Sergei Shoigu

Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu (born 21 May 1955) is a Russian politician and military officer who has served as Minister of Defence of Russia since 2012.

Shoigu was born on 21 May 1955 in Chadan, Tuvan Autonomous Oblast, to an ethnic Tuvan father, newspaper editor Kuzhuget Shoigu (1921–2010) and a Ukrainian-born Russian mother, Alexandra Yakovlevna Shoigu (1924–2011).

Alexandra Shoigu grew up in the Donbas town of Kadiivka and had traumatizing experiences while under detention of the German occupation forces during World War II.

Later in her career she became member of the Tuva Regional Council of People's Deputies.

Kuzhuget Shoigu rose to secretary of the Tuvan Regional Committee of the Communist Party, becoming a major figure in the Communist power structure of the republic.

After graduating from Kyzyl Number 1 School in the Tuvan ASSR, Shoigu studied at the Krasnoyarsk Polytechnic Institute.

Shoigu graduated in 1977 with a degree in civil engineering.

Shoigu worked in construction projects nationwide for the next decade, advancing from low levels to become an executive.

In 1988, Shoigu became a minor functionary in the Abakan branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and then in the Komsomol for a few years.

In 1990, Shoigu moved to Moscow from Siberia, and was appointed deputy chairman of the State Architecture and Construction Committee of the Russian Federation, assisted by his father's connections.

Future president Boris Yeltsin had held a similar position in the Construction Committee, and had also come from a civil engineering and party background, so Shoigu gained Yeltsin's trust.

Shoigu was the Minister of Emergency Situations from 1991 to 2012.

In 1991, Yeltsin appointed him head of the newly established Russian Rescue Corps, responsible for the rescue and disaster response system.

The Rescue Corps replaced the previous Soviet civil defense system and soon absorbed the 20,000-strong militarized Civil Defense Troops of the Ministry of Defense, with Shoigu being appointed chairman of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations, and Disaster Response.

Civil Defense remained a quasi-military organization in continuation of Soviet practice and Shoigu was politically involved, such as an unsuccessful attempt to evacuate Russian-backed Afghan President Mohammad Najibullah in 1992 and the intended distribution of weapons from the Civil Defense stocks to Yeltsin supporters during the October 1993 coup.

In keeping with the militarized nature of Russian civil defense, Shoigu received the rank of major general in 1993, and was promoted swiftly to lieutenant general in 1995, colonel general in 1998, and to army general, in practice the highest Russian military rank, in 2003.

The committee was renamed the Ministry of Emergency Situations (MChS) in 1994, making Shoigu a government minister.

He became popular because of his hands-on management style and high visibility during emergency situations, such as floods, earthquakes and acts of terrorism.

In 1999 he became one of the leaders of the Russian pro-government party Unity, created by the Kremlin in opposition to the anti-Yeltsin elites of the Fatherland – All Russia alliance.

In 1999, Shoigu was awarded Russia's most prestigious state award: Hero of the Russian Federation.

Unity allowed for the rise of Vladimir Putin to President and in 2001 was combined into the ruling United Russia party, although Shoigu was the only delegate to vote against the merger.

Under Shoigu, the responsibilities of the ministry were expanded to take over the Russian State Fire Service in 2002, making the MChS Russia's third-largest force structure.

In March 2009, he proposed a law that would criminalize criticism of Soviet military tactics during World War II, which resulted in large numbers of Soviet casualties.

Shoigu has served as the chairman of the Council of Ministers of Defense of the Commonwealth of Independent States since 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.

With over twenty years of service as Minister of Emergency Situations, Shoigu established a close relationship with Vladimir Putin, and was rewarded by being appointed Governor of Moscow Oblast in 2012, taking office on 11 May of that year.

On 6 November 2012, Shoigu was appointed Minister of Defence by Putin, succeeding Anatoly Serdyukov, who had implemented sweeping reforms of the Russian Armed Forces in response to performance in the Russo-Georgian War.

According to expert Sergey Smirnov, the so called "Petersburg group" of siloviki (Sergei Ivanov, Sergey Chemezov and Viktor Ivanov) had wanted one of its associates to succeed Serdyukov, but Putin was reluctant to strengthen the clan and opted for the neutral Shoigu.

As defence minister, Shoigu on multiple occasions has accompanied Putin during weekend breaks that the pair would spend at undisclosed locations in the Siberian countryside.

Serdyukov was unpopular with senior military leaders and seen by them as a civilian with no military background, something that Shoigu attempted to address by symbolically tying himself to the military through wearing an army general's uniform, reviving historical units dissolved under the reforms, and reinstating officials dismissed by Serdyukov.

Furthermore, Shoigu appealed for support for reform within the army rather than taking a confrontational stance, appointed deputy ministers of defense from the military, and removed Serdyukov-appointed civilian tax service officials from the top echelons of the Ministry of Defense.

As defence minister, Shoigu continued aspects of Serdyukov's attempts at modernizing the Russian Armed Forces through reform.

This included the creation of the Special Operations Forces Command to facilitate rapid intervention in conflicts within the perceived Russian sphere of influence and counterterrorism efforts.

Serdyukov's goals of increasing the share of the Russian Armed Forces made up of professional contract servicemen rather than conscripts continued under Shoigu.

In November 2012, Shoigu decided to resurrect the tradition of Suvorov and Nakhimov cadets participating in the 9 May parade.

However, the demographic challenge of a decreasing pool of military-aged and -eligible males forced him to increase national conscription quotas in early 2013, including even North Caucasians perceived as a security risk by authorities such as Chechens.

This followed on from Serdyukov's initiatives of reducing available draft exemptions.

In July 2013 Shoigu ordered commanders to begin every morning in the barracks with a rendition of the Russian anthem, to compile an obligatory military-patriotic book reading list and to take responsibility for the preparation of demobilization albums (a type of memento scrapbook, which in Russian military tradition is given to conscripts upon completion of their service).

In August 2013 he ordered all Defense Ministry civilian workers, other staff and management employees to wear uniforms.