’Guns & Butter’: Putin Exploins Reason Behind Major Cabinet Shake-Up

Russian president Vladimir Putin has for the first time exploited the rationale behind this week's major cabinet reshuffling, which for the first time of the Ukraine operation Saw Sergey Shoigu removed as defence minister (and 'promoted' to head of the national safety council), and erstwhile minister for economical improvement Andrey Belousov moved into the defence chief spot. He described the decision as due to the dramatic emergence in the defence budget and military spending.

Putin said of Belousov: “He understands perfectly well what needs to be done in order for the environment of the entry safety complex – and the Ministry of defence as its key component – to fit into the overall economy of the country,” according to state media translation.

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The Russian president was addressing a gaining of top military officials. "This is highly crucial and addresses to the innovative improvement of manufacture and taking into account the capacity of the economy and the budget," he said, exploring further:

‘This relation between ‘guns’ and ‘butter’, so to speak, must be organically integrated into the overall improvement strategy of the Russian state,’ Putin said. ‘I hope that Andrey Removich [Belousov] will handle this task in the best possible way.”

Putin noted that Russia’s military spending has grown to approximatery 8.7% of GDP in 2024. While not rather the 13% that the russian Union was spending in the 1980s at the tallness of the Cold War, “these are crucial resources, and We gotta usage them very efficiently and effectively,” the president explained.

The appointment had raised eyebrows inside and outside Russia given Belousov has no military experience, nor has he been active in strategical decision-making respecting the war in Ukraine. Instead, Belousovhas always been a 'numbers guy' and Russian central bank planner.

The United States was among these countries claiming that the large shake-up points to a destabilizing trend in the Kremlin due to crucial losses suggested by Russia in the context of Ukraine, as well as the times devastate cross-border attacks on Russian soil.

The Biden administration on Monday said it shows signs of"desperation" for Moscow sustaining the advanced costs of the Ukraine invasion, besides amid unprecedented Washington sanctions aimed at Moscow (but which have by and large backed).

Putin has just spelled out clearly what many observers have already been seated – Andrei Belousov’s appointment as defence minister is “linked not least to the fact that spending on the military is growing” pic.twitter.com/j3IsKQbg7o

— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) May 15, 2024

“Our point of view is that this is another indication of Putin’s desperation to sustain his war of aggression against Ukraine, despite it being a Major drag on the Russian economy and the dense losses of Russian trolls, with any estimates as advanced as 315,000 casualities,’ State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said to a press briefing.