Why was he called Rambo: 10 facts about the first half of the Russian Defense Minister A.Belousov

Six months on, many of those expectations have not been met. The publication “Insider” summarizes the interim results of A. Belousov’s work at the Ministry of Defense, highlighting 10 most important things and events that are somehow associated with his name.

“Rembovicius”

It would be an exaggeration to say that Andrey Belousov until his appointment as Minister of Defense in 2024. May had nothing to do with the war. in 2022 at the beginning of February, the newspaper “The Bell” reported that it was Deputy Prime Minister A. Belousov who held consultations on the results of stress tests (“exercises”) of systemically important enterprises of the Russian economy, in case new sanctions were introduced due to the “escalation in Ukraine”. The “Dossier” research center, based on the archive of A. Belousov’s personal correspondence and the stories of several sources, said that since 2013 he “solved many issues of the army” from the economic side, and also supervised the activities of Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the “Wagner” group.

Despite the fact that this decision to change Vladimir Putin’s personnel was unexpected, ardent fans of A. Belousov immediately appeared in the “Z” community. First of all, the new minister was compared to the military commander Alexander Suvorov (due to the resemblance), the statesman of the Russian Empire Pyotr Stolypin (due to the attitude to management) and even to the movie character Rambo (due to the patronymic Removich).

Military blogger Aleksandras Sladkovs testified that A. Belousovs received the popular nickname (whatever that means) “Rembovičius” in the community. Television propaganda did not lag behind: the appointment of a “civilian economist” to the military leadership became the main topic of the Kremlin airwaves for some time.

“Cleaning” in the Ministry of Defense

One of the main hopes associated with the appointment of A. Belousov was the fight against corruption, with which the team led by Sergei Shoigu was strongly associated. The “cleaning” in the Ministry of Defense began even before the resignation of S. Šoigu – in 2024. after the arrest of his deputy, Timur Ivanovas, in April, and by the time this article was published, the number of persons appearing in criminal cases had approached two dozen.

Among them are former Deputy Ministers of Defense Pavel Popov and Dmitry Bulgakov, Head of the Main Personnel Department of the Ministry of Defense Yuri Kuznetsov, Head of the Main Communications Board of the Russian Armed Forces, Deputy Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Vadim Shamarin and others.

At the same time, at first glance, the persons appointed by A. Belousov were no less odious. Oleg Savelyevs received the post of Deputy Minister – Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Defense. “The Insider” found out that the former auditor of the Chamber of Accounts is hiding his actual wife from the declaration, and along with her, expensive assets.

Ana Civiliova, the daughter of V. Putin’s cousin, who owns stakes in large coal and tourism companies, became deputy minister and secretary of state, essentially the chief administrative officer in the Ministry of Defense.

From 2023 in April before serving in the army, A.Civiliova headed the state fund “Defenders of the Motherland”, which was established by V.Putin’s decree to support the participants of the so-called “special military operation”. The activities of this fund were repeatedly questioned by the participants of the war in Ukraine and their family members.

As for the minister himself, the aforementioned article of the research center “Dossier” published emails, believed to have been taken from A. Belousov’s personal archive, about the urgent sale of a villa in Italy in 2018. and the transfer of 600,000 euros (according to the exchange rate at the time – a little less than the total income declared by A. Belousov in 2012-2017) to his account in the Bank of Malta.

In addition, the publication “Metla” in 2020 drew attention to the fact that A. Belousov’s son Pavel owns the company “Claire & Clarté”, which specializes in engineering consultations and digitization. The company received orders from the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the state corporations Rostech, Rosatom and Roskosmos (Andrei Belousov was a member of the supervisory boards of Rosatom and Roskosmos at that time).

“You can lie, but you can’t be wrong”

A. Belousov instilled in the “patriotic” community the principle “it is possible to make a mistake, but not to lie”, which meant that the practice of “false reports” about the situation at the front should be stopped. At the time A. Belousov arrived at the Ministry of Defense, there was strict censorship in the “Z” community that limited discussions about the problems of the Russian military, so his words were understood as a call to end the “reign of silence”. For a while, this phrase was widely quoted on social media, but over time, it began to be used sarcastically, and eventually transformed into the opposite meaning – “you can lie, you can’t be wrong”.

The original version of the phrase recently appeared in a photo of a “complaining aerial bomb” posted by the well-known military blogger Fighterbomber. In this way, the pilots tried to draw attention to the problem of systematic non-payment of allowances.

But in reality, the outcry over the photo only led to a series of lawsuits against the military and the alleged dismissal of the unit commander who claimed responsibility for the photo. After that, a modified version of the phrase “you can lie, you can’t be wrong” was circulated on Z channels under the same photo.

In addition, the problem of false reports has not gone away. It was most evident in 2024. in October, when several major Z channels, including Rybar, began debunking official propagandists’ bravura claims of success at Seversk.

Similarly, heavy losses during the current offensive of the Russian armed forces in the Kursk region are explained by the fact that the commanders of certain sections occupied certain districts “on credit”, that is, they reported to the top about a fictitious breakthrough, and then received orders to go on the offensive regardless of these circumstances.

