Russia replaced the commander-in-chief of the invasion of Ukraine on the 8th (local time). The newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian Joint Forces is notorious for leading Russian forces in Syria.
According to Archyde.com, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on the same day that Army General Sergei Surovikin, 56, was appointed commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian “special military operation” region of the Joint Forces. This is the first time Russia has officially announced the change of commander-in-chief of military operations in the region since its invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The former commander-in-chief was not disclosed, but AFP reported that it was General Aleksandr Dvornikov, who served in Syria and the Second Chechen War. According to Archyde.com, the change of command has changed three times in one week in Russia. Earlier this week, Russia replaced the commanders of two of its five regional armies.
The new commander-in-chief, Surovikin, is an old-time veteran who served as the commander of the Russian Eastern Army and the commander of the Syrian dispatch unit. During the invasion of Ukraine, he served as commander of the Russian Confederate Army. He was awarded the title of Hero of Russia while leading the Russian Army Expedition to Syria in 2017. However, when the Syrian government army was on the verge of losing the civil war, he intervened and launched indiscriminate attacks on civilians and soldiers in rebel areas with conventional bombs, and was embroiled in war crimes controversy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin applauds as he sees then commander of the Syrian Expeditionary Unit Sergei Surovikin during a ceremony to encourage the Syrian war veterans to be held in Moscow, Russia, on December 28, 2017. AP Yonhap News
Since taking office in 1987, Commander-in-Chief Surovikin has caused several controversies over his history of atrocities. According to the Guardian, he was sent to prison twice in 1991 when he ordered firing on pro-democracy protesters. In August 1991, during a Soviet coup d’état by conservatives, as a captain, he led a rifle battalion through a barricade set up by pro-democracy protesters and ordered to fire. In the process, one person was crushed and a total of three people died.
Russian political scientist and sociologist Grigory Yudin said, “It is not surprising that Surovikin, the only officer who ordered the revolutionaries to shoot in August 1991 and actually killed three people, is now making the final push to restore the Soviet Union. It is very symbolic.” “These people knew what they were doing back then (1991) and they know it now,” he added.
Some analysts say that the Russian government’s appointment of Surovikin as general manager of the Ukrainian front is intended to alleviate pressure from hardline nationalists in the country. Some Russian nationalists argue that the unsuccessful operation of the invasion of Ukraine is due to the mismanagement of the Russian military command and not using harsh tactics to subdue Ukraine. As the war has recently turned in favor of Ukraine, officials such as Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Autonomous Republic and Kirill Stremusov, deputy head of the administration in the pro-Russian occupied Kherson Territory, are openly criticizing the Russian military commander, saying, “It deserves suicide.” has paid out
Yevgeny Prigozin, one of the leading figures who blamed the incompetence of the Russian military command, welcomed Surovikin’s appointment as commander-in-chief on the same day. The entrepreneur who founded the mercenary company Wagner Group and also called ‘Putin’s cook’, said, “Surovikin is the most capable commander in the Russian army,” and praised him as “a legendary figure born to serve his country faithfully.”
