'General Armageddon': Who is the new leader of Russian forces tasked with winning Ukraine war?

Russia has appointed General Sergey Surovikin as the new top commander of its Ukraine war in what could be an ominous portent of things to come. Suroviki’s appointment as “commander of the Joint Grouping of Forces in the areas of the special military operation” came on Saturday after Moscow suffered a series of reversals in Ukraine that led to criticism of army leadership from military bloggers, state TV hosts as well as allies. Until now Surovikin led the “South” forces in Ukraine, according to a Defence Ministry report in July. The name of his predecessor has never been officially revealed, but some Russian media said it was General Alexander Dvornikov — also a general of the Second Chechen War and Russian commander in Syria. But who is Surovikin, also known as ‘General Armageddon’ and ‘the fierce one’? Let’s take a closer look: According to the defence ministry website, the 55-year-old Surovikin was born Siberia’s Novosibirsk in 1966. Surovikin has been described as a ‘ruthless general’ with little regard for civilian casualties. According to Fox News, Surovikin in 1991, in the final months of the Soviet Union, ordered Russian troops to fire on protesters in Moscow. He has been jailed twice – after commanding troops killed demonstrators in the August 1991 coup and later for illegal arms trade, as per Al Jazeera. He has been nicknamed ‘General Armageddon’ for his hard-line and unorthodox approach to waging war, as per The Guardian. He has combat experience in the 1990s conflicts in Tajikistan and Chechnya and, more recently, in Syria, where Moscow intervened in 2015 on the side of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. He received the title of Hero of Russia and was awarded a medal for his service in Syria where he was commander of the Aerospace Forces, as per Al Jazeera. The Guardian quoted a 2020 Human Rights Watch report as saying Russian forces under Surovikin hit Syrian “homes, schools, healthcare facilities, and markets – the places where people live, work, and study”.

He has been also accused of using chemical weapons in Syria, as per Fox News.

“When performing combat missions in Syria, not for a minute did we forget that we were defending Russia,” Surovikin told an assembled crowd of elite army personnel in Moscow in 2017, as per the newspaper. Days after Surovikin’s appointment, Russia for two days pummelled Ukraine with missiles, damaging energy facilities nationwide, in attacks that President Vladimir Putin said were retaliation for a deadly explosion at the Crimea bridge. [caption id=“attachment_11412841” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Kerch bridge which connects Crimean Peninsula with mainland Russia on fire. ANI[/caption] Putin called the Kerch Bridge attack an “act of terrorism” and vowed a “tough” response to any further attacks that threaten Russia’s security. “I am not surprised to see what happened this morning in Kyiv. Surovikin is absolutely ruthless, with little regard for human life,” a former defence ministry official who has worked with Surovikin told The Guardian. “I am afraid his hands will be completely covered in Ukrainian blood.” Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner mercenary group heavily deployed in Syria, called Surovikin “a legendary person”, according to Live24 news agency. “Surovikin is the most competent commander in the Russian army”, he added. “Surovikin is like Marshal Zhukov,” Financial Times quoted Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow-based think-tank Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, as saying. Zhukov was a legendary Soviet general who led the Red Army to some of its most high-profile victories of World War II. “He is a tough guy who knows how to run a war. He’s a real beast, not some dumb vodka-drinking guy or a pseudo-intellectual. He’s a real fighter who isn’t scared to tell the higher-ups the truth.” The New York Times quoted Michael Kofman, director of Russia studies at CNA, a defence research institute based in Virginia, US, as saying: “He (Surovikin) is known as a pretty ruthless commander who is short with subordinates and is known for his temper.” Challenges facing Surovikin Experts say the main challenge Surovikin faces it to counteract the structural problems plaguing the Russian military in the face of a Ukrainian counter-offensive. Russian forces were driven out of much of the northeastern Kharkiv region in early September by a Ukrainian counter-offensive that allowed Kyiv to retake thousands of square kilometres of territory. Russian troops also lost territory in the southern Kherson region as well as the Lyman transport hub in eastern Ukraine.

The setbacks led to growing criticism of the military leadership, including from the elite.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov called for the firing of a top general last week, while a senior lawmaker — Andrei Kartapolov — urged military officials to stop “lying” about the situation [caption id=“attachment_11418751” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Rescue workers survey the scene of a Russian attack on Kyiv, Ukraine on Monday. AP[/caption] Gleb Irisov, a former air force lieutenant who worked with Surovikin, told The Guardian he was one of the few people in the army who “knew how to oversee and streamline different army branches”. “He is very cruel but also a competent commander,” Irisov said. “But he won’t be able to solve all the problems. Russia is short on weapons and manpower.” “Russian military problems are not the kind that can be resolved by appointing a different commander,”  Michael Kofman, military analyst and director in the Russia Studies Program at CNA, a US defence think-tank told Financial Times. “But if you look at [Surovikin’s] performance since the summer [when he commanded Russian troops on the southern front], Russian forces in the south have fared the least worst.” Putin’s man for tactical nukes? Experts warn that Surovikin’s appointment could the prelude to some nigh-unthinkable event including Putin ordering the use of tactical nuclear weapons. “So they have already signalled their intent, but they would need commanders who would have the capability to do it,” military analyst and head of McKenzie Intelligence Forbes McKenzie told Sky News. “This is a man who has used chemical weapons in recent history, so that demonstrates capability on the battlefield.” With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.