Vladimir Putin has replaced General Sergei Surovikin as commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces, the state agency RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday, confirming information that appeared a day ago, Reuters reports.
RIA “Novosti” reported, citing a source familiar with the situation, that “the former commander of the Russian Air and Space Forces, Sergei Surovikin, has been dismissed from his post, and he is temporarily being held by the commander of the Air Force, Colonel-General Viktor Afzalov.” General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”.
According to British intelligence, Afzalov was formerly Surovikin’s deputy and held the post of Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Air Force for at least 4 years.
On Wednesday, Russian journalist Oleksii Venediktov, the former editor-in-chief of the radio station “Echo of Moscow” banned by the Russian authorities after the start of the “special operation” announced that Surovikin was officially dismissed from his post. At the same time, Venediktov did not specify where he got this information from.
But then this was announced independently by RBC, the largest Russian financial TV channel, and Rybar, a Telegram channel close to the Russian Ministry of Defense. The fact that the information was confirmed on Wednesday by RIA Novosti is a de facto official statement in this sense, given the control that Moscow authorities exercise over the press.
After the uprising of mercenaries of the “Wagner” PMK, started by Yevgeny Prigozhin on the night of June 23-24, General Surovikin no longer appeared in public, and his arrest was also reported. However, the Kremlin systematically refuses to confirm this.
In 2017, Vladimir Putin appointed Surovikin as commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces (the Moscow name for the Air Force).
“General Armageddon” is considered one of the most capable commanders of Russia
Surovikin was appointed commander of Russia’s air force after also commanding Russian forces in Syria in 2017, during which he earned the nickname “General Armageddon” for his brutal tactics. Previously, he was the commander of the Eastern Military District for 4 years.
Last October, Putin chose Surovikin as commander-in-chief of the forces invading Ukraine. But in January, Putin reshuffled the leadership of the invasion forces, appointing General Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian General Staff, as their commander.
The move caught Russian military bloggers and correspondents by surprise, given that Surovikin had successfully led an organized retreat from the east bank of the Dnieper in Kherson Oblast and was considered a competent general with good results.
He was also the one who ordered a massive expansion of Russian defense lines in eastern and southern Ukraine, which are now posing huge problems for the offensive launched by Ukraine in June. Despite the general’s disgrace, Russian military bloggers and some Moscow media still refer to these fortifications and minefields as the “Surovikin Line.”
In January, Surovikin was retained as Valery Gerasimov’s deputy in command of the invasion force, but his fate and possible positions he still holds in the Russian armed forces remain unknown after he disappeared from public view.
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Source: Hot News
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