According to the media, the head of the Russian Aerospace Forces, General Sergei Surovikin, was removed from his post two months after the uprising of the Wagner mercenary group. The soldier had disappeared from the scene since the coup attempt.
The former editor-in-chief of the disbanded liberal radio station Echo Moskvy, Alexei Venediktov, wrote to Telegram on Telegram, citing an official decree that Soerovikin will be deposed, but will remain under the disposal of the Defense Ministry.
The decree itself was not initially published on Tuesday, but several nationalist Russian military blogs also reported on Serovikin’s replacement. The general was commander-in-chief of Russian units in Ukraine from October 2022 to January 2023. In the fall, he ordered the occupying forces to withdraw from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson.
Surovikin confidant of Prigozhin
At the same time, Soerovikin, nicknamed “General Armageddon”, was one of the main allies of mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in the regular Russian army in his power struggle with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov. Although Surovikin publicly condemned the uprising of Prigozhin’s Wagner company at the end of June, he was subsequently sidelined, according to political observers.
He did not appear in public for months. Influential military blogger Rybar judged that the current replacement as head of the Aerospace Forces is by no means surprising. “In the current situation, it is bad that the commanders popular with the soldiers are resigning, replaced or sent on permanent leave,” said Rybar.
Russia has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine for eighteen months. The leadership chaos in Moscow and the power struggle within the Russian army are also likely to have prevented the Kremlin from achieving its objectives with the invasion.
Source: Krone
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