Putin reshuffles senior defence ministry officials to increase transparency

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday appointed several civilian officials as deputies to the defence minister to improve the ministry's transparency following a series of corruption scandals.

According to a decree, published on the Kremlin's website, Deputy Finance Minister Leonid Gornin will assume the post of the first deputy defence minister, while head of the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation Anna Tsivileva, a presidential administration official Pavel Fradkov, and auditor of the Accounts Chamber Oleg Savelyev will serve as deputies to the defence minister.

Meanwhile, three deputy defence ministers, Nikolay Pankov, Ruslan Tsalikov, and Tatyana Shevtsova, were dismissed from service.

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The reshuffle is intended to combat corruption, strengthen communications with service members on the battlefield and veterans, improve the efficiency of state defence orders, and optimise budget spending.

Last month, five senior Defence Ministry officials were arrested on charges of corruption and abuse of power, and Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu was replaced by Andrey Belousov, who specialises in economics.