When Sergei Shoigu became Minister of Defense in 2012, he chose to wear a uniform rather than a suit – unlike his predecessors.
Five years later, he took the uniform a step further, and changed it so that it looked more like the Soviet uniforms from 1945, according to the newspaper The National.
Ironically, Sjojgu did not have any military training when he became defense minister, but he had a key trait that is highly valued by the Russian president: loyalty.
2019: Vladimir Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shojgu during a visit to St. Petersburg, Russia. Photo: AP / NTB
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Natural enemy
“The defense minister has always been Putin’s most loyal ally, even though his career began long before Putin moved to Moscow,” Mikhail Zygar wrote in his book, All the Kremlin’s Men. The book is a portrait of Putin’s closest supporters and became a bestseller in Russia when it was published in 2016.
Now Sergei Shoigu plays a key role in Putin’s strategic decisions in the war against Ukraine.
– It is believed that it is a three-leaf clover that fronts the war in Ukraine. They are Nikolai Patrushev, Sergei Shoigu and Vladimir Putin, says Morten Strand, journalist and commentator in Dagbladet.
The Russians are struggling more than expected, several believe experts. After almost three weeks of war, Kyiv is still not under Russian control.
Shoigu was to march to Kyiv. He is the Minister of Defense and should win, says Vera Mironova, a specialist in armed conflict BBC.
MILITARY EXHIBITION: Vladimir Putin and Sergei Shoigu visit a military exhibition after a meeting of the Russian Ministry of Defense in Moscow in 2021. Photo: AP / NTB
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– A natural enemy
“Sergei Shoigu is a possible successor, if Putin is forced to resign, because he is the one closest to the army,” Strand says.
Vladimir Putin
Putin is Russia’s great leader. He has been president of Russia since 2012, and previously from 1999 to 2008. The former intelligence officer naturally leads Russia’s Security Council.
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Dmitry Medvedev
Has served as Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council since 2020. Medvedev was Russia’s President from 2008 to 2012, and then Prime Minister of Russia from 2012 to 2020.
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Nikolai Patrusyev
Russian politician, security officer and intelligence officer. He was the director of the Russian Federal Security Service FSB from 1999 to 2008. Patrushev has been the secretary of the Russian Security Council since 2008.
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Mikhail Mishustin
Russian politician and economist who has served as Prime Minister of Russia since January 16, 2020. He has previously served as Director of the Federal Tax Administration of Russia from 2010 to 2020.
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Anton Vaino
Russian diplomat and politician. He is currently Chief of Staff at the President’s Office. Vaino is the grandson of the former first secretary of the Estonian Communist Party, Karl Vaino.
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Sergej Ivanov
Russian official and politician who has served as President Putin’s Special Representative on Environment, Ecology and Transportation since August 12, 2016.
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Valentina Matvijenko
Russian politician who has served as senator from St. Petersburg and chairwoman of the Federation Council since 2011. Previously, she was governor of St. Petersburg from 2003 to 2011.
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Sergey Naryshkin
Russian politician and businessman. He has led Russia’s foreign intelligence service since 2016. Naryshkin chaired the State Duma between 2011 and 2016 and was chief of staff in the Kremlin between 2008 and 2012.
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Sergei Shoigu
General of the Army and Minister of Defense of Russia. Since 2012, Shoigu has chaired the Council of Defense in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which consists of nine of the 15 states that made up the Soviet Union.
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Sergei Lavrov
Russian diplomat and politician who has served as Russia’s foreign minister since 2004. Lavrov has previously been Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, and served in that role from 1994 to 2004.
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Vladimir Kolokoltsev
General of the police and has served as Russian Interior Minister since May 21, 2012. He was Commissioner of Police in Moscow from 2009 to 2012.
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Alexander Bortnikov
Russian official. He has been the director of the FSB since May 12, 2008, and is among those in Putin’s inner circle who have intelligence backgrounds.
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Vyatsjeslav Volodin
Russian politician who has been a representative of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s federal assembly, since October 5, 2016.
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But this has not always been the case.
“Like a Yeltsin-era siloviki, Shoigu was a natural enemy of Putin’s former FSB colleagues,” Zygar wrote in the book.
A siloviki is a representative of the FSB, the defense or similar.
“Shoigu’s loyalty and patience helped him through.”
In 1991, Sergei Shoigu was assigned a ministerial post under the Boris Yeltsin administration. Sjojgu has a master’s degree in engineering and experience in politics. But according to Zygar, he is more of a soldier than a politician.
“Even before he was appointed Minister of Defense, Sjojgu always behaved like a military man. He loved jokes, discipline and tough jargon. “
MATCH: Here the Minister of Defense and President the Night Hockey League match arrives at the Russian multi-purpose arena Bolshoy Ice Dome, in Sochi 2019. Photo: Mikhail KLIMENTYEV / Sputnik / AFP / NTB
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When Putin became president in 2000, Shojgu had a complicated relationship with the new elite. Because the majority of it consisted of the president’s former colleagues from the FSB, who now controlled the presidential administration.
“Shoju understood that the key to survival was to gain access to Putin.”
Fixed companion
One of Sjojgu’s tactics was to exploit the president’s love of hunting and extreme sports. It did not take long before he became Putin’s regular hunting and fishing companion and “one-man” tour operator.
TUVA: Sjojgu eventually became Putin’s regular hunting and fishing companion. The photo is from a trip to Sjojgu’s hometown, the Tuva region in 2018. Photo: Alexey NIKOLSKY / Sputnik / AFP / NTB
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Shoigu organized several trips for Putin. Across Russia and to his own hometown Tuva. A republic in Eastern Siberia in Russia.
In 2007, he organized a fishing expedition to Tuva for Putin and Prince Albert II of Monaco. When Putin was photographed topless in 2009, this trip was also Shojgu-organized.
– Sjojgu even “directed” the photo shoot. He chose the cowboy hat Putin wore and the tree he climbed, Zygar writes.
In the book, he writes that Putin worked very hard that day. According to eyewitnesses, he must have swum across the Khemchik River three times, to make sure that the butterfly roofs were captured correctly on film.
IN ACTION: President on his way across the Khemchik River in August 2009. Photo: AFP / RIA-NOVOSTI / ALEXEY DRUZHININ / NTB
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Was wrong
«9. May 2014, Putin and Shoju arrived in Sevastopol for a triumphant victory parade. The city buzzed with cheers – Russia, Russia ».
Sergei Sjojgu received the credit for the conquest of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
– He has probably been among those who have led Putin and his circle to believe that it will also be possible to carry out a similar military operation, but of a much larger order of magnitude, in Ukraine, says political scientist and professor at the University of Oslo, Geir Flikke to NRK.
– So far in the war, it seems that Sjojgu’s plan for a quick “military operation” has failed, he adds.
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