Russian President Vladimir Putin has promoted a relative to a senior post in the Defense Ministry. Putin issued decrees on Monday appointing four new deputy defense ministers. Among the new incumbents are Anna Tsivileva, daughter of his cousin, and Pavel Fradkov, son of his former spy chief and prime minister.
Last month, the Russian head of state replaced his long-time defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, with economist Andrei Belousov. Now four deputy posts have been filled. According to analysts, the Kremlin wants to consolidate its control over the enormous military expenditure.
Britain put Tsivilyova on a sanctions list in 2022 and called her “Putin’s great-cousin.” The European Union described her as a “close relative” of Putin. She ran a large coal company and a government-backed fund to support the families of soldiers fighting in Ukraine. In the Ministry of Defense, she will be responsible for social welfare and benefits for soldiers.
Fradkov was a senior official in Putin’s presidential administration and is the son of Mikhail Fradkov, who headed Russia’s foreign intelligence service for nearly a decade and was one of Putin’s prime ministers in the 2000s.
The new appointments are part of the largest restructuring of the Russian Defense Ministry since Russia sent its soldiers to Ukraine in February 2022.
