Skier fall

The President fired the First Deputy Chief of the General Staff

Russian President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Dmitry Medvedev yesterday dismissed a group of senior military personnel from the Ministry of Defense. The list is quite long: the head of the organizational planning department - deputy head of the Main Armament Directorate of the Armed Forces, Major General Anatoly Gulyaev, the chief engineer - deputy commander of the railway troops, Major General Yevgeny Safonov, and a number of admirals, generals and high-ranking officers. But the main person on the list of retirees is 54-year-old First Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Alexander Burutin.

The unexpected resignation of Alexander Burutin certainly deserves special attention. They first started talking about him loudly in April 2003, when the 47-year-old general was appointed adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin on military-technical policy. The media found the reason for Mr. Burutin’s brilliant career leap in his ability to ski. They also talked about Burutin’s father, a colonel general, who could also contribute to his son’s career.

But the new appointee himself turned out to be far from mediocre. In March 2004, he was re-appointed in this position after the reorganization of the presidential administration. As an adviser to the President of Russia, Alexander Burutin dealt with the problems of the military-industrial complex and the state defense order. In 2006, with his active participation, the United Aircraft Corporation was created. This structure united the aviation holding company Sukhoi, the foreign economic association Aviaexport, the leasing company Ilyushin Finance, NPK Irkut, the aircraft manufacturing company Ilyushin, the Novosibirsk Aviation Production Association named after Chkalov and JSC Tupolev.

In March 2007, Alexander Burutin headed another new united corporation - shipbuilding. The head of the new structure implemented projects for the construction of new shipyards and strengthened relations with private shareholders of shipyards. In June 2007, a new appointment followed - deputy chairman of the government commission for ensuring the integration of enterprises of the shipbuilding complex of the Russian Federation.

But, as you can see, things didn’t work out for Alexander Burutin either in the air or sea business. Since October 2007, he has been returned to the purely military sphere, but with a significant promotion - first deputy chief of the General Staff: this was logical, he nevertheless graduated from the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School, the Military Academy. M.V. Frunze and the Military Academy of the General Staff. In his new position, Major General Burutin dealt, among other things, with issues related to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, and spoke on this issue in the State Duma.

General Burutin had long been regarded as a candidate for the post of Chief of the General Staff; for many, his appointment was a matter of time. Naturally, this could not please the Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov, who is considered one of the closest figures to Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov. However, personnel movements in the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff in recent years have been replete with surprises and unpredictability. Therefore, talk that “Medvedev is removing Putin’s creature” is hardly valid. It is only clear that Alexander Burutin will not receive a new position in the armed forces, since by presidential decree he was also dismissed from military service.

Yesterday, Dmitry Medvedev appointed Major General of the Medical Service Alexander Belevitin as the head of the Main Military Medical Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation - head of the Military Medical Academy, relieving him from the post of head of the Main Military Medical Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation - head of the medical service of the Armed Forces forces of the Russian Federation.

Nikolay POROSKOV