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Putin Fires Defense Minister Linked to Real Estate Investigation Putin Fires Defense Minister Linked to Real Estate Investigation
(about 5 hours later)
MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin fired Russia’s defense minister on Tuesday after the police raided the offices and an apartment of a real estate company involved in the privatization of valuable ministry land near Moscow. MOSCOW — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia fired his powerful defense minister on Tuesday after the police raided the property of a real estate company involved in the privatization of valuable ministry land near Moscow.
The firing of Anatoly E. Serdyukov, a longtime Putin ally, is one of the highest-level dismissals connected to a corruption case in recent memory in Russia. It was also a departure for Mr. Putin, a leader who has been reluctant to dismiss members of his inner circle. Mr. Putin announced the decision to fire Mr. Serdyukov in a meeting with another longtime political ally, Sergei K. Shoigu, the former minister of emergency situations, whom he appointed the new defense minister. The firing of Anatoly E. Serdyukov, a longtime Putin ally, is one of the highest-level dismissals tied to a corruption case in recent memory in Russia. It was also a rare move by Mr. Putin, who has been reluctant to dismiss members of his inner circle.
In the past, officials within the tight coterie of ministers and state company managers who have been close to Mr. Putin for years have typically circulated between jobs rather than been summarily fired. Mr. Putin appointed another longtime political ally, Sergei K. Shoigu, the former minister of emergency situations, as the country’s new defense minister.
Dmitri S. Peskov, Mr. Putin’s spokesman, said the firing was necessary to allow the police to continue their investigation of wrongdoing within the ministry, which would not be possible if Mr. Serdyukov remained. Mr. Serdyukov has not been charged with a crime, and Mr. Putin praised his past work. Dmitri S. Peskov, Mr. Putin’s spokesman, said the firing was necessary to allow the police to continue their investigation of wrongdoing within the Defense Ministry, which he said would not be possible if Mr. Serdyukov remained. Even as Mr. Putin forced Mr. Serdyukov from office, he praised the minister’s past work.
Many ministers in the Russian government have secondary roles in business and even extensive property and wealth that is typically tolerated unless an official falls from favor for another reason, analysts of Russian politics say. Many ministers in the Russian government have secondary roles in business and extensive property and wealth that is typically tolerated unless they fall from favor for another reason, analysts of Russian politics say.
“In Russia, where what matters first and foremost are informal deals and relations,” Maria Lipman, a researcher at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said in an interview. “We should be looking for some kind of intrigue behind this all, some kind of a clash of very important interests.” “In Russia, where what matters first and foremost are informal deals and relations, we should be looking for some kind of intrigue behind this all, some kind of a clash of very important interests,” Maria Lipman, a researcher at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said in an interview.
Ms. Lipman said that in Russia’s political environment, corruption cases could be opened as a way of settling scores. “And in an environment as corrupt as Russia, almost anyone can fall victim,” she said. Ms. Lipman said that corruption cases are sometimes opened as a way of settling scores and that “in an environment as corrupt as Russia, almost anyone can fall victim.”
Why Mr. Serdyukov’s case emerged into public view is unclear. Russian media outlets have promulgated theories of a personal clash in the elite and a conflict with the generals over military policy. Why Mr. Serdyukov was removed from office is unclear. Russian media have suggested that there may have been a clash of a personal nature between Mr. Serdyukov and his father-in-law, a close associate of Mr. Putin, or a conflict with military generals.
Mr. Serdyukov had alienated the uniformed military during a reform that sought to thin the top-heavy officer ranks in Russia, a legacy of Soviet military hierarchy. He adopted a system of noncommissioned officers, as in the United States Army. Generals were also fired. Since his appointment in 2007, Mr. Serdyukov, a former furniture store manager, alienated the uniformed military through a reform that thinned the top-heavy officer ranks. It was a policy to change the “egg-shaped” hierarchy of the Russian Army into a pyramid form.
Through these efforts, Mr. Serdyukov won no friends. He also once referred to the officer ranks as “little green men.” To do so, Mr. Serdyukov fired or forced into early retirement 40,000 officers since 2008 and reduced the number of active-duty generals and admirals by almost by half, from 1,107 four years ago to 610 today.
Russia’s defense industry was a crucial base of support for Mr. Putin in the presidential election he won in March. As part of the campaign, Mr. Putin pledged major increases in spending for the defense sector, promises that have been cast into uncertainty during budget negotiations. Such moves won Mr. Serdyukov no friends within the officer corps, which he once derisively referred to as a group of “little green men.”
