Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced changes at the top of the country's Ministry of Defense, appointing new deputy chiefs of the military entity, according to a decree published on the official portal for legal acts on Monday.

Leonid Gornin, who has served as first deputy minister of finance since 2018, will assume the position of first deputy defense minister and will be in charge of financial support for the Russian Armed Forces.

Anna Tsivileva was appointed as deputy defense minister in charge of matters related to the organization of social and housing support for military personnel, as well as elevating the associated processes to a higher level.

Pavel Fradkov, also appointed as deputy defense minister, will oversee asset management, land resources, and construction of facilities for the defense ministry and national economy.

In turn, Pavel Popov was removed from the post of first deputy minister after he was expelled from military service.

Oleg Savelyev was appointed as deputy defense minister and simultaneously head of the ministry's apparatus.

The decree, which comes into force this Monday, June 17, specifies that the Russian Defense Minister, currently Andrei Belousov, will have 12 deputies.

Belousov replaces Shoigu in Putin's new government

Last month, Putin proposed candidates for the next cabinet's military and foreign affairs ministers, in addition to the heads of senior security agencies, Russia's Federation Council reported. 

The upper house reported that "the Federation Council has received the list of candidates proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin for the positions of heads of a number of federal ministries and agencies."

The Russian President proposed reappointing Sergey Lavrov as Foreign Minister, Vladimir Kolokoltsev as Interior Minister, and Alexander Kurenkov as Minister of Emergency Circumstances.

Mikhail Mishustin was proposed as the Prime Minister and Sergei Shoigu will step down as Russian Defense Minister to be replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov.

In his address to the State Duma, Mishustin expressed his commitment to implementing Putin's initiatives, which were outlined in his recent speech to the Federal Assembly.

On March 18, Vladimir Putin emerged as the winner of Russia's presidential elections, and on May 7, he was sworn in as President of Russia, marking his fifth term in office.