JRL NEWSWATCH: “Is Russia’s defence chief emerging as Putin’s possible successor? Putin is still pondering the idea of another term, but as he approaches 70, bets are being placed on Sergey Shoigu” – Al Jazeera

Sergei Shoigu file photo, adapted from image at defense.gov by Steven C. Welsh, www.stevencwelsh.info :: www.stevencwelsh.com

… [M]any wonder who will succeed [Putin], and when. … [T]he Kremlin scrupulously weeds out all charismatic critics. … [P]otential successors from the halls of power have been demoted to irrelevant sinecures. … Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu[] [is] Russia’s longest-serving cabinet member and its second-most popular politician …. [H]e hails from Tuva, an impoverished province of Turkic-speaking Buddhists that borders northwestern China and has some of Russia’s highest murder and suicide rates. Some Tuvan intellectuals even consider him a reincarnation of Subedei, a Mongol general …. File Photo of Vladimir Putin at Podium with United Russia Logo, GesturingShoigu started his career … as head of the emergencies ministry [before later becoming Defense Minister] …. Putin [recently] appointed him the poster boy of United Russia …. Shoigu is often seen on TV fishing and hunting with Putin ….”

Click here for: “Is Russia’s defence chief emerging as Putin’s possible successor? Putin is still pondering the idea of another term, but as he approaches 70, bets are being placed on Sergey Shoigu” – Al Jazeera/ Mansur Mirovalev

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