Is the Putin/Serdyukov thing meaningful in any way?

[LMNO]

http://www.npr.org/2012/12/11/166879584/russian-scandal-hints-at-larger-political-battle

Is this an intentional cover by Putin to provide cover for something else?  Is it meant to keep the factions at each other's throats, or is Putin being forced to fire this guy over a sex scandal?

[Cain]

Damn, I was reading something not so long ago about Russian military reform which might be pertinent to this...lemme check my archives.

[Cain]

Here we go

http://russiamil.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/the-firing-of-anatoly-serdyukov/

Initially, it seemed to me that the raid was meant as a signal to Serdyukov to sort out his personal life and that he was not in danger of removal. If he had meant to remove Serdyukov, Putin could have done so without the raid or (if he wanted Serdyukov humiliated) could have done so immediately after the raid. The delay implies either that Serdyukov was unable to come to terms with Zubkov and therefore had to be jettisoned by the ruling clan or that Zubkov was determined to have Serdyukov out despite Putin's initial reluctance and needed the two weeks to prevail.

Putin has appointed Sergei Shoigu, the long-standing head of the Emergencies Ministry who had been serving as Moscow Oblast governor for the last few months. This move has implications for both the military and the Russian political system at large. For the political system, it means that Putin has few people left he can trust. Serdyukov was long seen as irreplaceable precisely because there were so few people who combined his qualities of effective managerial ability and personal loyalty to Putin. Shoigu is one such person, which is probably why he was brought in as Serdyukov's replacement even though he had only recently been appointed to run Moscow Oblast.

Shoigu has a reputation as an honest and relatively uncorrupt official. He may end up being far more effective at eliminating entrenched corruption at the MOD than Serdyukov (who seems to have simply had his own people take over the most profitable schemes).

[LMNO]

So, is this a Zubkov/Putin grudgematch?

[Cain]

Or a Zubkov/Serdyukov death match.

Zubkov's daughter is married to Serdyukov, you see...

[LMNO]

OSNAP!

'Tis the season of infidelities, it seems.