Sergei Shoigu

Background

Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu is the secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, a post he has held since 2024. In that role, he is part of the senior security leadership around the Russian president and participates in work on matters of national security and state policy. He is a prominent figure in Russian public affairs because of his long service in top federal posts and his close association with Vladimir Putin.

Born on 21 May 1955, Shoigu built his career in Russian state institutions over several decades. He served as Minister of Emergency Situations from 1991 to 2012, becoming one of the most durable members of the federal government after the Soviet period. In 2012 he briefly served as governor of Moscow Oblast, then was appointed Minister of Defence of Russia, a post he held from 2012 to 2024. During the same period, he also chaired the Council of Ministers of Defense of the Commonwealth of Independent States from 2012 to 2024.

Shoigu was closely identified with Putin’s inner circle and was often described as part of the siloviki, the network of senior officials with backgrounds in security and force structures. He was entrusted with supervising Russia’s war against Ukraine beginning in 2022, and his tenure as defense minister overlapped with major military decisions during that period. He was also associated with the political fallout from the Wagner Group mutiny in June 2023, which followed a feud involving Yevgeny Prigozhin. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him on charges of alleged war crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and in May 2024 Putin moved him from the Defense Ministry to the Security Council.