Much of the analysis of the reshuffle in the Russian government seems to be missing how much it is about coup-proofing Putin's regime rather than making smart decisions for Russia.
V Moscow Times:
BREAKING
Vladimir #Putin will not reappoint Defense Minister Sergei #Shoigu , the state-run TASS news agency reported. He has proposed Andrei Belousov, a former First Deputy Prime Minister and economic adviser, to replace Shoigu. Putin has also dismissed Nikolai #Patrushev from his post as head of the Security Council. Patrushev, a former spy, has long been seen as a close member of Putin's inner circle.
Nikolai #Patrushev, a top ally of the Russian leader for decades, put in motion the assassination of the mutinous chief of the #Wagner mercenary group.
"Earlier this year, he told Russia’s Izvestia newspaper that the U.S. is plotting to take over Russia because a massive volcanic eruption in Wyoming could soon make it uninhabitable." 😂
…though he spoke at the unveiling of 2 monuments to #Russia’s czar, Alexander III—a notorious #antisemite who encouraged #pogroms — #Putin not only refrained from wielding #Judeophobia as a #political tool but upbraided those who did. He ordered the head of #SCRF, Nikolai #Patrushev, to retract a stmnt by an aide who had described the ChabadLubavitch ultra-Orthodox movement as a “sect” whose adherents believed in their “supremacy over all nations & peoples.” (The ofcl was fired a few mos later.)