On the 227th day of the war, Moscow appointed a new commander for the "special military operation", as they call the war waged on Ukraine. According to the official statement, the commander to take over all the russian forces fighting in Ukraine is General Sergei Surovikin, who previously commanded the "South" group of invasion forces and has been the commander-in-chief of the "Aerospace Forces" of the russian federation since 2017.
As a side note, the russian ministry of defense is currently undergoing significant personnel changes in the upper echelons: in particular, in less than a week, the commanders of the Western Military District and the Eastern Military District were changed, as well as the commander of the Black Sea Fleet.
Read more: New Admiral for the russian Black Sea Fleet and His "Glorious" Sail on 'Admiral Kuznetsov' to Syria
As for Surovikin, his persona is a paradoxical one, because despite his position he has no relation to aviation and is in fact a classic ground forces general. The unit he commanded has left a mark on the Chechen War history, when his 1st Motor Rifle Battalion of the Tamanskaya Division killed three civilians in August 1991. According to the witnesses, it was Surovikin, captain back then, who shot at least one of them dead. At that time he was arrested and held under investigation for a few months, but then released and granted the rank of major.
After that, Suroviin got a new appointment – in distant Tajikistan, in the 201st Motor Rifle Division, for him to climb up from battalion commander to the chief of the division’s staff at the age of 32, in the rank of colonel.
In 2002 he entered the Academy of the General Staff of the russian federation and was appointed as commanding officer of the 34th motorized rifle division. During his stay at this position, the division began to appear in the news: murders, assault on conscripts, suicides of officers.
In 2005, Surovikin was redeployed to Chechnya for him to command the 42nd Motor Rifle Division stationed there. It was probably a turning point in his career, and it was with Ramzan Kadyrov’s help that Surovikin started climbing the ladder even faster. By the way, a special purpose battalion "Vostok" of Kadyrov’s troops was structurally part of the mentioned division.
Chief of staff and vice-commander of the 20th Combined Arms Army in 2005–2008, and its commander in 2008; in 2008–2010 – Head of the main operational group of the russian General Staff; in 2010–2012 – Chief of staff of the Central Military District; in 2012–2013 – corresponding position in the Southern Military District and in 2013 – the commander of this district with a new rank of Colonel general.
In 2017 he was appointed as commander of the russian forces in Syria for eight months (they say, he spent only three of them in Syria actually), after which he receives the "Hero of russia" star and the position of the Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces of the russian federation.
In 2019 he was again deployed to Syria, for a four-month term this time. In 2021 he is granted the highest rank possible – Army general, at the age of 54.
Surovikin’s role after February 24, 2022, when russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukrainian territories, is a well-know one: he was in charge of ordering air attacks on the cities of Ukraine, and in August he was appointed as the commander of the "South" group of russian forces in Ukraine.
Read more: Russian Commander of the Southern Military Group Fighting Against Ukraine Began His Career With Killing Сivilians
