Why Shoigu was drafted into the army

Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with Sergey Shoigu, announced the resignation of the Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov and the appointment of Shoigu by the head of the defense department.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the decision to resign Serdyukov was made personally by Putin, but the candidacy of the new head of the defense department was discussed by him with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev: "The decision to dismiss Serdyukov was made by the president." But the press secretary of Medvedeva Natalya Timakova told reporters that Serdyukov himself filed a resignation several days ago.

The resignation of Anatoly Serdyukov was preceded by a scandal. The Investigative Committee instituted five criminal cases on fraud in OJSC OPENSService , controlled by the Ministry of Defense, and also searched the apartment of the former head of the Department of Property Relations of the Ministry of Defense Evgenia Vasilyeva. Law enforcement agencies seized large sums of money, jewelry and antiques. The official representative of the Investigative Committee , Vladimir Markin, did not exclude that now the ex-minister could be questioned in the case of major embezzlement at OJSC OPENSService: "If there are reasons for this, Anatoly Serdyukov, of course, will be questioned."

The duties of the Governor of the Moscow Region will temporarily fulfill the vice-governor of the region Ruslan Tsalikov. Direct elections of the head of the region will most likely be held in September next year on a single voting day, Interfax reports with reference to the chairman of the Mosoblisbirkom, Irek Vildanov .

What are the reasons for the resignation of Serdyukov, what should be expected from Shoigu and whether the opposition will fight for the post of governor of the Moscow region, Publipost found out experts, political scientists and opposition activists.

Photo: ITAR-TASS

Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of Vladimir Putin to the television channel "Rain"

The meeting with Serdyukov took place this morning. She preceded the conversation with Shoigu. During the conversation with Shoigu, the president himself said that against the background of the situation that has developed around the Ministry of Defense, taking into account the need to create appropriate conditions for the investigative actions that are being taken, they decided to retire the Minister of Defense. We also learned about it today. Shoigu himself confirmed his consent at a meeting with the president.

Natalia Timakova, press secretary of the Prime Minister of Russia

In accordance with the existing legislation, after Serdyukov filed a resignation, Prime Minister for approval by the President introduced decrees on the liberation of Anatoly Serdyukov from the post of Minister of Defense and the appointment of Sergei Shoigu for this post. Consultations between the president and the prime minister have been held for the last few days.

Victor Litovkin, military expert, deputy responsible editor of the New Military Review

Why the resignation occurred, I understand - these are criminal cases related to OJSC Oboronservis. For an objective investigation of crimes, Serdyukov’s resignation was required, because he will willy-nilly is included in the work of this joint-stock society. It was necessary to remove it so that he would not affect the course of the investigation. Of course, it was reasonable to remove him at least for a while.

Shoigu is a compromise, an authoritative person for the country and the armed forces. I think the army will accept him. Shoigu is competent, in all respects it is suitable for the post of Minister of Defense. The only thing - he is not a military man, never served in the army, although he wears the rank of general of the army and the title of Hero of Russia. He has enough sanity not to break firewood, and he will continue the positive undertakings in the reform of the army, which began under Serdyukov.

Sergey Markov, political scientist, member of United Russia

Serdyukov’s resignation was brewing for a very long time. There are several basic reasons: the first is that he was in a rather alienated state from the officer corps of the Russian armed forces. The appointment of Serdyukov from the very beginning was perceived by the officer corps as an insult to them. He was perceived not as an officer, but as a merchant. And this attitude reduced the morale of the armed forces.

This is a long time ago by breaking the dismissal. At one time, Serdyukov was assigned to this post to carry out a huge black work on reorganization, and he completed most of this black work. Maybe that's why he was fired. The second point-two tasks were set for him: the first was the reform of the Armed Forces, he somehow did it there. It is still difficult for us from outside to judge this. And the second task is to sell the property of the Armed Forces in a corruption way. And it is clear that he failed this task.

Shoigu, as a rule, is appointed to those positions where popularity is required. It is necessary to restore the popularity of the post of Minister of Defense in the eyes of the officer corps of Russia. And Shoigu enjoys great respect, is considered a real officer. Another reason is that the experience of leading a huge power ministry is needed. There are not many such people, and Shoigu is the closest associate of Vladimir Putin, whom he invites to solve the most difficult problems. Apparently, Putin believes that the situation in the Ministry of Defense is very difficult and complicated.

And in the place of Shoigu in the governors of the Moscow Region, the best chances will be the one whom Putin will appoint a temporarily acting. There are a lot of figures. I can’t name anyone yet, but most likely it will be one of the federal ministers.

Vladimir Ryzhkov, politician, co-chair of the Party "RPR-Parnas"

From my point of view, nothing portended this resignation. Serdyukov was among the most trusted ministers of Putin, and he was entrusted with one of the most important reforms - military reform, and these events are actually quite amazing and sudden. Because this is a family very close to Putin, this is the Zubkov family, this is Peter, it is a power ministry, it is always sensitive to any government, so this is a completely amazing story.

I believe that this is in no way connected with military reform, because it has a systemic character. In general, its ideology is correct, I'm not talking about its specific performance, there are many mistakes. This is not related to corruption, because if Putin really fought with her, there would have been not a single minister or employee of the presidential administration for a long time. I think that most likely this is some kind of personal story associated with Zubkov and families who lead the country. Absolutely clan, Byzantine history, something deeply personal.

Putin has very few effective people to whom he trusts. There may be a dozen and a half of them. Since the Ministry of Defense is a state -forming one, this is a huge corporation, which has a weapon in his hands, Putin could only put an effective person and only very close to himself. Apparently, there was no other, he has very few of them now.

On the participation of the opposition in the election

Representatives of the opposition may also compete for the post of governor of the Moscow region. Publicpost talked with a member of the opposition coordination council Sergei Udaltsov, the co-chair of Parnassus Vladimir Ryzhkov and ex-candidates for the post of mayor of Himmok .

Sergey Udaltsov, coordinator of the "Left Front"

First you need to find out when these elections will take place. Will there be early elections. By law, they should take place only in September. This is a fairly long time. Therefore, now to rush and name some surnames, your own or strangers, it seems to me wrong. Of course, the CS will nominate his candidate, but for this you need to think about everything, can conduct internal primaries, establish a dialogue with parliamentary parties. It will be wrong if many candidates go from the opposition to the polls. Our task is to nominate a worthy single candidate.

The leader of the movement in the defense of the Khimki forest , Yevgeny Chirikov, has not yet decided whether it would take part in the election of the Governor of the Moscow Region, but her former competitors in the election of the head of the city of Khimki, the emergency politician Oleg Mitvol and the musician Spider, have already resolved this issue for themselves.

Oleg Mitvol, Ecologist:

We will participate in the elections of the Governor of the Moscow Region. You know that we have very strong positions in the suburbs: we won in the Mozhaisk district, in the Ruzsky district we have strong positions.

Sergey Troitsky (Spider), leader of the Music Music Group "Corrosion of Metal"

I want to congratulate you! God pressed the button, and we returned! The Khimki mission continues! KTR militants nominated my candidacy for the post of governor of the Moscow Region! As Zep Dietrich said, we start everything from the beginning! Glory to all of us!

Vladimir Ryzhkov, politician, co-chair of the Party "RPR-Parnas"

It has already been announced that the election of the new governor of the Moscow Region will be only in September 2013. The task of the opposition is to find a single strong candidate. We will look for. There are no assumptions yet who it can be, this news is only a few hours. We will not rush. On the contrary, you have to not rush. There is time. It is necessary to conduct consultations, weigh everything and then make a decision. Haster will only hurt now. Ideally, this is a single opposition candidate.