Putin’s inauguration set to kickstart Kremlin reshuffle

On the other, he has relied on loyal technocrats such as Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Russia’s Central Bank Chief Elvira Nabiullina to keep the country’s economy afloat.  

But that way of doing things appears increasingly untenable, with some of Putin’s most trusted henchmen nearing or in their seventies. 

That includes Lavrov, 74, and Shoigu, 68, as well as the country’s top security hawks Alexander Bortnikov, 72, Sergei Naryshkin, 69 and Alexander Bastrykin, 70.

“It’s time for Putin’s generation to leave the stage, but their replacements are not ready,” said Petrov. “The system is facing a serious problem, and we’ll see to what extent it is able to solve it or whether it’ll just stall for time.” 

“If Putin wants to maintain his system, he needs to change it,” political analyst Abbas Gallyamov agreed.

He pointed to the recent shock arrest of Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov for bribe-taking, widely seen as an attack on Shoigu, as a possible signal Putin is prepared to “shake at the foundation of the system.”