# Sergei Shoigu Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu (born 1955) is a Russian politician who served as Minister of Defense from 2012 to 2024 — the defense minister during Russia's annexation of Crimea (2014), military intervention in [[Syria]] (2015), and full-scale invasion of Ukraine (2022). In May 2024, he was moved to Secretary of the Security Council in a reshuffle that replaced him with economist Andrei Belousov, signaling Putin's prioritization of defense-industrial efficiency over military command culture. ## Career Shoigu is ethnically Tuvan (from the Siberian republic of Tuva, near the Mongolian border), making him one of the most prominent non-ethnic-Russian figures in Putin's inner circle. He built his political career leading the Ministry of Emergency Situations (EMERCOM) from 1991 to 2012, a role that made him one of Russia's most consistently popular politicians — disaster response is popular everywhere. His appointment as defense minister in 2012 was notable because he had no military background; he was chosen for political loyalty and administrative competence, not combat experience. ## The Ukraine war and removal Shoigu presided over the Russian military during the Ukraine invasion, including the failed assault on Kyiv, the chaotic retreat from Kherson, and the [[Wagner Group Mutiny]] (June 2023), in which [[Wagner Group]] forces briefly marched on Moscow partly in protest of Shoigu's leadership. His May 2024 removal from the defense ministry — replaced by an economist tasked with rationalizing defense spending — was widely interpreted as Putin's acknowledgment that the military's performance had been inadequate, though Shoigu's move to the Security Council maintained his status within the inner circle rather than representing a true demotion. ## See Also - [[Vladimir Putin]] — the principal - [[Russian Government]] — the system - [[Nikolai Patrushev]] — predecessor at the Security Council