Sergei Shoigu
Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu[1][a][b] (born 21 May 1955) is a Russian politician and military officer who has served as Secretary of the Security Council since 2024. He served as Minister of Defence of Russia from 2012 to 2024. Shoigu has served as the chairman of the Council of Ministers of Defense of the Commonwealth of Independent States since 2012.[3][4]
"Shoigu" and "Shoygu" redirect here. For other uses, see Shoigu (name). In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Kuzhugetovich and the family name is Shoigu.
Sergei Shoigu
Vladimir Putin
Ruslan Tsalikov
Ruslan Tsalikov (acting)
Party established
- Vladimir Putin
- Mikhail Kasyanov (acting)
- Boris Yeltsin
- Vladimir Putin
- Dmitry Medvedev
- Vladimir Putin
- Ivan Silayev
- Oleg Lobov (acting)
- Boris Yeltsin (as President)
- Yegor Gaidar (acting)
- Viktor Chernomyrdin
- Sergey Kiriyenko
- Viktor Chernomyrdin (acting)
- Yevgeny Primakov
- Sergei Stepashin
- Vladimir Putin
- Mikhail Kasyanov
- Viktor Khristenko (acting)
- Mikhail Fradkov
- Viktor Zubkov
- Vladimir Putin
- Viktor Zubkov (acting)
- Dmitry Medvedev
Office established
- Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1977–1991)
- Independent (1991–1995)
- Our Home – Russia (1995–1999)
- Unity (1999–2001)
- United Russia (2001–present)
Irina Shoigu
- Yulia
- Kseniya
- Kuzhuget Shoigu (father)
Larisa Shoigu (sister)
- Hero of the Russian Federation
- Order of St. Andrew (with swords)
Russia
Military Council of the Civil Defence Troops
1991–present
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine (chairman)
Shoigu was the Minister of Emergency Situations from 1991 to 2012. He briefly served as the governor of Moscow Oblast in 2012. A close confidant and ally of Vladimir Putin, Shoigu belongs to the siloviki of Putin's inner circle.[3][4] He was entrusted with the task of supervising the invasion of Ukraine since 2022. A feud between Shoigu and Yevgeny Prigozhin led to a mutiny by the Wagner Group in June 2023.
In May 2024, Putin replaced Shoigu with Andrei Belousov as defense minister, appointing the former to be the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.[5]
Early life and education
Shoigu was born on 21 May 1955 in Chadan, Tuvan Autonomous Oblast, to an ethnic Tuvan father, newspaper editor Kuzhuget Shoigu[c] (1921–2010) and a Ukrainian-born Russian mother, Alexandra Yakovlevna Shoigu (1924–2011). Alexandra Shoigu grew up in the Donbas town of Kadiivka and had traumatizing experiences while under detention of the German occupation forces during World War II.[6] Later in her career she became a member of the Tuva Regional Council of People's Deputies. Kuzhuget Shoigu rose to secretary of the Tuvan Regional Committee of the Communist Party,[7] becoming a major figure in the Communist power structure of the republic.[8]
After graduating from Kyzyl Number 1 School in the Tuvan ASSR,[9] Shoigu studied at the Krasnoyarsk Polytechnic Institute. Shoigu graduated in 1977 with a degree in civil engineering.[10]
Early career and first steps in CPSU
Shoigu worked in construction projects nationwide for the next decade, advancing from low levels to become an executive. In 1988, Shoigu became a minor functionary in the Abakan branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and then in the Komsomol for a few years. In 1990, Shoigu moved to Moscow from Siberia, and was appointed deputy chairman of the State Architecture and Construction Committee of the Russian Federation,[11] assisted by his father's connections. Future president Boris Yeltsin had held a similar position in the Construction Committee, and had also come from a civil engineering and party background, so Shoigu gained Yeltsin's trust.[8]
Governor of Moscow Oblast (2012)
With over twenty years of service as Minister of Emergency Situations, Shoigu established a close relationship with Vladimir Putin, and was rewarded by being appointed Governor of Moscow Oblast in 2012,[19] taking office on 11 May of that year.[20]