Who’s in and who’s out as paranoid Putin swings the axe on his own Kremlin team

The changes come amid a bribary scandal in Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (L) (EPA)

Another senior Russian defence official has been arrested on bribery charges, officials said on Tuesday, days after President Vladimir Putin replaced the defence minister in a Cabinet shake-up that fuelled expectations of more purges.

Lt Gen Yury Kuznetsov, the 55-year-old chief of the Defence Ministry’s main personnel directorate, was arrested in a raid on his suburban Moscow villa on Monday, Russian media reported.

He was detained on charges of bribery and jailed pending an investigation and trial, according to the Investigative Committee, Russia’s top state criminal investigation agency.

Mr Kuznetsov is accused of accepting an “exceptionally large bribe,” a charge punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

In this undated photo distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021, Russian Lt. Gen. Yury Kuznetsov is seen during a military parade in a Russian military academy in Krasnodar, Russia,. (AP)

The committee alleged he received the bribe in his previous post as head of the military General Staff’s directorate in charge of preserving state secrets, a position he held for 13 years.

In the raid, agents of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, broke down the doors and windows of his home while he was asleep, the reports said, seizing gold coins, luxury items and over 100 million rubles (£872,832) in cash.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, talks with Russian Chief of General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov, left, and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu after a meeting with military leaders in Moscow, Russia, (Sputnik)

On Sunday, Mr Putin reshuffled his Cabinet as he starts his fifth term in office, replacing Sergei Shoigu, who served as defence minister for 11 and a half years, with Andrei Belousov, an economics expert and former deputy prime minister.

Mr Putin named Mr Shoigu the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, a role roughly similar to the US national security adviser, replacing Nikolai Patrushev.

Following are the key jobs and the biggest changes:

Biggest changes: * Defence Minister - Andrei Belousov (was Sergei Shoigu). * Secretary of the Security Council - Sergei Shoigu (was Nikolai Patrushev)

* Deputy chief of staff and overseeing the economy - Maxim Oreshkin * Kremlin aide overseeing defence industry - Alexei Dyumin(formerly he was governor of Tula and for many years served as a senior bodyguard for Putin)

* Kremlin aide for shipbuilding - Nikolai Patrushev

* First Deputy PM - Denis Manturov

* Deputy PM Alexander Novak given additional duties overseeing the economy. He is also Putin’s energy point man.

* Deputy PM overseeing agriculture and ecology - Dmitry Patrushev. He was agriculture minister before.

* Agriculture Minister - Oksana Lut (was Dmitry Patrushev)

* Energy Minister - Sergei Tsivilev (was Nikolai Shulginov)

* Trade and Industry Minister - Anton Alikhanov (was Denis Manturov)

Top positions that were left unchanged * Prime Minister - Mikhail Mishustin (If the president is ever unable to fulfil his duties, then the prime minister takes over his duties

KREMLIN

* Kremlin chief of staff - Anton Vaino

* Kremlin first deputy chief of staff - Alexei Gromov

* Kremlin first deputy chief of staff - Sergei Kiriyenko

* Kremlin deputy chief of staff - Dmitry Kozak

* Kremlin deputy chief of staff - Dmitry Peskov (also Putin’s spokesman)

* Kremlin foreign policy aide - Yuri Ushakov

MILITARY AND SECURITY

* Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov - to remain in his job.

* FSB Director - Alexander Bortnikov

* SVR Director - Sergei Naryshkin

* Chief of Russia’s national guard - Viktor Zolotov

* Federal Guards Service (FCO) - Dmitry Kochnev

* Foreign Minister - Sergei Lavrov

* Interior Minister - Vladimir Kolokoltsev

GOVERNMENT

* Finance Minister - Anton Siluanov

* Economy Minister - Maxim Reshetnikov

Mr Patrushev, a hawkish and powerful member of Mr Putin’s inner circle who held the job for 16 years, was appointed a presidential aide.

Alexei Dyumin, the governor of the Tula region and often mentioned as a potential Putin successor, was also named a presidential aide.

Mr Patrushev will oversee Russian shipbuilding industries in his new job, but may later also deal with other duties, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev (Sputnik)

He rejected notions that Mr Shoigu’s reshuffle represented a demotion, describing his new role as a “very senior job with broad responsibilities”.

While Mr Shoigu, who had personal ties with Mr Putin and accompanied him on vacations in the Siberian mountains over the years, was given a new senior position, the future of his close entourage in the Defence Ministry appeared in doubt.

Mr Shoigu’s deputy, Timur Ivanov, was arrested last month on bribery charges and was ordered to remain in custody pending an official investigation.

His arrest was widely interpreted as an attack on Mr Shoigu and a possible precursor to his dismissal.

The shake-up appeared to be an attempt to put the defence sector in sync with the rest of the economy and tighten control over soaring military spending amid allegations of rampant corruption in the top military brass.