Although Valery Gerasimov has been head of Russia’s General Staff for a decade and is loyal to Vladimir Putin, the general may be pushing the Kremlin to tolerate failure, Britain’s Ministry of Defense says.

What British military experts say:

• On January 11, 2023, the head of the General Staff (GSH) of Russia, General Valery Gerasimov, personally assumed command of the “special military operation” in Ukraine.
• Gerasimov’s tenure was characterized by an attempt to launch a general winter offensive aimed at expanding Russian control over the entire Donbass.
• Eighty days later, it is increasingly clear that this attempt has failed.
• On several front lines in Donbas, Russian troops achieved only minor successes at the cost of tens of thousands of casualties, largely squandering their temporary advantage in manpower, obtained as a result of “partial mobilization” in the fall.
• After ten years as head of the RGS, there is a real possibility that Gerasimov has crossed the line to which Russia’s political leadership allows failure.

Gerasimov is loyal to Putin, but his work is full of failures

Putin has repeatedly appointed loyal people to important positions at the expense of competent people, and Gerasimov seems to be joining this trend.

Earlier this year, the Kremlin replaced army general Sergei Surovikin, who was seen as competent and who effectively led the politically unpopular but militarily necessary withdrawal from Upper Kherson in the fall of 2022, with Russian Major General Valery Gerasimov, who is seen as loyal to Putin, as head of state.

It was Gerasimov who approved the disastrous campaign plan for the initial full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.