Russia tackles a turn is your military strategy against Ukraine. the russian general Sergei Surovikinknown for his close ties to the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhinhas been removed as head of the Aerospace Forcesa position he has held since 2017. According to the Russian newspaper ‘RBC’, Russian Defense Ministry sources confirmed the news. Surovikin, 56, also automatically ceased to be deputy commander of the Russian forces operating in Ukraine in the framework of the military campaign that began in February 2022. The movement at the top of the Russian aerospace division is a consequence of the military coup starring the private military group Wagner.
The general assumed command of these troops in October last year, but after ordering the withdrawal of the northern third of the Ukrainian region of Kherson, he was replaced in January 2023 by the chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov. In the first months of the war, he participated in the capture of the cities of Severodonetsk, the siege of the Azot factory and the conquest of Lisichansk, all in the eastern region of Lugansk.
Surovikin fell out of favor after the failed armed rebellion led by Prigozhinwho at the time acknowledged having personally drawn up with said general the operation to take the city of Bakhmut, something that the mercenaries achieved last May.
Criticizing Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Prigozhin assured that with Surovikin in command, his men would never have had problems with the supply of equipment and ammunition, for which he blamed the first two on several occasions.
Pointed out for links to Wagner
From the wagner uprising On June 23 and 24, Surovikin disappeared from the public eye, although in mid-July a deputy, Andrei Kartapolov, assured: “He is resting.” The Kremlin never confirmed the general’s arrest for supporting the mutiny, which was also refuted by his own daughter.
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Subsequently, Wagner’s mercenaries were sent to their new base, Belarus, from where they have resumed their operations in Africa, Prigozhin confirmed the day before in his first video since the rebellion. Surovikin led, with the exception of a few months, the Russian military contingent in Syria between 2017 and 2019, for which Russian President Vladimir Putin personally awarded him the Hero of Russia award. He is known as “General Armageddon” for the brutality of his operations against cities like Aleppo controlled by the opposition to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
The attacks by Ukraine, which has begun using Soviet-era S-200 anti-aircraft missiles, known as Gammon, to attack Russian territory, have raised tensions in the Kremlin. Kiev is removing this type of weapon, 7.5 tons and 11 meters long — designated by NATO SA-5 — from its inventory for use as “a ground attack ballistic missile.” For this reason, the Russian Aerospace Forces are being pressured from the Kremlin to increase their air defense capabilities, especially after several attacks with Ukrainian drones on Russian soil. And the response has not been as quick as Putin wants.