Russia, General “Armageddon” Sergey Sorovikin, the new commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

He was the commander of Russian forces in Syria and commanded operations in the Donbass. Now the general Sergey Surovkin “Assigned to lead the combined group of forces participating in the special military operation” in Ukraine. This announcement came from the Russian Ministry of Defense, citing TASS. At the end of June, British intelligence had already reported on the appointment of Sorovikin as the head of the Southern Army Group (Sgf), instead of the general. Alexander Dvornikov. The 55-year-old colonel is considered a hawk, and has been the commander of the Aerospace Forces until now. According to London, the new military officer for the attack had been “the target of accusations of corruption and brutality for thirty years”. And also because she is able to lose a few men in battle.

Known as General Armageddon, he assumed the position of Commander of the Air Force last December after Colonel General. Victor Bondarev He had been removed from the summit by orders of President Vladimir Putin. Surovikin graduated from the “MV Frunze” Arms Command School in Omsk, after which, with full marks, he continued and completed his studies at the Military Academy “MV Frunze” in Moscow in 1995 and later at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces in Moscow in 2002. Since June 2004, he commanded the 42nd Guards Division stationed in Chechnya.

From November 2008 to January 2010, Surovkin was the head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. January-December 2010 Chief of Staff of the Volga-Ural Military District (based in Yekaterinburg); From December 2010 to April 2012 Chief of Staff of the Central Military District; In 2012 he led the Defense Department’s task force to establish a Military police With the additional possibility of his appointment as Head of the Main Directorate of Military Police. From October 2012 to October 2013 he was appointed first deputy commander of the Eastern Military District – Chief of Staff (based in Khabarovsk) and in October 2013 as commander of the same district. Since March 2017, the last and prestigious task that could have persuaded Putin to choose him, he has led the joint assembly stationed in Syria.

Under his leadership, Surovikin was able to take an important step forward in the fight against teams jihadist militias The liberation of a large part of the territory of Syria, including the cities of Deir ez-Zor, Al-Mayadin and Abu Kamal, the last stronghold of the Islamic State. Novaya Gazeta reported that in 1991, Surovikin, by decision of the State Emergency Committee – as the group that led the then failed coup called itself – He himself drove a column of armored vehicles that crushed some protesters during the August coup. For this he was arrested and spent about seven months in the Matroskaya Tshina preventive detention center.

This decision, which Moscow announced unusually, comes after a series of setbacks committed by the Russian army in Ukraine, which led to criticism within the establishment. In recent days, Russia reportedly blew up other commanders: Colonel General Alexander Shaiko, head of the Eastern District. The commander of the Western Military District, Colonel Alexander Zuravlyov, was also dismissed, and he was replaced by Lieutenant-General Roman Berdnikov. Soon after heavy Russian defeats in the northeast and Ukraine’s restoration of Lyman, a strategic location in Donetsk. Meanwhile, in recent days, Vladimir Putin’s deputy in Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov Accused of serious human rights violations and under EU and US sanctions, he announced on his birthday that he had been awarded the rank of colonel. “I want to share another good news with you. The President of Russia gave me the rank of colonel. Decree No. 709 was issued. Vladimir Vladimirovich personally informed me and congratulated me,” Kadyrov wrote. In recent days, Kadyrov has said that he will send his three minor children to fight in Ukraine.