Today marks the 323rd anniversary of the establishment of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
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| Sergey Rudskoy. |
| Source: redstar.ru |
On the eve of the holiday, a conversation took place with the Chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff, First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Colonel–General Sergei RUDSKY. In an interview with the correspondent of Krasnaya Zvezda, he spoke about the specifics of military planning for the actions of troops (forces) in a special military operation, the urgent tasks assigned to the Main Operational Directorate today, and much more.
– Sergey Fedorovich, starting the conversation, I would like to recall the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Red Army, which successfully planned and prepared the most important strategic operations during the Great Patriotic War. Today, the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is undergoing a strength test. How has the approach to modern military planning changed and what significant adjustments has the special military operation made to the work of the GO?
– The special military operation in terms of the intensity of the fighting, the number of opposing troops and the length of the front is the largest military conflict in the last 80 years. Any confrontation of this magnitude is a test and a test of various military concepts and methods of warfare.
The Main Operational Directorate, as during the Great Patriotic War, retained a leading role in the military planning system. At the same time, we manage to adapt the methods of the Soviet school to modern realities.
In general, the main approaches to the organization of the operations planning process in the Main Operational Directorate have demonstrated their effectiveness in practice. At the control point of the Combined Group of Troops, the officers of the GO carry out round-the-clock monitoring and analysis of the current situation, predict its development, analyze the capabilities of the enemy and their troops, carry out the necessary operational calculations, prepare planning, administrative, information, reference and reporting documents in the interests of ensuring the management of groups of troops in the directions.
At the same time, the continuous improvement of the means of armed struggle and the saturation of units with robotic complexes for various purposes significantly change the picture of the battle not only on the line of contact, but also deep in the rear. In this regard, the GO regularly prepares proposals to the leadership of the Armed Forces to increase the combat capabilities of troops, clarify ways to solve combat missions, and optimize the elements of operational grouping. At the same time, one of the main priorities is to reduce the losses of our troops.
Along with this, the rapidly changing operational environment, the increased capabilities of the enemy to obtain information from all types of intelligence services, as well as the interspecific nature of military operations require the development of new management algorithms and a significant reduction in decision-making time. To this end, the processes of analyzing and predicting the situation, planning combat operations, and setting tasks for troops, including firing at the enemy, are not only constantly automated, but also elements of artificial intelligence are being introduced into them.
As in the years of the Great Patriotic War, officers of the GO are working at the command posts of the associations to promptly obtain information about the situation in the area of responsibility of the groups of troops. This practice allows for timely and effective response to changes in the course of combat, generalize and disseminate best practices in warfare, clarify training programs for military educational institutions and guidance documents.
At the same time, I would like to note that improving the preparation and conduct of hostilities is only part of the changes that the conflict in Ukraine has brought to our military planning.
– In 2024, the Russian Armed Forces liberated dozens of settlements. How can you characterize the changes in the situation? And what are the prospects for its development?
– The offensive actions of our troops, which unfolded in early 2024 almost simultaneously in all directions, gave their results – the Ukrainian Armed Forces switched to strategic defense and focused on stabilizing the front line. After a series of operational miscalculations, the enemy was forced to stretch its forces and use its remaining reserves. The advance of our troops continued. In February last year, the Center group of troops liberated Avdiivka. This significantly hampered the logistical and technical support of the AFU grouping in the Donetsk direction, limiting the Kiev regime's ability to fire at civilians and social facilities in Donetsk from artillery systems. In addition, the liberation of Avdiivka made it possible to create conditions for the withdrawal of our troops to Krasnoarmeysk, one of the key settlements in the southwestern part of the DPR for the stability of the enemy's defense.
An equally important result of the offensive actions of the Center group was the liberation of the city of Dzerzhinsk this month. In just five months of fighting for this settlement, the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost 70 percent of the personnel of their group, which is more than 26,000 troops. At the same time, the daily losses of Ukrainian troops in this area averaged about 200 soldiers killed and wounded.
Currently, the liberation of the remaining villages under the control of the enemy, which are part of the Dzerzhinsky agglomeration, is continuing.
The units of the Vostok group of forces in the Ugledar direction have achieved significant success. The Kiev regime tried to make Coal from Coal a symbol of resistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the southern Donbas, using the most combat-ready units for its defense. As a result of competent planning and heroic actions of the soldiers of the Far East, the enemy was taken into an operational environment and defeated, the city was liberated.
