Corruption crackdown on Russian Defence Ministry continues

On May 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed Deputy Defence Minister Yuri Sadovenko. Sadovenko held this position under ex-Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu for more than eleven years since January 2013.

The decree on Sadovenko's dismissal comes into force from the date of signing.

Before the Defence Ministry, Sadovenko worked with Shoigu at the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations and the administration of the Moscow region.

Putin signed another decree appointing Oleg Savelyev, the auditor of the Accounts Chamber, to the post of Deputy Minister of Defence. As follows from the text of the document, the new deputy head of the military department will be the chief of staff of the ministry.

Savelyev served as Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Russia, and then Minister of Crimean Affairs. In September 2018, he was appointed chief of staff of the Accounts Chamber. In 2019, on the recommendation of the president, he became an auditor of the Accounts Chamber.

Earlier, Putin appointed former first deputy prime minister of the government Andrei Belousov for the post of defense minister instead of Shoigu. Belousov earlier worked as minister of economic development and assistant to the president on economic issues.

As Putin explained, Belousov's choice is associated with increased spending on defence and security, which this year would amount to about 8.7 percent of GDP.

Belousov said that the president set him the task of making the military economy and the work of the defence department as open to innovation as possible.

On May 13, the head of the Main Personnel Directorate of the Ministry of Defence, Yuri Kuznetsov, was arrested for bribery. Prior to this, security forces detained Deputy Head of the Ministry of Defense Timur Ivanov for bribery as well. According to investigators, Ivanov received kickbacks from government contracts in the construction industry.