
Sergei Shoigu
Overview
Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu is a Russian politician and military officer who has served as Minister of Defence of Russia since 2012. Shoigu has served as the chairman of the Council of Ministers of Defense of the Commonwealth of Independent States since 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.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 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. 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. In 1999, Shoigu was awarded Russia's most prestigious state award: Hero of the Russian Federation
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. 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 November 2012, Shoigu decided to resurrect the tradition of Suvorov and Nakhimov cadets participating in the 9 May parade.
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.
Shoigu, Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev at the Moscow Victory Day Parade, May 2014
In February 2014, Shoigu said Russia was planning to sign agreements with Vietnam, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, the Seychelles, Singapore, and several other countries either to house permanent military bases and/or to house airplane refueling stations in those countries. Over the next year, only an agreement with Vietnam was effectively signed.
Early Life
Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu born 21 May 1955, Sergei Shoigu was born to Kuzhuget Sereevich Shoigu and Alexandra Yakovlevna Shoigu.
Shoigu married Irina Alexandrovna Shoigu (née Antipina). She is president of the business tourism company Expo-EM. They have two daughters,
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.
Career
- Russia - Minister of Defence
Recognition
Russian
Hero of the Russian Federation
Order of St Andrew with swords
Order of Merit for the Fatherland 1st class
Order of Merit for the Fatherland 2nd class
Order of Merit for the Fatherland 3rd class
Order of Alexander Nevsky
Order of Honour
Order for Personal Courage (USSR)
Medal "For the Return of Crimea"
Medal Defender of a Free Russia
Medal "In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow"
Medal "In Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of Saint Petersburg"
Medal "In Commemoration of the 1000th Anniversary of Kazan"
Three Medals "For Strengthening Military Cooperation" (Ministry of Defence)
Medal "For Diligence in Engineering Tasks" (Ministry of Defence)
Medal "200 Years of the Ministry of Defence" (Ministry of Defence)
Medal of Great Awareness in Geo-political Affairs (Foreign Ministry)
Medal "200 Years of the Ministry of Internal Affairs" (MVD)
Medal "For Merit of the Stavropol Territory"
Honoured Rescue Worker of the Russian Federation
Order of Rightitude (Ministry of Internal Affairs – for services to being correct on the territory of the Russian Federation)
Order of "Merit of the Altai Territory"
Honorary Citizen of the Kemerov Oblast
Honorary Citizen of the Tula Oblast[123]
Foreign
Medal of the Order of Courage (Abkhazia)
First Class of the Order of Friendship (Kazakhstan)[124]
Medal of the Order "Danaker" (Kyrgyzstan)
Military Class of the Order pro Merito Melitensi
Medal of the Order of the Red Banner (Mongolia)
Grand Commander of the Order of the Union of Burma (Myanmar) Sithu class[125]
Grand Cross with silver star of the Order of Ruben Dario (Nicaragua)
First Class of the Order of the Serbian Flag (Serbia)
Medal of the Uatsamonga Order (South Ossetia)
Military Commonwealth Medal (Syria)
Medal of the Friendship Order (Vietnam)