RBC: Colonel-General Alexander Lapin dismissed from the army
Colonel-General Alexander Lapin has been discharged from military service, RBC reports. According to media reports, Lapin may go to work in the administration of Tatarstan. Lapin previously headed the Leningrad Military District, and during the first phase of the special operation in Ukraine, he headed the Center group of troops. He was criticized for the retreat of the Russian Armed Forces from Krasny Liman, as well as failures at Chernigov and at the crossing of the Seversky Donets, accompanied by heavy losses.
Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, who headed the Leningrad Military District, was dismissed from military service. This is reported by RBC with reference to an informed source. The post of commander of the Leningrad Military District passed to Colonel-General Yevgeny Nikiforov.
Officially, the Russian Defense Ministry has not yet confirmed Lapin's dismissal. Earlier, the Tatar-inform portal also reported, citing a source, that the former commander of the Leningrad Military District would allegedly become an assistant to the head of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov.
"The Colonel-General will probably be in charge of areas related to recruitment for contract service, escorting members of his military and their families, social and medical rehabilitation of veterans, and the integration of returned fighters into civilian life," the publication says.
On September 19, Rustam Minnikhanov officially entered a new term as head of Tatarstan after winning the election.
Track record
Alexander Lapin was born in 1964 in Kazan. Lapin graduated from the Kazan Higher Tank Command School in 1988, the Malinovsky Military Academy of Armored Forces in 1997, and the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 2009. In 2020, he completed retraining at the Faculty of Senior Command staff of the same academy.
From 2009 to 2012, he served as Deputy Commander of the 58th Army of the North Caucasus (later Southern) Military District. In 2012-2014, he headed the 20th Guards Army of the Western District, whose headquarters were located in Voronezh. From 2014 to 2017, he was Chief of Staff and First Deputy Commander of the Eastern Military District in Khabarovsk.
In 2017, he was appointed chief of staff of the Russian group in Syria, and in November of the same year he headed the Central Military District. From October 2018 to January 2019, Lapin led Russian forces in Syria.
In 2022, Alexander Lapin commanded the Central Military District, and as part of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, he commanded the Center group of troops.
Lapin later became Chief of the General Staff and First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army. Then he headed the Leningrad Military District, and also commanded the North group.
Under his leadership, the troops fought for Volchansk, held the defense and participated in the liberation of the Kursk region, as well as formed a buffer zone on the territory of Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
Criticism of the general
The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, blamed Lapin for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Krasny Liman and the breakthrough of defense in the area of Terna, Torsky and Yampolovka.
In addition, Lapin was criticized for his failure to capture Chernigov and the failure to cross the Seversky Donets at Belogorovka, where Russian troops suffered heavy losses.
Criticism of the general was then supported by the head of the Wagner Private military company, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
On August 8, military blogger Yuri Podolyaka, commenting on the appointment of Yevgeny Nikiforov to the post of commander of the Leningrad Military District, blamed Lapin for the invasion of the Kursk region.
"It's a pity that Lapin was dismissed just now, and not back in 2022. Maybe Kursk *** (fiasco. - editor's note) there would be no (as well as Lupine insanity.. And a lot of things would not have happened)..." wrote Podolyaka in his Telegram channel .
Alexander Dubravin
