Sergey Kuzhugetovich Shoygu (born 21 May 1955) was Governor of Moscow Oblast from 11 May to 6 November 2012 (succeeding Boris Gromov and preceding Andrey Vorobyov) and Minister of Defense of Russia from 6 November 2012 to 12 May 2024 (succeeding Anatoliy Serdyukov and preceding Andrey Belousov). Shoygu was a powerful politician and general, serving as one of Vladimir Putin's closest allies; he led the Unity Party of Russia from 1999 to 2001 and United Russia from 2001 to 2004.
Biography[]
Sergey Kuzhugetovich Shoygu was born in Chadan, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Tuva, Russia) on 21 May 1955 to a Tuvan father and a Russian mother. He worked as a construction executive in Siberia during Soviet rule and became a CPSU and Komsomol functionary in Abakan, and he became head of the Rescuer Corps in 1991. Shoygu entered Russian politics as Minister of Emergency Situations from 1999 to 2012, and he became one of the leaders of the pro-government Unity Party of Russia in 1999; that same year, he was named a Hero of the Russian Federation. In 2000, he served as Deputy Prime Minister, and he served as leader of United Russia from 2001 to 2004. In 2012, Shoygu was elected Governor of Moscow Oblast, but his term was cut short when Vladimir Putin ousted his longtime ally Anatoliy Serdyukov from the position of Minister of Defense and appointed Shoygu as his replacement. During the Crimean Crisis and Donbass War, he helped to form pro-Russian separatist groups in eastern Ukraine, and he also created Arctic military units, oversaw Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War, and supervised the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Shoygu's leadership was criticized by Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and other ultranationalist figures, as Shoygu was blamed for the Russian Army's supply shortages, costly human wave attacks, and other frontline failures. On 12 May 2024, Putin nominated Andrey Belousov to replace his old ally Shoygu as Defense Minister, while Shoygu would replace Nikolai Patrushev as secretary of the Security Council and take control of Russia's military-industrial complex.