Mr. Shoigu, the new minister, holds the rank of general. “He is a figure that won’t cause allergies in the military,” Viktor Litovkin, the chief editor of the weekly newspaper Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye, told the Ekho Moskvy radio station. Officers, in turn, took to calling him “General Stool,” in reference to the 15 years he managed the Mebel-Market furniture shop in St. Petersburg.
The firing of Mr. Serdyukov, who had overseen a nuclear arsenal and significant conventional forces, also raised the prospect of personal disagreements within the ruling elite affecting policy. It is a potentially destabilizing element in a system tolerant of nepotism. Russia’s defense industry was a crucial base of support for Mr. Putin in the presidential election he won in March. As part of the campaign, Mr. Putin pledged major increases in defense spending, promises that have been cast into uncertainty during budget negotiations.
Mr. Serdyukov, a former furniture store manager from St. Petersburg, is married to Yulia V. Pokhlebenina, the daughter of a close associate of Mr. Putin, Viktor A. Zubkov. Mr. Zubkov is chairman of Gazprom, the natural gas company, a post in Russia with power at least rivaling that of minister of defense. Now that the painful cuts are behind him, Mr. Putin wanted to distance himself from them by summarily firing the unpopular Mr. Serdyukov, thus appeasing the officers, suggested Ruslan Pukhov, director of Center for the Analysis of Strategy and Technologies, a Russian research group.
But the couple have recently become estranged. And a high-profile police raid late last month on the real estate company, Oboronservice, telegraphed Mr. Serdyukov’s dismissal. Mr. Serdyukov had also reportedly fallen out with his father-in-law, the close associate of Mr. Putin, Mr. Pukhov and other analysts said
That raid coincided with a cabinet meeting, humiliating Mr. Serdyukov, who was compelled to miss the meeting. In this light, the firing of Mr. Serdyukov, who had overseen the nuclear arsenal, raised the prospect of potentially destabilizing family disagreements within the tight ruling elite in Russia, where nepotism is tolerated.
In another raid related to the real estate case, the police searched the home of a female official affiliated with Oboronservice. They found Mr. Serdyukov at that location, the newspaper Izvestia reported. Mr. Serdyukov was married to Yulia V. Pokhlebenina, the daughter of Viktor A. Zubkov, a former prime minister and chairman of Gazprom, the natural gas company, a post in Russia with power at least rivaling that of minister of defense. Mr. Zubkov first worked as an aide to Mr. Putin in 1992, in the St. Petersburg mayor’s office, where Mr. Putin was a vice mayor.
But the couple had recently become estranged, some commentators said.
“In the understanding of our leaders, betraying the family is a crime more dangerous than theft or murder,” Aleksei A. Navalny, an anticorruption activist and opposition leader, wrote in an online posting.
“That is why today the son-in-law stopped being the minister of defense. Or, more accurately, the son-in-law stopped being the son-in-law, and so we need a new minister.”
In one police raid late last month targeting the company that was engaged in real estate deals with the ministry, the authorities searched the home of a female employee, Yevgenia N. Vasilyeva. Though it was a pre-dawn raid, they found Mr. Serdyukov at that location, LifeNews, an online publication that often receives exclusive news from the security services, reported. The police reportedly led Ms. Vasilyeva from the apartment in handcuffs and confiscated her jewelry and other valuables.
“This is a personal matter,” Vladimir A. Ryzhkov, an opposition politician, said, describing the affair as evidence of the “clannish, Byzantine and deeply personal” nature of the relationships among the high-placed officials around Mr. Putin who have ruled Russia for more than a decade.
Aleksei A. Venediktov, editor of Ekho Moskvy radio station noted in a commentary over the weekend that under Russian nuclear deterrence policy the defense minister is entrusted, like the president, with the so-called nuclear suitcase of launch codes and communication equipment needed to order a nuclear strike. As such, he is also under round-the-clock guard.
Only an order from Mr. Putin or his chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov, could compel the guard detail for the launch codes to stand aside, Mr. Venediktov said, allowing criminal investigators to enter the apartment in the Arbat neighborhood of Moscow where the defense minister and Ms. Vasilyeva were located.
“It was a demonstrative humiliation,” Mr. Venediktov said.

Andrew Roth contributed reporting.

Andrew Roth contributed reporting.