Serdyukov did not make any serious mistakes in carrying out his military reform. But the problems with the Defense Ministry-controlled military contractor Oboronservis made it necessary to dismiss the minister in order to conduct an objective investigation into this case.

       On November 6, 2012 President Vladimir Putin dismissed Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and named Sergei Shoigu, the Moscow Region governor, as the new minister to succeed him.

       For Viktor Litovkin, executive editor of the Independent Military Review, Serdyukov’s dismissal came as a surprise. “Serdyukov did not make any serious mistakes in carrying out his military reform. But the problems with the Defense Ministry-controlled military contractor Oboronservis made it necessary to dismiss the minister in order to conduct an objective investigation into this case,” he explained.

       When asked whether the scandal over Oboronservis may be linked with the struggle of clans for top power, Litovkin replied: “I think the reasons for this scandal are even simpler. They are more likely linked with family relations between Serdyukov, his wife and her father Viktor Zubkov. There is no denying this.”

       Litovkin believes there are little grounds to consider Serdyukov’s dismissal a weighty argument in Putin’s dispute with the West over the protest movement. “These events have nothing to do with the protest movement. They took place within Putin’s team. This is the struggle of the clans, the fight between members of his team who have failed to divide something among themselves,” he explained.

       “He who is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” This phrase directly applies to every department in Russia. “Every department has the same sins as the Defense Ministry. If the latter is the only target for a cleanup, this looks somewhat strange,” Litovkin concluded.

       Views expressed are of individual Members and Contributors, rather than the Club's, unless explicitly stated otherwise.