Sergei Shoigu

Sergei Shoigu served as Russia’s Minister of Defence from 2012 to 2024, overseeing the military during a period of significant doctrinal and technological transformation, including the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He was simultaneously chairman of the Council of Ministers of Defense of the Commonwealth of Independent States for the same period. In 2024 he transitioned to Secretary of the Security Council, the body that coordinates national security policy.

As the civilian head of Russia’s armed forces during the war in Ukraine, Shoigu presided over the military’s accelerating adoption of drone warfare, loitering munitions, and electronic countermeasures — making him a central figure in the real-world stress-testing of autonomous and semi-autonomous systems on the battlefield.