Russia’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov was named the commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
Gerasimov’s appointment is part of recent large-scale appointments made in the military command of Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine by Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu, also involving deputies who will be present beside him.
Gerasimov’s deputies included Gen. Sergey Surovikin, commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces; Gen. Oleg Salyukov, commander-in-chief of the Ground Forces; and Col. Gen. Alexei Kim, deputy chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces, according to the Russian Defense Ministry statement.
The appointment also came amid reports of a change in Russia’s military hierarchy, which also involved Col. Gen. Alexander Lapin being appointed as the chief of the country’s ground forces, but was neither confirmed nor denied during a press briefing by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Surovikin was appointed one of Gerasimov's deputies, after previously being appointed commander of Russian forces in the “special military operation” in Ukraine back in October.
“The increase in the level of leadership of the special military operation is related to the amplified range of tasks, the necessity of closer cooperation between services and branches of the Armed Forces, as well as of improving the quality of all types of maintenance and efficiency of commanding the groups of forces,” the ministry said.
- Who is Gerasimov?
Gerasimov was born in the city of Kazan in 1955 to a working-class family in the then-Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, around 800 kilometers (497 miles) east of Moscow, and was brought up with a military background.
After graduating from the Kazan Suvorov Military School with honors in 1973, he attended the Kazan Higher Tank Command School.
Gerasimov later attended the Malinovsky Military Armored Forces Academy between 1984 and 1987, after which he continued his training at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia and graduated in 1997.
During this time, Gerasimov commanded forces in Russia’s Far Eastern Military District and Baltic Military District.
From 1993 to 1995, he was the commander of a motorized division in the Baltic Military District and then of the North Western Group of Forces.
Between 1997 and 2010, Gerasimov served as the First Deputy Army Commander in the Moscow Military District, Commander of the 58th Army in the North Caucasus, as well as commander of the Leningrad and Moscow military districts.
In December 2010, he was appointed as deputy chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces.
In less than two years, he was appointed the chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces by President Vladimir Putin in November 2012, at the same time when Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu was appointed to his current position.
In the same year, he became a member of the Security Council of Russia.
Since then, Gerasimov has been active in Russian military efforts, most notably in Ukraine since the start of the conflict in the Donbas region in 2014.
In this context, Gerasimov is said to have been involved in tensions in the region, which resulted in him being included in the EU’s extended list of sanctions against senior Russian officials in April 2014.
A day after the start of Russia’s “special military operation” in February 2022, Gerasimov was added by the US to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.
- Awards and merits
In 2016, Putin awarded Gerasimov with the highest honorary title in Russia – the Hero of the Russian Federation.
Gerasimov and Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Bulgakov became the highest-ranking military men to whom Putin awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation due to their operations in Syria.
Other major titles Gerasimov has received include the Order of St. George (3rd Class and 4th Class in 2015 and 2017, respectively), the Order for Merit to the Fatherland (3rd and 4th Grade in 2002 and 2014, respectively), the Order of Alexander Nevsky (in 2021), as well as the Order of Military Merit and the Order of Honor.
