Sergey Surovikin

He was assigned to a spetsnaz unit and served in the Soviet–Afghan War.[10]

By August 1991, he was a captain and commander of the 1st Motor Rifle Battalion of the 15th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment, part of the 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division. During the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt in Moscow, Surovikin was ordered to send his battalion into the tunnel on the Garden Ring, where three anti-coup demonstrators were killed. After the defeat of the coup, Surovikin was arrested and held under investigation for seven months. The charges were dropped on 10 December because Boris Yeltsin[11] concluded that Surovikin was only following orders. He was promoted to the rank of major afterwards.[12]

Surovikin attended the Frunze Military Academy. In September 1995, he was sentenced to a year of probation by the Moscow garrison's military court for illegally selling weapons. The conviction was overturned after the investigation concluded that Surovikin had agreed to give a fellow student a pistol for use in a competition, unaware of its intended purpose.[13]

In 1995, he graduated from the Frunze Military Academy. Surovikin participated in the Tajikistani Civil War where he commanded a motor rifle battalion. He then became chief of staff of the 92nd Motor Rifle Regiment, chief of staff and commander of the 149th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment and chief of staff of the 201st Motor Rifle Division.[10]

In 2002, he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff. He became commander of the 34th Motor Rifle Division at Yekaterinburg.[9]

In March 2004, Surovikin was accused by Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Chibizov of beating him up for leaving his post to participate in elections as an observer. In April, division deputy commander for armaments Colonel Andrei Shtakal shot himself in the presence of Surovikin and the district deputy commander after being criticized by Surovikin.[10] In both cases, a military prosecutor found no evidence of guilt.[13]

Graduation of officers of the Air Force Academy in Voronezh

From June 2004, he led the 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division, stationed in Chechnya.

He was the chief of staff of the 20th Guards Army from 2005. In April 2008, he became the army commander.[9]

In November 2008, Surovikin became head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff.[14] In January 2010, he became chief of staff of the Volga–Urals Military District, which soon became part of the Central Military District.[9]

From November 2011, he headed the working group charged with creation of the Military Police.[15] It was reported that Surovikin was tipped to head the Military Police after it was instituted, but the appointment did not materialise due to the intervention of the Russian Military Prosecutor's Office, according to the Russian media, which presented the situation as a turf conflict between the Defence Ministry and the Military Prosecutor's Office.[16][13] In October 2012, he became the chief of staff of the Eastern Military District. In October 2013, he was appointed commander of the district.[9] On 13 December, Surovikin was promoted to the rank of colonel general.[17]

Surovikin (left) with Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu, Bashar al-Assad and Syrian Minister of Defence Ali Ayyoub in 2017

On 9 June 2017, he was introduced to news media representatives as the Commander of the Russian armed forces deployed to Syria.[18][19] Reportedly, he took this position in March 2017.[20] In September 2017, Surovikin was cited by Russian media as a likely successor to Viktor Bondarev, who was on 26 September relieved of the position of the Commander of the Aerospace Forces.[21][4] According to a report published by RBK Group on 2 November 2017 that cited an anonymous source in the MoD, Surovikin had been appointed Commander of the Aerospace Forces, despite his initial objections.[22]

Surovikin (left) with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Sergey Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov in 2018

At the end of November 2017, the Russian MoD's Krasnaya Zvezda reported that Surovikin had been appointed Commander of the Aerospace Forces by a presidential decree of 22 November.[23] TASS pointed out that Surovikin became the first combined-arms commander in the history of Russia and the Soviet Union to be put in charge of the Russian or Soviet air forces.[24] On 28 December, he was made a Hero of the Russian Federation for his leadership of the Group of Forces in Syria.[25]

Under the command of Surovikin, a significant turning point in the fight against the Syrian opposition was achieved. The Syrian Government regained over 50% control of Syria by the end of 2017 after a string of successful military campaigns. According to several Russian military commentators, it was Surovikin who managed to turn the tide of the war in Syria.[26][27][28][29]

Again from January to April 2019, Surovikin took over as the commander of the contingent of Russian military forces in Syria. Altogether he commanded the Russian forces group in Syria for more than a year, which was longer than any other officer who held this position[30] until November 2020, when Lieutenant General Aleksandr Chaiko surpassed his duration in that post.

In 2021, Surovikin was promoted to General of the Army. As one of only a handful of Russian officers to reach such a rank, prompting speculation that he might be an eventual successor to Valery Gerasimov as Chief of the General Staff.[31]

Surovikin on 16 December 2022

In June 2022, it was revealed that he became the commander of the Army Group "South" of the Russian Armed Forces in the Southern Ukraine campaign.[6]

On 28 September, Surovikin was awarded the title Hero of the Luhansk People's Republic.[32]

On 8 October, it was announced that he will be commander of all Russian forces in Ukraine, succeeding Colonel General Gennady Zhidko.[7] On 18 October Surovikin was reported as saying that "The situation in the area of the 'Special Military Operation' can be described as tense".[33]

On 18 October 2022, he said in an interview with Russian media that "Our opponent is a criminal regime, while we and the Ukrainians are one people and want the same thing: for Ukraine to be a country that’s friendly to Russia and independent from the West".[34][35]

According to sources close to the Kremlin, Surovikin is a proponent of large-scale attacks on civilian and critical infrastructure.[5]

On 9 November 2022, in a televised meeting with Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu, Surovikin, made a public statement on Russian media—along with other military staff—recommending a withdrawal of Russian forces from Kherson in order to save Russian troops who faced being trapped. In the same TV appearance, Shoigu approved the withdrawal.[36]

On 11 January 2023 Surovikin was replaced as commander of all Russian forces in Ukraine by Valery Gerasimov, becoming one of Gerasimov's deputies.[37]