DW: Power struggle in the Russian armed forces
Sergey Surovikin has been removed as head of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine and replaced by Valery Gerasimov. Is there a power struggle raging in Moscow?
General Sergey Surovikin was commander-in-chief of the "special military operation," as Russia still officially calls its war of aggression against Ukraine, for just three months. On Thursday, Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu demoted him to deputy commander. He will now answer to Russia's chief of the general staff, General Valery Gerasimov, who will take over the leadership of Russia's military in Ukraine — nominally, at least.
This is not the first restructuring of the Russian chain of command since the start of the invasion, but the timing is surprising, as Russia is making small military advances for the first time in months. Military experts are divided over the reasoning behind it. They say that Surovikin has not actually committed any blunders during his time as commander-in-chief in Ukraine. He is also said to be reasonably popular with the troops, and to be on good terms with political hard-liners. So why has he been replaced?
Read more ....
WNU Editor: I do not see a power struggle. What I see is a major escalation in this conflict where the priority for the Russian Ministry of Defense is to win it and to keep an eye on what NATO will do.
And as for General Sergey Surovikin's "demotion". His specialty is air operations, and I am sure he has been told to focus his attention on intensifying Russia's air operations against Ukraine in the coming weeks/months.
Bottom line.
I wish this was just a power struggle, but it is not. It is Russia preparing for the next phase of this war. Or as the above DW article accurately puts it ....
.... However, according to Oreshkin, Gerasimov's appointment marks a new level of escalation in Russia's war on Ukraine. Until now, only ordinary generals have led the so-called special military operation: "With this, Putin is acknowledging that it is no longer a 'special operation' being led by ordinary commanders, but a real war, involving the whole of Russia."
5 comments:
Good thing Ukies got 14 tanks. That will save them.
In wars its not unusual to demote generals. At least historically it wasn't. Its just that in the West the practice is frowned upon as somehow 'not supporting the troops'. Had the afghan and iraqi campaigns been led the way such wars are usually led a lot more than a dozen generals would have been fired from 2001 to 2021. But due to fears about the impression this would leave it was avoided except in one or two cases.
I was never comfortable with Biden’s stumbling and bumbling that helped cause this war. But now there is no way other than Ukraine being saved and brought into NATO.
To be fair WNU, you never see anything that goes on in Russia other than the so-called 'norm'.
If a prominent anti-putin critic falls out of a three story window in Russia, to you, that's an 'accident'.
Concerning General Sergey Surovikin's "demotion"
Wrote this before. "relieved of duty" is one opinion. , the western "lets kick the Russians every chance we get" opinion. It is the billy kristol, Max Boot, narrative of things. This is the standard ..."round up the usual suspects" trash you get from the western press. It reeks of an unthinking shoot-from-the-hip mentality.
The critical eye can discern an alternate "Why?"
The Russians are set to conduct a major offensive. The common sense , reasonable man theory, is that they will be thinking......
"let's do this, but let's do this right this time...no holding back".
Back drop
The Russians did not have a "Grenada failure/learning experience": which generated a Goldwater Nichols act learning moment.
Russian Joint Operations are at the level of the US before Goldwater Nicholes....Clunky and uncoordinated.
The Russian military is also hidebound with everyone looking out for their own rice bowls.
This is why you see the steam roller /bulldozer tactics instead of the Blitzkrieg.
Putting your most senior ALL Armed Forces General in charge is a smart move .
Who now can say no? Or try to slow roll the new commander? He is not your equal ( service chief) as before, but the head of all military forces.
Gerasimov's mission will be to ensure that the respective service commanders do not hold back.
With this personnel move, it is like the Independence Day movie chess analogy.... first you move all your pieces into position...... This s one more piece.
This gets more and more interesting as time goes on. Last month it was 30-90 day window , now we are in the 30-60 day window. It is only a matter of time.
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