Russia’s Ministry of Defence appointed a new commander on Friday, Sergei Surovikin, who is now tasked with turning around Russian forces’ prospects in the war in Ukraine. Surovikin is known for his brutality in Syria – much like the Butcher of Syria, Aleksandr Dvornikov, who was appointed to lead the Russian invasion of Ukraine in April.
Surovikin appears to have been responsible for the brutal missile and drone strike campaign that occurred late on Sunday night and into Monday morning, and has been described as being “highly vicious, with no regard for human life.”
The new commander is an Army general who also oversees the Russian Air Force. His role will see him determining how to use the 300,000 reservists who are presently being deployed to Ukraine, finding new ways to regain territory lost to the Ukrainians in recent weeks, and intensifying Putin’s campaign of fear that the Kremlin appears to be hoping will pressure Ukraine and the West into ceding territory to the Russian Federation.
Who Is He?
Born in 1966 in Siberia, Surovikin is an accomplished Russian military official who received the Hero of Russia award for his service in Syria in 2017. Surovikin also isn’t new to the war in Ukraine, having originally been appointed to lead Russia’s southern military grouping in Ukraine in June.
The Russian general has also spent time in prison. After first being jailed for six months over his soldiers killing three demonstrators in the Russian capital city of Moscow in the 1991 coup near the end of the Soviet Union, he was later sentenced for illegally trading arms. Surovikin was released without trial following his first sentence, and his second sentence was later overturned.
What Next?
It’s this history of brutality that appears to have made Surovikin popular with Putin, and his history in Syria – having allegedly overseen and authorized the bombardment of Aleppo, Syria – could well be exactly what Putin needs as his military struggles to make up lost ground in Ukraine.
Speaking to Sky News, military analyst Forbes McKenzie described how the Kremlin appointed Surovikin primarily because of his “brand.”
“He’s seen as a hero of the former Soviet Republic,” he said, echoing what appears to be a consensus among war analysts following the conflict in Ukraine.
“He has shown his ability to wage a war that involves nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, the last of which he used in Syria,” he added.
Surovikin’s credentials seem perfect for overseeing the war at this stage, with Russian forces still retreating in the Donbas, and Putin possibly hoping to distract Kyiv with indiscriminate bombings across the country’s major cities long enough for his forces to regroup.
While we don’t know what’s next in the conflict if Surovikin’s history tells us anything, it’s that we should expect more of what we saw on Monday morning.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.