In reality he is irreplaceable in the current political situation. As events in Russia have shown, the country's political leadership does not have the ability, nor the inclination, to seriously reform the Russian military. Therefore, no defense minister would be able to dramatically improve military readiness, and thereby win for the president the support of the armed forces. In the absence of any real improvements in the military, it is critically important that the Russian president have a military leader who is personally devoted to him, and who has full control over, and the loyalty of, the four or five elite divisions deployed near Moscow. Thus neither Pavel Grachev's constant assurances of his loyalty to the president, nor the fact that he has remained at his post in spite of all his mistakes, needs any explanation.
Reform remains a myth.
Instead of the promised small, professional army, the government has actually increased the size of the army, navy and air force by drafting more young Russians and lengthening the time they must serve. The plan to staff the army with professional soldiers has not even reached an experimental stage. And in lieu of forming effective mobile forces which could react in explosive situations, the small group of elite divisions deployed around Moscow is being strengthened and gradually transformed into the ruling regime's Praetorian Guard. But as for the rest of the Russian armed forces, the government can ensure that they are pre-occupied with their own problems caused by inadequate funding, and is restraining them from independent political activity.