Commenting on President Putin's suggestion to nominate the economist Andrei Belousov as minister of defense, presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov emphasized the need to integrate the overall economy of the security sector, particularly the Ministry of Defense, into the national economy.
"It is very important to align the economy of the security sector with the dynamics of the current moment," Peskov told journalists, explaining Putin's decision to appoint Belousov as minister of defense.
Peskov added that Belousov's appointment would not alter the "coordinate system" of the military component of the agency.
"Regarding the military component, this appointment will not change the current coordinate system; the military component has always been the prerogative of the chief of the General Staff, who will continue his activities, and no changes are foreseen in this respect," Peskov told journalists.
So Who is Andrei Belousov?
Andrei Belousov is a Russian economist and government official born in Moscow on March 17, 1959.
He graduated with honors from Moscow State University in 1981 where he studied economics.
From 1981 until 2006, Belousov pursued a career as a researcher with first the Soviet Academy of Sciences’ Central Economic Mathematical Institute and later with the Institute of Economic Forecasting of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In 2006, he was appointed as deputy minister of economic development and trade.
In 2008, Belousov became the director of the Russian government’s finance and economic department.
From 2012 to 2013, Belousov held the office of minister of economic development.
From 2013 till 2020 he worked as the Russian president’s assistant on economic matters.
In 2020, Belousov was appointed as Russia’s first deputy prime minister and he has held this position since.
In his capacity as deputy prime minister, Belousov handled the development of primary vectors of Russia’s social-economic development, coordination of efforts to fulfill Russia’s national development goals and the completion of national projects, matters of unitary financial, credit and monetary policy, and the regulation of financial markets.
From 2022, Belousov also supervised the development of high-tech transportation technologies and intelligent control systems.