Activities at Ministry of Defense (MoD)

In office, Serdyukov chose not to get involved in the daily administration of troops and operational-strategic planning, leaving these matters to the professionals. Instead, he focused on organizational and budgetary issues, in which he, according to 'Moscow Defense Brief, "insisted upon an unprecedented (at least for the MoD) level of precision and fastidiousness."^[8] This reportedly enabled him to quickly "put the generals in their place," and "to instill a level of background fear that even the old-timers do not recall having seen before." According to an anecdote, an officer in one of the central directorates of the MoD explained: "senior generals go to meetings of the Defense Board as to the scaffold."^[8]

To deal with the budgetary issues, Serdyukov brought in his old colleagues from the Federal Tax Service and created new department in MoD for financial control. MoD had no control nor oversight until then over the management of defence budget. This had all been managed so far by the General Staff. Years before Serdyukov's appointment as Minister of Defence, the Russian defence budget had been growing significantly but the extra amounts disappeared on regular basis and were not visible anywhere. Apparently bringing this under control was the first and most important reason why Serdyukov was considered and appointed as Minister of Defence.^[9]

According to Moscow Defense Brief, Serdyukov’s first year in office was marked by convulsions, "the likes of which have not been seen on the Arbat in decades." The magazine pointed out, that "Serdyukov brought apparently unlimited energy to a thorough purge of the department."^[8] He fired almost a third of the top officers of the Central Military Administration and initiated a sea of change in the Ministry of Defense.^[8]

Serdyukov inspecting the military parade on the Red Square, 9 May 2008

During his time in office, Serdyukov launched several wide-reaching reforms.^[10] The main idea behind his reforms was the transformation from a mass mobilization army to a small force of contract soldiers.^[10]

In 2010, Serdyukov launched a $430 billion military reform to be achieved over the next 15 years in order to fully re-equip Russian conventional forces.^[11]

Serdyukov also launched plans to reduce the personnel in the central administration by 30%, which would lead to the liquidation of a significant number of positions filled by generals and colonels.^[8] He was demanding drastic cuts in Russia's officer corps. There was an officer to every two and a half men. After the reform there should be just one to every 15, more similar to western armies. The reform would mean losing 200,000 jobs, and was met with fierce political opposition by the "old guard."^[12] Because of the pressure, the deadline for implementing the cuts was put back from 2012 to 2016.^[12] Army divisions were disbanded and replaced by brigades. The six military districts of Russia were replaced by four geographic commands.

Addressing acute and long-standing issues such as the ineffectiveness of Russia’s defense industrial and procurement policies was also one of Serdyukov's chief aims. The questions addressed included: "why, with so much spending on defense, do the Armed Forces possess so little new equipment? Why does the design and testing of many new types of armament take decades to show results?"^[8] Serdyukov initiated modifications to the Russian military uniform and addressed the issue of the physical condition of Russia’s generals and senior officers: the entire service personnel of the General Staff, irrespective of rank, must now meet set physical standards upon threat of dismissal.^[8] He also called for mergers of Military academies, sharp cuts in the number of military bases, and reductions in rear support and noncombat units.^[10]

Many of Serdyukov's reforms and anti-corruption measures were met with open opposition and led to many dismissals. His actions, however, gave him a positive image in the eyes of the Russian public.^[8]

Severe disagreements were reported in late 2007 and early 2008 between Serdyukov and General of the Army Yuri Baluyevsky, Chief of the General Staff, most recently over the Minister's proposed move of the Russian Navy Main Staff from Moscow to Saint Petersburg.^[13] Later, this was proved by following Baluyevsky's resignation.

Dismissal from Ministry of Defense (2012–2014)

In 2001, Serdyukov, his wife Julia Zubkova, and Yevgeniya Vasilyeva all were classmates and graduated from Law School at Saint Petersburg State University (Russia). In 2010 Yevgeniya Vasilyeva began working at the Ministry of Defense, with Serdyukov as her boss. At some point in time, Serdyukov and Yevgeniya Vasilyeva began an illicit adulterous love affair while Serdyukov was still married to Viktor Zubkov's daughter. In 2012, Yevgeniya Vasilyeva came under investigation for corruption as head of the Ministry of Defense department of property relations. On October 25, 2012, Vasilyeva's apartment was searched in connection with the case. Discovered and seized from the apartment were more than three million rubles, nearly $747,000 worth of diamonds, pearls and other jewelry, several dozen paintings, amongst other things. Also discovered at her apartment was the married Minister of Defense, Anatoly Serdyukov. Serdyukov's father-in-law, Viktor Zubkov, still powerful as the chairman of Gazprom and still a close ally of Vladimir Putin, was reportedly very angry when Serdyukov's adulterous affair was discovered.^[14][15] On November 6, 2012 - twelve days after Serdyukov was discovered in Yevgeniya Vasilyeva's apartment - he was dismissed (fired) by Putin and was replaced by Sergei Shoigu.^[16][17]

In November 2013, Serdyukov was charged by Russian investigators with "negligence" for ordering the army to build a road from a village to a private country residence in Russia's south.^[18] He was amnestied in 2014 by a presidential decree.^[19]