“From suit to uniform”

A. Belousov appeared in public wearing a strict suit when he took up the position of Minister of Defense. This “civilian image” was emphasized in the Kremlin media and contrasted with the image of the “plywood marshal” Sergei Shoigu, whose outfit was repeatedly the object of ridicule even in the “Z” community. The man in the “office suit” offered pro-military activists some hope for the technocratic efficiency of military construction and the management of the armed forces.

When in 2024 in June, A. Belousov attended the meeting of the Security Council in uniform, the TASS agency had to separately explain that this official was not promoted to the rank of general, as reported by some media outlets, and his uniform, although similar to that of a general, reflected only the civilian status of a 1st degree state adviser rank (which actually corresponds to the military rank of Army General).

Blows to relatives

in 2024 In the summer, it turned out that relatives of the Russian Defense Minister live in Kyiv, where the grave of his grandfather, Major General of the Guard Alexander Belousov, is located. A. Belousov himself has not been in contact with his Ukrainian relatives for some time, but due to his duties, he was responsible for regular rocket and ammunition attacks on their residence.

Record-breaking but questionable achievements

Under the leadership of A. Belousov, the Russian armed forces achieved the greatest territorial gains in the war since 2022. spring, says The Insider.

In late October and early November, the pace remained above 150 square kilometers per week. However, one cannot fail to notice that the very approach to conducting combat operations, primarily during the “meat attacks”, has not changed even after the arrival of a new minister, and the post of chief of the General Staff and part-time commander of the “military operation” is still occupied by Valery Gerasimov.

Record losses

The other side of record territorial gains is also record losses of manpower and equipment. According to the calculations of the independent portal “Agentstvo”, based on data from the Oryx project, in 2024 In October, the Russian armed forces lost the most military equipment and weapons in the last two years.

Some estimates put the daily death and injury toll at 1,500. Calculating losses based on open-source obituaries gives about 2,000 confirmed deaths per week, but journalists who compile the statistics admit they don’t have time to quickly process the flood of war dead reports ( In the past month, the number of unregistered obituaries “in need of processing” has risen from 4,000 to more than 6,000, although up to 40% of them may be duplicated).

The offensive is able to maintain such a high casualty rate because new contract troops are sent to the front as quickly as possible. When A. Belousov was appointed Minister of Defense, he emphasized that one of the most important issues for him is related to the recruitment of soldiers, but without a new wave of mobilization.

Different regions compete for “volunteers”

In addition to the constant problem of replenishing losses at the front, under A. Belousov, the personnel of the Russian armed forces increased by 180,000 people, which only increases the need to recruit more and more “volunteers”. This task is solved by expanding and improving the practice, which was introduced even before A. Belousov, but was completed under his leadership.

This is related to the recruitment of categories of persons with a vulnerable social or legal situation: not only prisoners and convicted persons, which was previously allowed, but also those on trial, persons with loans and alimony arrears, pensioners, drug addicts and alcoholics, migrants from Africa, etc.

In addition, the flow of new contractors is ensured by constantly increasing the cash payment. in 2024 in the summer, federal one-time payments for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense were increased and instructions were given to increase regional payments. Later, a centralized interdepartmental commission for the recruitment of the Russian army was formed, which, among others, included A. Belousov. These decisions were supposed to stop “competition” between agencies and help regions improve their performance in recruiting contractors, but they only led to a new phase of the “race for volunteers”.

Failure in the Kursk region

Under the leadership of A. Belousov, the Russian army not only made a record-breaking advance in Donbas, but also recorded the biggest failure at the front since the collapse of the defense near Kharkiv and the retreat from Kherson in 2022. in autumn It is about the Ukrainian breakthrough and the capture of an approximately 1,000 square kilometer forward bridgehead in the Kursk region, Russian territory.

The extent of the minister’s personal responsibility for this is probably small, The Insider considers, but the footage of hundreds of prisoners (among them ordinary soldiers) and the fact that the Russians completely lost control of the military in the first stage of the invasion of Ukrainian troops undoubtedly damaged the Defense the reputation of the ministry. A. Belousov is also undoubtedly responsible for many cases of looting by the Russian army in the Kursk region.

Chief Budget Officer

It is still not entirely clear how A. Belousov is involved in planning and carrying out the fighting in Ukraine (as far as is known, he is not involved at all, The Insider notes), but there is no doubt that he is now the most powerful man in Russia in terms of the state financial resources he controls.

in 2024 in September, a budget was submitted to the State Duma in which, for the first time in Russia’s modern history, defense spending exceeded social spending. Only in 2025 13.5 trillion rubles are planned to be allocated to military expenditures under the “National Defense” item, which is 6.3 percent. GDP, or more than 30 percent. of all budget expenditures. If we add to this the expenditure on national security, the state spends 8% on the army and power structures. GDP, or 40 percent. of all budget expenditures.