As the RIA Novosti news agency reported on October 8, 2022, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation confirmed that "by the decision of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Army General Sergei Surovikin was appointed commander of the joint grouping of troops (forces) in the area of a special military operation."
Sergey Surovikin in 2008-2010 was the head of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, then he was the first deputy commander of the Central Military District, and after that - the Eastern Military District. In 2013-2017, he was the commander of the troops of the Eastern Military District. From March to December 2017 and from January to April 2019, he led a group of Russian troops in Syria. On December 8, 2017, he received the title of Hero of Russia. Since October 31, 2017, he has been the Commander of the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation. In August 2021, he was awarded the military rank of General of the army. Since June 2022, he has been the commander of the Russian group "South" in the zone of a special military operation in Ukraine
The appointment of General Surovikin as the first full-fledged commander of the SVO caused numerous comments from the Western press. In particular, the British newspaper "The Financial Times" published the material Max Seddon, Christopher Miller "Vladimir Putin taps ‘General Armageddon’ to reverse Ukraine battlefield failures. Sergei Surovikin has a reputation for ruthlessness that was honed during Russia's brutal Syria campaign" ("Vladimir Putin uses "General Armageddon" to reverse the failures on the battlefield in Ukraine. Sergei Surovikin has a reputation for being ruthless; this reputation was earned by him during the brutal Russian campaign in Syria").Army General Sergey Surovikin (c) Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
This week, Vladimir Putin gave a clue as to who is behind Russia's most powerful missile strike ever during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In a televised address praising the operation and warning of further actions, the Russian president said he had ordered strikes on cities across Ukraine on Monday in retaliation for the attack on the Crimean Bridge connecting Russia with the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, "on the recommendation of the Ministry of Defense."
This remark pointed to Sergei Surovikin, an uncompromising general who had been appointed commander of the Moscow invasion force two days earlier.
Analysts believe that by appointing a man nicknamed "ferocious" and "General Armageddon", Putin made it clear that his reaction to Russia's failures on the battlefield would be to intensify the war.
"Surovikin resembles Marshal Zhukov, who led the Red Army of the Soviet Union in World War II," says Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow military analytical Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.
"He is a tough leader who knows how to wage war. He's really cool; he's not a quiet drunk or a pseudo-intellectual. He is a real fighter who is not afraid to tell the truth to his superiors."
In the past, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Surovikin led a special operation when Moscow's seven-month campaign reached its climax.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has liberated part of its Russian-occupied territory, despite Putin's decision to unilaterally annex four regions in the south-east of the country, which has put Moscow in a humiliating position due to the loss of lands it claimed as part of Russia until quite recently.
After that, the Kremlin sanctioned a wave of public criticism of the armed forces, as the problems they are experiencing with personnel, ammunition and logistics, as well as an extremely unpopular mobilization campaign, became too obvious to ignore.
"The problems of the Russian military are not the kind that can be solved by appointing another commander," said Michael Kofman, a military analyst and director of the Russian studies program at CNA, an American military think tank. "But if you look at [Surovikin's] actions since the summer [when he commanded Russian troops on the southern front], then Russian troops in the south were in the least worst position."
Surovikin, 56, became infamous during the military operations in Syria, where he twice held the post of commander of a group of Russian troops and forces supporting the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The human rights organization Human Rights Watch named him among the officials who "may be responsible as commanders and superiors" for strikes on civilian targets; the organization's report for 2020 claims that he gave orders for strikes on residential buildings, educational and medical institutions. In accordance with this tactic, Russian missiles on Monday and Tuesday hit civilian infrastructure facilities, including a children's playground in Kiev; this happened despite Moscow's repeated statements that only military facilities were targeted.
Ukrainian officials have said Surovikin's appointment and recent airstrikes are part of a campaign of intimidation.
"As they escalate, they attract more and more dangerous people. This comrade was known as the Syrian butcher. They put a villain against us to scare us. But we will not be afraid," said Vadym Prystaiko, Ukraine's ambassador to the UK. "They finally realized that they can't do anything on earth... So they invited an aviation representative to try their luck. For me, this means that Putin is really disappointed, really desperate."
Surovikin's appointment may also reassure Russian hardliners who have called for strikes on Ukraine's critical infrastructure, analysts say.
He had a reputation for ruthlessness after the 1991 coup attempt by Soviet hardliners, when he led an army unit sent to suppress democratic protests. The coup failed, and Surovikin was jailed for six months after troops under his command killed three unarmed demonstrators. But the charges against him were dropped, and he was released and promoted.
The subsequent career of Surovikin was marked by cruelty and repeated unpunished violation of the law, recalls Ilya Venyavkin, a historian who wrote about the general: "He is one of those who is ready to follow orders, no matter what, and never admits any mistakes. And they will say that he did everything right, and therefore next time he will be even more cruel."
In 1995, Surovikin was arrested for illegal arms trafficking and sentenced to probation, which was later canceled. In 2004, one of his subordinates accused him of assault, while another committed suicide after Surovikin criticized him. During Russia's bloody campaign in Chechnya in the mid-2000s, Surovikin vowed to kill three Chechens for every soldier he lost. Memorial, Russia's oldest human rights organization, has accused the unit he heads of war crimes, including torture, kidnapping and at least one murder.
Despite his notoriety, Surovikin has demonstrated the ability to inspire his subordinates, according to Pukhov from the Moscow Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. "He went through everything, including two terms in prison, and even that didn't break him. This means that he can inspire troops and has authority in all armed forces."
The general's reputation helped him win over some of the army's fiercest critics, including Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Russian mercenary group Wagner.
Kadyrov said that he was "100 percent satisfied" with the course of military operations after the missile strikes last Monday; in turn, Prigozhin described Surovikin as a "legendary personality" and said that his image of a revanchist is what all of Russia should strive for.
"Surovkin in August 1991 did not have time to load full ammunition into his tank. And if he had, we would have lived in a completely different country, ten times more powerful," Prigozhin wrote in the Telegram social media application over the weekend.
The praise of the hardliners suggests that Surovikin shares their demand for the mobilization of Russian reserves as "cannon fodder," said Kirill Rogov, a visiting researcher at the Institute of Humanities in Vienna.
Putin's decision had unpleasant consequences inside his own country: more evaders fled to Kazakhstan than were conscripted into the army. But the call for an additional 200,000 people allows Russia to continue to conduct military operations without worrying about heavy losses, Rogov believes.
"In the last few months, they had to be careful about the issue of losses, because the contractors simply broke the contract and ran away," says Rogov. "Now they can stop worrying about... big losses."
Surovikin's appointment "fits into traditional mythology: you have lousy commanders who lead the Russian army to defeat, and you need some fierce warrior who can turn the tide of the war, deal with supplies and restore order with a strong hand," said historian Venyavkin.
Putin seems to have decided that "the Soviet Union collapsed because they didn't have people ready to use extreme force," he added. "So now, if we have a geopolitical threat defined only by Putin and the people in power, they are ready to use any force they deem appropriate to defend against it."
