Russia appoints Major General Gerasimov to oversee the Ukraine Campaign

(Reuters) – Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appointed Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov on Wednesday to oversee the military campaign in Ukraine, in Moscow’s latest reshuffle of military command.

Gerasimov, like Shoigu, has faced sharp criticism from hard-line military bloggers in Russia for multiple battlefield setbacks and Moscow’s failure to secure victory in a campaign the Kremlin expected would take only a short time.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement that Shoigu appointed Gerasimov as commander of the combined forces group for the “special military operation” in Ukraine. It is the highest position among the battlefield generals in Russia.

Just this past October, Russia put Sergei Surovikin, dubbed “General Armageddon” by the Russian media for his notorious ruthlessness, in overall charge of operations in Ukraine after a series of counterattacks by Ukrainian forces turned the tide of the conflict.

The Defense Ministry said Surovkin would now remain Gerasimov’s deputy.

She added that the changes are aimed at increasing the effectiveness of military operations in Ukraine, after more than ten months of a campaign in which tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides as well as Ukrainian civilians were killed.

“The increase in the level of command of the special military operation is associated with the expansion of the scope of tasks … the need to organize closer communication between the various branches of the armed forces and the improvement of the quality … and effectiveness of the armed forces. The ministry statement said.”

Cash

Russian pro-war commentators were unimpressed.

“The amount does not change, only by changing the places of its parts,” wrote one prominent military blogger who posts on the Telegram messaging app under the name Rybar.

He said Surovikin, a veteran of Russia’s campaigns in Chechnya and Syria, became the drop-in man in a string of recent Russian military failures, including a Ukrainian attack on a Russian barracks in the town of Makeyevka that killed at least 89 Russian soldiers. Including recruits, on New Year’s Eve.

Military analyst Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said on Twitter that Gerasimov’s appointment reaffirmed the Defense Department’s position on war management.

“I don’t think it’s because Surovikin is seen as a failure. (It’s) likely that this was certainly motivated by political reasons. As the unifying leader in Ukraine, Surovikin has become very powerful and would have likely crossed Shoigu/Gerasimov when he told me” I’m talking to Putin.”

Political analyst Abbas Galliamov noted on Telegram that the move came after the transfer of another senior general, Alexander Lapin, to the post of commander of the ground forces on Tuesday.

All this moving of the same personnel from one chair to another, at the height of military hostilities, you may say what you like but not ‘everything goes according to plan,'” Galliamov said.

Russian and Ukrainian forces engaged in fierce fighting on Wednesday around the town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, a staging post in Moscow’s bid to take control of the entire Donbass region. The Russians seemed to have the upper hand.

(Reuters report Editing by Gareth Jones)

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