On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed four deputy defense ministers and appointed Anna Tsivileva, a relative, to one of the vacant positions.
Tsivileva has been identified by Russian media as Putin's cousin's daughter. The dismissed officials were Nikolai Pankov, Ruslan Tsalikov, Tatiana Shevtsova, and Pavel Popov, as per Kremlin decrees.
Leonid Gornin, currently a deputy finance minister, has been promoted to first deputy defense minister under Defense Minister Andrei Belousov. Pavel Fradkov, son of former Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, and Oleg Savelyev have also been appointed as deputy defense ministers.
This reshuffling follows last month's appointment of Belousov as defense minister and the reassignment of Sergei Shoigu to the Russian Security Council, signaling Putin's strategy to position loyalists within the defense ministry.
