Putin Getting Ready To Dismiss Shoigu

The Kremlin chief is seeking support among security officials for the decision.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing the ground for the firing of Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu - shifting the blame for the defeat in the war. The Kremlin head is now seeking support among the security forces in an attempt to strengthen his position.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports this.

According to analysts, growing criticism of the partial mobilisation and failures at the front are forcing Putin to blame Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Putin, by decree on Wednesday, postponed the mobilisation of all students, including those who are taking correspondence course and master's students, and publicly claimed that the Defence Ministry had not made timely changes to the legal and regulatory framework on non-mobilisation lists, demanding that adjustments be made.

The Kremlin chief appears to be setting up Shoigu to take the blame for the failures of the invasion of Ukraine.

Analysts note that Putin will refrain from dismissing Shoigu for as long as he can in order to continue blaming him for military failures and gain support from other groups, primarily among security forces.

The minister replacing Shoigu will have to take responsibility for the failures that will occur after his term in office begins.

Putin is already working to improve his support among nationalist-minded bloggers and security officials, such as the founder of the Wagner PMC, Evgeny Prigozhin, and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who has been promoted to colonel-general, experts say.

At the same time, Russian authorities have detained the manager of several pro-Telegram channels, which indicates that the Kremlin is setting limits on the criticism allowed in the domestic Russian information space.