With shake-up at defense ministry, ‘Putin’s chef’ gets his wish from beyond the grave

Berlin CNN — Removing a long-time defense minister from his post is nothing out of the ordinary. Reuters Prigozhin message from the grave Hanging over this shake-up is the ghost of Yevgeny Prigozhin, boss of the Wagner mercenary group, who was also formerly known as “Putin’s Chef.” Before his death, he had expressed hatred for Shoigu and Russia’s top general, Valery Gerasimov, through profanity-laden tirades, accusing them and the ministry of corruption and incompetence. Alexander Kazakov/AFP/Getty Images Putin’s interests: Ukraine Tatiyana Stanovaya, Senior Fellow at Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told CNN that whether Prigozhin may have been right about the officials’ corruption is not what’s important. More, for example, than some of Putin’s inner circle.” Last Friday, Lieutenant General Vadim Shamarin, chief of the Main Communication Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces, was charged with “receiving a bribe on an especially large scale,” of 36 million rubles from a factory that supplies the ministry with communications equipment. “Part of Putin’s logic is that you can’t field someone in this position where there are significant interests of the previous.” To help clean up the ministry, Putin has appointed Oleg Savelyev, a former auditor at the Russia Accounts Chamber, as the deputy minister of defense.