Russian President Vladimir Putin fired his long-standing friend Sergei Shoigu as head of the Defence Minister and replaced him with economist Andrei Belousov as part of a government reshuffle following his inauguration last week. Speculation about Shoigu’s imminent departure has been swirling for several weeks after his deputy Timur Ivanov was recently arrested for massive and conspicuous corruption. Shoigu, who has served in government since 1991, is not popular with the military so the change is seen as Putin shoring up his control over the military and the appointment of Belousov will place…