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Two reshuffles in Kyiv and Moscow, 12 May 2024
Summary
A look back at the day Vladimir Putin replaced his defence minister, days after Kyiv dismissed its state guards chief over an alleged plot.
What did the security shake-ups in Kyiv and Moscow amount to on 12 May 2024? On that date, Russian President Vladimir Putin reassigned Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu to the National Security Council and named Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov to replace him.
The move came during the Russo-Ukrainian War, and it followed a separate shake-up on the Ukrainian side in the preceding days.
The Ukrainian plot allegations
On 7 May 2024, the Security Service of Ukraine said it had detained two colonels from the government protection unit. According to the service, the officers had been recruited by Russia's Federal Security Service and were planning to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top Ukrainian officials.
Two days later, on 9 May 2024, Zelenskyy dismissed Serhiy Rud, the head of the state guards. The dismissal came after allegations that two members of the guards had been involved in the plot against the president.
Context
Ukrainian 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, including at least three foiled by Ukrainian security services. That account was given later and was not part of the reporting of 12 May 2024.
Two capitals, two changes
The sequence meant that within a span of six days, both warring states had changed senior security or defence figures. In Kyiv, the change followed the arrests announced on 7 May 2024 and the dismissal of 9 May 2024. In Moscow, the 12 May 2024 decision moved Shoigu to the National Security Council and put Belousov, previously a deputy prime minister, in charge of the defence ministry.
