Russia’s Defense Ministry on Saturday appointed a new commander for its forces in Ukraine, appointing a career general to the post, as Moscow’s military is facing serious defeats in the war. school.
In a statement, General Sergei Surovikin has been appointed to command the army in a “special military operation” – using the language that Russian President Putin has designated to refer to the war.
The announcement – buried in a broader evening update from the Ministry – is a rare acknowledgment of a personnel change from the Ministry and comes at a time when Moscow’s forces are under pressure. profound, with their fighters running over a large swath of the front line in Ukraine. The Defense Ministry announced a senior leadership shake-up last month following an embarrassing move of its forces in northeastern Ukraine.
General Surovikin, 55, has commanded troops in southern Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces are waging a counter-offensive to retake territory from Russia. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said late Thursday that his troops have recaptured more than 200 square miles of territory and dozens of village settlements from Russian forces in the southern Kherson region since the beginning of the month.
With General Surovikin, the Kremlin is assigning a commander decked out with extensive battlefield experience in Ukraine and beyond – and a reputation for brutality.
“Surovikin knows how to fight bombers and missiles – that’s what he does,” General Kyrylo O. Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, said in June.
Before Ukraine, General Surovikin has served in many different roles. He was in Chechnya in the early 2000s and leading Russian forces in Syria, according to his biography on the website of the Ministry of Defense and state media. Human Rights Watch said in 2020 that he was among the military leaders who could bear “command responsibility for violations“In Syria.
“For more than thirty years, Surovikin’s career has been associated with allegations of corruption and atrocities,” the British Ministry of Defense said in June.
General Surovikin spent at least six months in prison after soldiers under his command killed three protesters in Moscow in the wake of a failed coup in August 1991, but he was eventually released without warning. no need for trial. In 1995, he received a suspended sentence for illegal arms trafficking, based on an article from the Jamestown Foundationa conservative think tank in Washington, adding that the belief was subsequently overturned.
“In the military, Surovikin was known for his utter ruthlessness,” the newspaper added.
He was placed on the European Union sanctions list on February 23 – the day before Russia invaded Ukraine – and placed on the list of Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
“As such, he is responsible for air operations in or to Ukraine,” read punishment designation. He therefore has a responsibility to actively support and carry out actions and policies that undermine and threaten Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence, as well as stability and security in Ukraine. Ukraine.”
Russia reorganized offensive command in Ukraine in April, appointing General Aleksandr V. Dvornikov, in what is widely seen as an admission that Russia’s original war plan had failed.
