Minister of Defence (Russia) in the context of "GRU (G.U.)"

The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (Russian: Министерство обороны Российской Федерации; MOD) is the governing body of the Russian Armed Forces. The president of Russia is the commander-in-chief of the forces and directs the activity of the ministry. The minister of defence exercises day-to-day administrative and operational authority over the forces. The General Staff of the Armed Forces executes the instructions and orders of the president and the defence minister.

The ministry is headquartered in the General Staff building, built-in 1979–1987 on Arbatskaya Square, near Arbat Street in Moscow. Other buildings of the ministry are located throughout Moscow. The supreme body responsible for the ministry's management and supervision of the Armed Forces and the centralization of the Armed Forces' command is the National Defense Management Center, located in the Main Building of the Ministry of Defense, built in the 1940s on Frunzenskaya Embankment.

The 2019 Moscow Victory Day Parade was a military parade that took place in Red Square in Moscow on 9 May 2019 to commemorate the 74th anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945. It was the largest of all the parades held on this day in Russia and in many former republics of the Soviet Union.

The annual parade marks the Allied victory in World War II on the Eastern Front and commemorates the signing of the German act of capitulation to the Allies in Berlin, at midnight on 9 May 1945 (Russian time). The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, delivered his sixteenth commemorative address to the nation after the parade inspection presided over by Minister of Defence General of the Army Sergey Shoygu, accompanied by the parade commander General of the Army Oleg Salyukov, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces, who participated in the parade for the sixth straight year.

The minister of foreign affairs of the Russian Federation (Russian: Министры иностранных дел России, romanized: Ministry inostrannykh del Rossii) is a high-ranking Russian government official who heads the ministry of foreign affairs of the Russian Federation. The foreign minister is one of the five presidential ministers, along with the ministers of defence, interior, emergencies and justice. Although they are members of the Cabinet, they are directly subordinate to the President.

The foreign minister, like other presidential ministers, is nominated and appointed by the President after consultation with the Federation Council (whereas non-presidential ministers are nominated by the Prime Minister and appointed by the President after approval by the State Duma). The foreign minister is also a permanent member of the Russian Security Council.

The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formerly the Main Intelligence Directorate, and still commonly known by its previous abbreviation GRU, is the foreign military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation tasked with advancing military intelligence through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and conducting clandestine and covert operations. The GRU controls the military intelligence service and maintains its own special forces units.

Unlike Russia's other security and intelligence agencies – such as the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the Federal Security Service (FSB), and the Federal Protective Service (FSO) – whose heads report directly to the president of Russia (see Intelligence agencies of Russia), the director of the GRU is subordinate to the Russian military command, reporting to the Minister of Defence and the Chief of the General Staff.