks facing the new Minister of Defence.
“In the near future, it is necessary to accelerate the development, production and introduction of new products.
Moreover, they need mass production, because there is practically no sense in small-scale products at the current stage. This applies to drones of all types: air, sea and land. Under Shoigu, this story got off the ground; under Belousov, apparently, it will actively develop,” Rozhin predicted.
In addition, he expects the emergence of new defense plants. “Additional funds will also certainly be allocated for R&D and support for private entrepreneurs who are engaged in promising developments. That is, elements of public-private partnership will be introduced,” the analyst listed.
Military expert Maxim Klimov also points out that one of Belousov’s main tasks as Minister of Defense will be to optimize the costs of developing the Russian Armed Forces. “A major overhaul of what has been done before 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 noted. The speaker pointed out that Belousov’s candidacy is already supported both in the expert community and in military circles. In his opinion,
the former first deputy prime minister is capable of making 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 body.” One of the aspects against this background could be the creation of connections of drone operators,” says Klimov. He recalled that tanks gained their power when they became tank divisions and tank formations.
“To solve these problems we need someone with a fresh perspective, but at the same time understanding the state of affairs. Belousov looks like a very good candidate,” Klimov concluded.
https://vz.ru/politics/2024/5/13/1267804.html
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