“new missions”
Today, Tuesday, the Russian media unexpectedly reported that the commander of the Russian Air Force, General Sergei Surovikin, was relieved of his post and transferred to another unspecified position.
ambiguous role
The Russian RBC, citing official sources, said that General Surovkin would take on new duties.
Served in Syria
Sorovikin was the commander of the Russian military operation in Ukraine at the beginning of the war, which has been going on since February 2022.
ambiguous role
The prominent general and his role in the short-lived rebellion of the Wagnerian commander Yevgeny Prigozhin against the Moscow authorities in June of last year remained a mystery.
US officials have suggested that Surovikin, Russia’s former commander-in-chief of operations in Ukraine, had advance knowledge of Prigozhin’s plans to rebel against the military leadership.
Served in Syria
Sorovikin is considered the highest-ranking Russian officer serving in Syria, having returned there as commander of a Russian group in 2019.
He retained the post of commander of the Air Force, and then was appointed commander of the Southern Group of the Russian Armed Forces.
Then, with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Sorovikin took an active part in it.
Cities of Ukraine plunged into darkness
On June 24, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that Surovikin, as the commander of the Southern Group, personally led the encirclement of the Ukrainian armed forces in the cities of Horske and Zolote in the Lugansk region.
Cities of Ukraine plunged into darkness
Then, on October 8, 2022, he was appointed Commander of the Joint Russian and Allied Forces in Ukraine, launching a new battle management strategy.
He led the withdrawal from the city of Kherson, and he cared little for the moral shock caused by the retreat in a dangerous strategic area, since it is connected by a single strip of land with the Crimean peninsula.
A major shift in operations was also underway as Russia waged a relentless war on civilian infrastructure and within weeks Ukrainian cities were plunged into darkness, communications networks were disrupted and drinking water became a scarce currency.
Prigogine did not criticize him!
It is noteworthy that Prigozhin’s support for General Surovikin drew attention to him and raised many questions about him, especially since Prigozhin attacked both Shoigu and Gerasimov before the uprising, which he did not address, since he blamed them for the failures of the war in Ukraine and the lack of support for the Wagner fighters from the army.
Surovikin urged the Wagner group not to oppose the military leadership and to return to their bases before Prigozhin led his fighters on the so-called “march for justice.”
This Article Russian Air Force Commander Relieved of Post: New Missions and Ambiguous Role Revealed was first Published on World Weekly News
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