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Two leadership shake-ups, 12 and 9 May 2024
Summary
A look back at a mid-May 2024 period in which Moscow and Kyiv both changed key figures in their security and defence structures.
What did the days around 14 May 2024 reveal about the leaderships in Moscow and Kyiv? Both capitals had recently replaced senior figures in their security and defence establishments.
Moscow changes its defence minister
On 12 May 2024, President of Russia Vladimir Putin reassigned Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to the National Security Council. Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov replaced him at the Defence Ministry. The move came during the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Kyiv dismisses its guards chief
Three days earlier, on 9 May 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired Serhiy Rud, the head of the state guards. The dismissal followed allegations that two members of the guards were involved in an assassination plot against Zelenskyy.
Ukrainian government officials and news sources have said that Zelenskyy has survived dozens of assassination and kidnapping attempts by Russian or pro-Russian agents during the war. That account includes at least three plots that Ukrainian security services foiled.
Two moves, two different circumstances
The two decisions had different settings. In Russia, a defence minister was moved to another post and replaced by a deputy prime minister. In Ukraine, the head of the body responsible for guarding the president was dismissed amid allegations about members of his own service.
Both changes took place within days of each other, in the middle of the war.
