Putin reshuffles top officials
The Hindu
The reshuffle follows predictions of Yuri Borisov's removal from the job that he held for four years.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday reshuffled his top officials, naming a new head of the state space corporation and giving new broad powers to one of his top ministers.
Mr. Putin removed Dmitry Rogozin as the head of state-controlled Roscosmos space agency that oversees the country's space program and includes rocket factories, launch facilities and numerous other assets.
He replaced Mr. Rogozin with Yuri Borisov, a deputy prime minister who was in charge of weapons industries. Mr. Borisov's duties were handed over to Denis Manturov, the minister of industry and trade who was also given the rank of a deputy prime minister.
Mr. Manturov has held the ministerial job since 2012 and reportedly has Mr. Putin's favor, accompanying the Russian president on most foreign and domestic trips.
The reshuffle follows predictions of Mr. Borisov's removal from the job that he held for four years amid reported flaws and deficiencies in Russian weapons programs spotlighted by the military action in Ukraine.
Mr. Borisov acknowledged some of the shortcomings in recent comments, saying that the military industries should have been more active in developing and producing drones. “I think we were late with the deployment of drones," he said in an interview with state TV.
Mr. Borisov's appointment to the important position of Roscosmos chief indicates that he hasn't completely fallen from grace despite the weapons procurement issues.
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