As Russian President Vladimir Putin enters his fifth term in office, he is also directing the country further into a wartime economy. He has installed former deputy prime minister Andrei Belousov as defense minister — an economist with no military experience — to get the job done. Belousov replaces Sergei Shoigu, who is to serve as secretary of Russia's national security council.

Commenting on Belousov's appointment, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that, "on the battlefield today, the winner is the one who is more open to innovation." Emphasizing the need to integrate the military sector more closely with the economy, he added that this choice was about "making the economy of the security bloc part of the country’s economy."

Nina Khrushcheva, a Russian-American political scientist, told DW that she could understand why Belousov had been selected for the job. The economist has made a name for himself as a level-headed, professional technocrat, she explained. "On the one hand, market economists do not reject him. On the other, he is committed to the primacy of the state over the........

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