| [DM] Vladimir Putin has fired his bungling defence minister and replaced him with a 'puppet' with zero military experience in a wide-ranging reshuffle of his most senior cronies. Putin sacked his longtime friend Sergei Shoigu, 68, and instead shifted him into the role of secretary of Russia's national security council. Reports say he has proposed little-known civilian economist Andrey Belousov, 65, to replace Shoigu as defense minister in his new government. Kremlin press spokesman Dmitry Peskov, explaining the timing of the decision, said it needed the defence ministry to stay 'innovative' and better utilise defence expenditures to win in Ukraine. |