MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin forms his new cabinet, replacing many of its members but keeping his foreign, defense and finance ministers in place.
The Cabinet shake-up comes as Putin has launched a sweeping constitutional reform that is widely seen as an attempt to secure his grip on power well after his current term ends in 2024.
Immediately after announcing the proposed changes last week, Putin fired Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who had the job for eight years, and named tax chief Mikhail Mishustin to succeed him.
Today, Putin issues a decree outlining the structure of the new cabinet and names its members. He appoints his economic adviser Andrei Belousov as first deputy prime minister and named
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov are retaining their jobs. Siluanov, however, is stripped of his additional title of the first deputy prime minister he had in the old Cabinet.
Several Medvedev allies lose their Cabinet seats.
Putin meets with members of the new cabinet, hailing it as “well-balanced.”
— AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and New Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin attend a Security Council meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow in Moscow, Russia, January 20, 2020. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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