Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov reported yesterday that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has appointed Army General Sergey Surovikin as commander of the combined group of troops (forces) in the area of the special military operation. This is apparently the first time that the forces in this operation have been under a single, unified command. Surovikin is commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces and had previously served as commander of the Southern Military District, where he played a key role in the liberation of Lugansk earlier during the SMO and also served in Syria during 2015-2017.
It was apparently during his time in Syria that Surovikin earned the hatred of the West, as shown in an article in Britain’s Independent posted yesterday, which accuses him of all manner of crimes, not only there but going back to 1991. “Aged 55, the decorated commander has a long and bloody history of leading Russian soldiers domestically and abroad, and was described by the U.K.’s Ministry of Defense in June of having a career ‘dogged with allegations of corruption and brutality’ for more than 30 years,” the Independent claimed (no British senior officers of that type). “He is reported to have spent seven months in prison after participating in the failed coup d’état attempted by Soviet hardliners in 1991, allegedly leading a division which shot at and drove armored tanks through barricades set up by pro-democracy demonstrators, killing three people.”
