Sergey Shoygu

Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu (born 21 May 1955) is a Russian politician and military officer who has served as Secretary of the Security Council since 2024. He served as Minister of Defence of Russia from 2012 to 2024. Shoigu has served as the chairman of the Council of Ministers of Defense of the Commonwealth of Independent States since 2012.

Shoigu was the Minister of Emergency Situations from 1991 to 2012. He briefly served as the governor of Moscow Oblast in 2012. A close confidant and ally of Vladimir Putin, Shoigu belongs to the siloviki of Putin's inner circle. He was entrusted with the task of supervising the invasion of Ukraine since 2022. A feud between Shoigu and Yevgeny Prigozhin led to a mutiny by the Wagner Group in June 2023. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Shoigu on charges of alleged war crimes during the invasion of Ukraine.

In May 2024, Putin replaced Shoigu with Andrey Belousov as defense minister, appointing the former to be the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.