Anatoliy Serdyukov Anatoliy Eduardovich Serdyukov ( ; born 8 January 1962 ) is a Russian politician and businessman who was the defense minister from 15 February 2007 to 6 November 2012 . During his tenure as defense minister , he launched several major reforms of the Russian military . Early life and education . Born at Krasnodar Krai on 8 January 1962 , Serdyukov graduated from Leningrad Institute of Soviet Trade in 1984 with a degree in economics . From 1984 to 1985 he served in the Soviet Army . Since 1985 he had worked in a furniture shop and from 1995 to 2000 was the director general of Furniture Market , a furniture company in Saint Petersburg . Serdyukov ' s career started to develop very successfully after the election of Vladimir Putin as Russian President in 2000 . In 2001 , Serdyukov graduated from the Law Department of Saint Petersburg State University . Career . From 2000 to 2001 Serdyukov served as deputy chief of the Saint Petersburg Directorate of the Tax Ministry of Russia . From 2001 to 2004 he led the directorate , succeeding Viktor Zubkov , his father - in - law . On 2 March 2004 , he was appointed deputy tax minister of Russia . From 2004 to 2007 he led the tax ministry ( in July 2004 reorganized into the Federal Tax Service of Russia ) . During this period , the key officials of the service were replaced mainly by Serdyukov ' s colleagues from Saint Petersburg . He also often resorted to personnel rotation and appointment of former federal tax officials to the regional tax service departments in the federal subjects of Russia . During his tenure , court decisions in favor of the federal tax service became much more common . While the service was formally subordinate to the finance ministry under Alexey Kudrin , in fact Serdyukov very much leaned towards Presidential aide Viktor Ivanov . On 15 February 2007 , President Vladimir Putin appointed Serdyukov as Defense Minister of the Russian Federation , with the main task of fighting corruption and inefficiency in the Russian armed forces . On 14 September 2007 Serdyukov offered his resignation to the president over family relations with Viktor Zubkov , but this resignation was not accepted . Serdkuyov was sacked by Putin on 6 November 2012 and replaced by Sergei Shoigu . Activities . 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 . " 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 . " 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 . " 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 . During his time in office , Serdyukov has launched several wide - reaching reforms . The main idea behind his reforms was the transformation from a mass mobilization army to a small force of contract soldiers . 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 . 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 . 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 has been met with fierce political opposition by the " old guard . " Because of the pressure , the deadline for implementing the cuts was put back from 2012 to 2016 . Army divisions were disbanded and replaced by brigades . The six military districts of Russia were replaced by 4 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 ? " 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 . He also called for mergers of Military academies , sharp cuts in the number of military bases , and reductions in rear support and noncombat units . 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 . 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 . Later , this was proved by following Baluyevsky ' s resignation . Personal life . Serdyukov is married to a daughter of Viktor Zubkov , the 10th Prime Minister of Russia and previous chairman of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of Russia .