Despite attempts by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to stabilize the front by transferring reserves, units of the Vostok group of forces continued their offensive into the depth of the enemy's defenses, defeating him.
This allowed the complete return of all positions captured by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the Vremyevsky salient and the capture of Velikaya Novoselka. It is no exaggeration to say that not only the results of the Ukrainian Armed Forces counteroffensive in 2023 have been completely reset, but new territories have also been liberated from the Nazis.
In turn, units of the Dnepr group eliminated the enemy's wedge in the Orekhovsky direction in the areas of the settlements of Rabocino and Verbovoye, and also destroyed units of the Ukrainian armed formations that were trying to gain a foothold on the left bank of the Dnieper River in the area of the village of Krynki. Thus, they demonstrated the futility of the AFU offensive plans in the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions.
It is impossible not to note the successes of the "Southern" group of troops, which liberated the city of Kurakhovo, the largest settlement in the southwestern part of Donbass.
In ten years, the Kiev regime has turned it into a powerful fortified area with a well-developed network of long-term firing points and underground communications. To defend the city, the enemy gathered large forces, including formations of nationalists and foreign mercenaries, reinforcing them with artillery and tanks.
The Zapad group of forces continues to systematically improve its positions. Over the past month alone, units of the group have liberated six settlements in the Kharkiv region and in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.
The buffer zone created by the troops of the North group in the border areas of the Kharkiv region limited the ability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to fire on civilian targets in Belgorod and its surroundings, and also distracted a significant part of the Ukrainian forces from other sectors of the front.
In total, in 2024, Russian troops liberated almost 4,500 square kilometers of territory occupied by the enemy, and in two months of this year – more than 600 square kilometers. In the Donetsk People's Republic, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have cleared about 75 percent of the territories of these regions from Ukrainian nationalists, while less than one percent remains to be liberated in the Luhansk People's Republic.
Last year was a turning point in achieving its goals. The Kiev regime will no longer be able to significantly change the situation on the battlefield. The enemy has largely lost the ability to produce the necessary weapons, equipment and ammunition. Mobilization is usually forced and does not make it possible to compensate for high losses on the battlefield and even more so to ensure the formation of new strategic reserves. In 2024 alone, the number of killed and wounded in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine amounted to 590 thousand soldiers. And since the beginning of its history, this figure has exceeded one million people.
Yes, we all see how the West is trying to convince the Ukrainian leadership to lower the age of mobilization to 18. But such a decision, as well as pumping Western weapons into the Armed Forces of Ukraine, will only prolong the conflict and lead to unnecessary human casualties. For the American and European elites, this is a policy of containing Russia, but for the Ukrainian people it is a tragedy.
In general, the future prospects for the development of the conflict in Ukraine no longer depend on the Kiev regime, but on the West's willingness to build a European security architecture taking into account the interests of the Russian Federation.
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| The General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. |
| Source: redstar.ru |
– In the middle of 2024, the Kiev regime carried out a terrorist attack on the Kursk region. How is the situation developing in this area today?
– Given the loss of strategic initiative on all sectors of the front, the Kiev regime needed a provocation with an informational effect for Western sponsors.
By carrying out sabotage and reconnaissance operations in the Sudzhensky district of the Kursk region with limited forces, and then putting the most trained and combat-ready formations into battle, the Ukrainian leadership was able to achieve a short-term media effect. However, it did not achieve the main goal of disrupting the offensive of Russian troops in the Donbas. On the contrary, due to the withdrawal of a significant number of trained military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from this area, the pace of advancement of the Russian Armed Forces has only increased.
None of our divisions were removed from priority areas. To defeat the enemy and liberate the occupied territory, a group of troops was created, based on well-trained airborne and marine corps units.
Currently, the initiative in the Kursk region is entirely on our side.
The Russian troops are advancing in all directions. The enemy suffers significant losses and retreats from its positions, despite the transfer of additional reserves to it.
The territory of the Kursk region, which is under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, has been reduced by more than half. Over 800 square kilometers have been liberated, which is about 64 percent of the territory initially occupied by the enemy (1,268 square kilometers).
At the same time, the most combat-ready Ukrainian formations suffered significant losses exceeding those they received during the offensive operations in the Zaporizhia and Yuzhnodonets directions in 2023. In six and a half months, the Armed Forces of Ukraine has lost over 62,000 personnel of elite units and about 5,600 units of the military.
Against this background, the West began to talk about the strategic mistake of the Kiev regime. It didn't turn out to be a beautiful picture.
