Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed “General Armageddon”, was appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin to lead new attacks on Ukraine, now focused on the country’s civilian infrastructure. Born in Novosibirsk, Siberia, he is 55 years old and is known for being brutal and tough.
The new military leader comes at an unfavorable time for Russia amid signs of growing discontent among the country’s elite over the course of the conflict.
The change in strategy came on Saturday after the Crimean bridge was blown up and Kiev recaptured territory lost to Russia in the north-east and south of the country. That day, Putin dismissed two senior military commanders and called the terrible Surovikin.
senior commander, He specialized in infantry and commanded the Russian air force. According to the NGO Human Rights Watch’s 2020 report on Surovikin’s role in the Syrian War, it is unequivocally recognized that the attacks did not protect civilian infrastructure (from 2015 to the present).
Metin says he commanded airstrikes “to defend Moscow’s interests” that hit “Syrian homes, schools, health facilities and markets where people live, work and study”.
He barely arrived at his new post and ordered attacks on civilian targets across Ukraine, including a road junction near a university and a children’s playground.
Surovikin commanded Russian forces in Syria in support of Bashar Assad in 2017 and has been accused of using “controversial” tactics, including overseeing indiscriminate bombings against anti-Syrian government fighters.
One of these brutal attacks destroyed most of the city of Aleppo.
In 2020, Human Rights Watch named him among military leaders who may have “command responsibility” for human rights abuses in Syria.
“surovkin He is absolutely cruel, he does not care much for human life. “I’m afraid all your hands will be covered in Ukrainian blood,” a former Defense Ministry official told the British newspaper The Guardian.
“For more than 30 years, Surovikin’s career has been marked by allegations of corruption and brutality,” British intelligence officials wrote in a recent report. Said.
The general’s fame comes from the past
In 1991, Surovikin became nationally recognized for leading a contingent of sailors who marched against pro-democracy protesters, leaving three dead. He spent at least six months in prison for the incident, but was eventually released without trial, according to a study by the Washington-based conservative think tank Jamestown Foundation.
The foundation received a suspended sentence for illegal arms trade in 1995, but says the conviction was later overturned. “In the army, Surovikin has a reputation for sheer cruelty,” says the study.
In 2004, the nickname “General Armageddon” came to be given by the Russian media after a colonel under his command committed suicide after Surovikin’s condemnation.
In Ukraine, he served as the head of the military group in the south of the country, replacing General Alexander. DvornikovHe lasted only a few months in office.
According to the European press, the general could increase the effectiveness of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine, which suffered from a lack of communication and cooperation.
“Surovikin knows how to fight bombs and missiles – that’s what he does,” General Kyrylo O. Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, said in June.
Gleb Irisov, a former Russian Air Force lieutenant who worked with Surovikin until 2020, told the newspaper that the new general is one of the few soldiers who “knows how to oversee and optimize the different branches of the Army.” “But it won’t solve all the problems. Russia has a shortage of weapons and manpower.”
Analysts said the move could show Moscow understands that its forces are in danger of collapsing in the neighboring country, and the appointment may also be an attempt to counter criticism that the Russian military is mishandling the war.
“It is highly symbolic that Sergei Surovikin, who in August 1991 was the only officer who ordered the shooting of the revolutionaries and actually killed three people, is now responsible for this last effort to re-establish the Soviet Union. These people knew what they were doing, the Russian political scientist and sociologist Grigory Yudin wrote on Twitter in response to the general’s appointment to command post in Ukraine.
Before moving to the new position, the general was considered the possible next leader of the General Staff, the head of all armed forces in the country.
*With CNN, BBC, The Guardian and agencies
source: Noticias
