Putin trying to find potential successor among own relatives

That’s according to the Institute for the Study of War think tank, Ukrinform reports.

"Vladimir Putin dismissed four deputy defense ministers and replaced them with a ‘close relative,’ the son of a former Russian prime minister, and an economist on June 17 in an ongoing purge of officials in the Russian Ministry of Defense," the report says.

On June 17, the dictator fired deputy defense ministers Nikolai Pankov, Ruslan Tsalikov, Tatiana Shevtsova, and Army General Pavel Popov, replacing them with deputy defense ministers Anna Tsivileva and Pavel Fradkov, as well as First Deputy Defense Minister Leonid Gornin.

Anna Tsivilyeva is Putin's first cousin once removed (“niece”), wife of the recently appointed Minister of Energy Sergei Tsivilev, and head of the Kremlin-initiated "Defenders of the Fatherland" Foundation. She was also previously a member of the Council on Issues of Trusteeship in the Social Sphere under the Russian Government in 2019

Pavel Fradkov is the son of former Prime Minister and Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service Mikhail Fradkov. Pavel Fradkov served as the First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration since 2021, Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for State Property Management from 2012 to 2015, as well as at the Department of Pan-European Cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2012.

Leonid Gornin served as the First Deputy Minister of Finance from May 2018, Deputy Minister of Finance from 2012 to 2018, and Minister of Finance and Tax Policy of Novosibirsk Region from 2010 to 2011.

"Tsivileva's, Fradkov's, and Gornin’s appointments support Putin’s recent efforts to introduce his relatives and the children of other senior Russian officials to the Russian public and to install economic advisors to the MoD to improve the wartime economy," the report says.

ISW recalled that Tsivileva and Fradkov participated in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum together with Putin's daughters and children of other high-ranking officials on June 6-7. Thus, Putin likely tried to introduce his children and the children of officials from his inner circle to the public in order to create conditions for them to take up senior positions in the Russian government.

In addition, ISW analysts noted that Putin is also increasingly appointing economists to senior positions in the Ministry of Defense. In particular, on May 12, he replaced Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu with former First Vice Prime Minister Andrei Belousov, an economist by trade

Also, in late May, Putin replaced the former Deputy Minister of Defense Yuriy Sadovenko with the former Deputy Minister of Economy and Auditor at the Accounting Chamber of the Federation Council, Oleg Savelyev.

According to ISW, these appointments show that Putin is prioritizing the appointment of officials whom he deems to be loyal to the regime and economists to improve Russia’s defense industrial base.

As reported earlier, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin signed decrees on reshuffles in the Ministry of Defense of, immediately dismissing four deputy ministers and appointing three new ones, including his relative Anna Tsivileva.