Even the notorious general Sergei Surovik was allowed to take the losses, but the Kremlin demands victories from the Chief of the General Staff Valeri Gerasimov, writes Russia correspondent Heikki Heiskanen.
MOSCOW In the West, there was already time to speculate that the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov would have been ousted from his duties because of the poor success of the war in Ukraine.
Instead, he will now officially take care of the mess that the Russian leadership has gotten itself into in Ukraine.
A “distinguished” general in the brutal war in Syria Even Sergei Surovik had time to lead the military operations in Ukraine for only three months.
Thus, the Kremlin once again indirectly admits that the war is by no means progressing as hoped.
Responsibility for the success of the operation finally rises to the highest step of the Russian military leadership.
The Ministry of Defense justified the solution with the need to better coordinate the activities of different types of weapons in the so-called “military special operation”.
Surovikin was perhaps originally intended to be only a temporary solution: the general took responsibility for the failures on the battlefield, so that they would not be imposed by the president Vladimir Putin to names.
The appointment of the notoriously cruel Surovikin calmed strongly nationalist circles, which in the summer and autumn demanded tougher military measures against Ukraine than before.
Surovik also delivered them: Russia has mercilessly attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in recent months.
Gerasimov naming the war management is told that Putin is finally expecting a new attack from the armed forces.
The entire doctrine of the Russian hybrid war has been attributed to Gerasimov.
British researcher Mark Galeotti has since sorry (you are switching to another service)that he started talking about “Gerasimov’s doctrine” – according to him, you can’t really talk about any real military doctrine and Gerasimov is not a great military theoretical thinker.
In any case, in Ukraine it is no longer an obscure hybrid war, but a very traditional and brutal war.
Russia’s most visible war hawks, leader of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov and a businessman running the private military company Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhinhave harshly criticized the military leadership for Ukraine’s failures.
They have clearly been given the right to publicly scold the generals, but Kadyrov and Prigozhin still have to lick their fingers: they do not decide on the appointments.
Perhaps the Kremlin deliberately plays the leadership of the armed forces and its leading critics against each other.
More on the topic:
Updated news tracking about Russia’s war against Ukraine
The new leader of Russia’s war of aggression, Sergei Surovik, has also been in prison and is known for his tough tactics – Wagner’s founder praises him as the best 10.10.2022
Analysis: General Surovik, known for his cruel tactics, was allowed to face Russia’s retreat from Kherson 11.11.2022