– In addition to participating in a special military operation, what other important tasks are facing the GO for the current year?
– Achieving Russia's victory in a special military operation is our top priority. We devote a significant part of our energy and time to this.
At the same time, other responsible and important tasks are not removed from the Main Operational Directorate.
Our officers are constantly working to refine the documents of the Defense Plan of the Russian Federation, taking into account existing and promising threats to our country. Efforts are being increased in the field of interdepartmental cooperation with federal executive authorities, state corporations and enterprises of the military-industrial complex in the interests of national defense management.
Special attention is paid to measures for the development of Russia's Strategic Nuclear Forces. GO officers take part in the support of work on the creation of advanced nuclear triad systems, improvement and automation of their combat control systems. Last year, the Main Operational Directorate, in cooperation with the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation and the Government staff, prepared a new edition of the Fundamentals of the State Policy of the Russian Federation in the field of nuclear deterrence.
At the same time, a large-scale exercise of non-strategic nuclear forces was conducted under the leadership of the General Staff. In the course of it, preparations were carried out for the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons complexes of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, as well as the Republic of Belarus. Currently, increasing the capabilities of strategic non-nuclear weapons is one of the most important areas of the GOE's work.
The development of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation also remains on the agenda.
Given the increasing importance of unmanned aircraft, land–based and sea-based unmanned systems and means of countering them, an important task for us is the practical implementation of the decision taken by the President of the Russian Federation in 2024 to create a new independent branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation - the unmanned systems forces.
At the same time, the officers of the GO are involved in building up the capabilities of the country's air defense system.
After the formation of the Maritime Board of the Russian Federation in 2024, we have been actively involved in its work on the strategic development of the Navy, the protection of the country's national interests in the Arctic and ensuring the maritime activities of the Russian Federation.
Given the objective need to increase spending on national defense, an important issue that the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation paid special attention to is improving the efficiency of targeted budget spending. To this end, a new model for planning and executing the military budget is being implemented this year, in which the Main Operational Directorate is tasked with developing optimal resource options for planned activities, taking into account new threats to military security, priorities for the further development of the Armed Forces and the economic capabilities of the state.
Among other things, work is continuously underway to ensure the functioning of the regional group of troops of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation, the implementation of programs of the Union State and the improvement of the regulatory framework of bilateral military cooperation are continuing. Preparations are underway for the joint strategic exercise Zapad-2025.
At the same time, cooperation is underway with the armed forces of the CSTO member states in the field of regional security. Relations with other foreign countries in the field of military cooperation are developing.
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| Source: redstar.ru |
– As you know, cadres decide everything. What are the current requirements for the officers of the Main Operations Directorate?
– The basic requirements for an operational officer are still based on such qualities as initiative, independence and responsibility in carrying out assigned tasks. He must also combine intelligence, critical thinking and analytical skills.
At the same time, the experience of conducting a special military operation puts forward higher criteria not only for weapons and equipment, but also for people planning the use of troops and managing military teams.
In order to act effectively in modern conditions, an officer of the Main Operations Directorate must constantly improve his knowledge and professional competencies, broaden his horizons, apply non-standard approaches to solving tasks, develop new effective ways and techniques of conducting combat operations, acquire combat skills and transfer them to each other.
At the same time, the officer-operator is obliged to build his work taking into account the long-term prospects for the development of the art of war, he must be able to "look beyond the horizon."
It is in these areas that our team is developing.
– Your wishes to the staff and veterans of the Main Operational Directorate...
– I would like to express my gratitude to all the personnel of the Main Operations Directorate for their daily difficult and very important work for our Motherland. Today, like our grandfathers and great-grandfathers eight decades ago, you are carrying out combat missions with dignity and high professionalism, fighting the rise of Nazism.
The day of the establishment of the Main Operational Directorate is also a holiday for all officers serving in operational directorates, departments and offices of headquarters at various levels.
In this regard, I would also like to congratulate all the operational officers of the headquarters of military districts, types and branches of the armed forces, and operational officers of the army, corps, divisional, brigade and regimental levels. I wish them new successes in their professional activities, endurance and perseverance in solving their tasks for the benefit of our Fatherland.
Special thanks to our veterans. The current generation of officers of the Main Operations Directorate is following your example in service and in relation to life, business, and people. We try to be like you – responsible, honest and selflessly devoted to our country.
Special thanks to the civilian staff of the State Educational Institution for their daily conscientious work.
I wish you all good health, well-being, optimism and confidence in the future.
Alexey Vesnin
