President Vladimir Putin replaced Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu — the longest serving member of his Cabinet at 11 1/2 years — in a rare Kremlin shake-up that came even as a Russian offensive in Ukrai

A rare cabinet shake-up is driven by the need to fuel Russia’s war against Ukraine and the confrontation with the West, analysts say. Putin named the government’s economic overseer as defense minister in a bid to bring “the power of Russia’s military-industrial complex and the economy” to bear.

Russia's choice of an economist as its new defence minister shows how far Moscow is preparing to go to overhaul its economy to serve its war needs, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Monday.

Vladimir Putin was accused by Britain of putting another “puppet” in as defence minister as he moved to appoint an economist to the role in a sign that he is planning for a long war in Ukraine. The Russian president caught military experts by surprise with his plan to bring in Andrei Belousov,