Sergei Surovikin

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sergei Surovikin

• Sergei Surovikin is a serving colonel general in the Russian Army who commanded the Russian military during its operations in Syria in 2017 and 2019. He came to the limelight in October 2022 when the Russian government made Sergei the commander of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine.

• Sergei Surovikin began his military career as an officer in the Russian Army after he completed his training at the Omsk Higher Military Command School in 1987.

• After commissioning in 1987 as a junior lieutenant, Sergei Surovikin was sent to Afghanistan, where he participated in the Soviet-Afghan War and served with the Russian special forces “Spetsnaz” till the end of the war in 1991.

• After Sergei Surovikin became a captain in 1991, he was posted to Moscow as the commander of the 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division of the Russian Army.

• After completing his tenure as a commander of the 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division, in 1995, Sergei attended a military course at the Russian military academy M. V. Frunze.

• Upon completing the military course at M. V. Frunze Military Academy, Sergei Surovikin was sent to the 92nd Motor Rifle Regiment as its chief of staff after which he was appointed the chief of staff of the 149th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment.

• Later on, Sergei Surovikin commanded Russia’s largest mountain warfare division, the 201st Division, in Tajikistan after which he was promoted and sent to another Russian Army’s infantry division as chief of staff.

• Sergei Surovikin attended a staff college course in 2002 at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation after which he was posted to the Volga-Urals Military District, where he commanded the 34th Simferopol Motorized Rifle Division.

• After the outbreak of the second Russian-Chechen War in 2004, Sergei Surovikin became a major general following which he was sent to the Chechen Republic, where he served with the 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division as its senior commander.

• In 2005, Sergei Surovikin became deputy commander of the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army, which was conducting military operations in the Northern Caucasus region in Russia. Later, he became the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army’s commander.

• Sergei Surovikin was posted to Moscow in 2008 as the chief of the Main Operational Directorate (MOD) following which the Russian government appointed him as the Deputy Chief of the General Staff (DCGS) of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

• Sergei Surovikin was posted to the Volga-Urals Military District in January 2010 as the chief of staff of the Russian Army garrison stationed there.

• After getting promoted to lieutenant general, Sergei Surovikin was sent as the Chief of Staff – First Deputy Commander to the Central Military District (TsVO).

• Upon completing his tenure at the Central Military District (TsVO), in 2011, Sergei Surovikin was posted at Kremlin in Moscow, where he oversaw the raising of the Russian Army’s Military Police (MP). Several sources reported that despite playing a role in raising the Russian military police, he could not become its first commander because of the objections raised by the office of the Military Prosecutor.

• Sergei Surovikin became the chief of staff of the Eastern Military District in Ulitsa Serysheva.

  

• Sergei Surovikin became the commander of the Russian Air Defense Forces in 2013. Later, the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) appointed him as the Eastern Military District’s commander after which he became colonel general in December 2013.

• In 2015, the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that the Russian Army would participate in the Syrian Civil War and assist the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in winning the conflict. In March 2017, Sergei Surovikin was sent to Syria by the Russian government to take over the command of the Russian contingent conducting operations in Syria. Talking about his deployment in Syria, he said,
  

  The operation to liberate the territory of Syria from the terrorist groups like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra will continue until they are completely eliminated. The operation to liberate Syria from IS and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists will continue and we will continue to aid the Syrian Arab Army in their military operations against the terrorists.”

  

• Several sources reported that when Sergei Surovikin took over the command of the Russian contingent in March 2017, the Russian and Syrian forces managed to re-capture more than half of the Syrian territory that was lost to organisations like ISIS, ISIL, and the Free Syrian Army (FSA). ^[10]kommersant

• After serving for a few months in Syria as the commander of the Russian forces, Sergei returned to Russia from Syria in September 2017 after the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced that Sergei Surovikin would be replacing Viktor Bondarev as the commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

  

• Sergei Surovikin served as the commander of the Russian contingent for the second time from January 2019 to April 2019. After coming back to Russia from Syria, he became the General of the Russian Army, a rank held by a small number of officers of the Russian Army. ^[11]TASS

• The European Union (EU) placed Sergei Surovikin under financial sanctions for playing a role in the formulation and implementation of policies that resulted in the fall of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence. ^[12]Eur-Lex

• After the Russian military launched its “special military operation to denazify Ukraine” on 24 February 2022, ^[13]The Hindu the Russian military made Sergei Surovikin commander of the Army Group South, which was tasked with capturing the Ukrainian territory lying south of Russia. According to several Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) sources, under the leadership of General Surovikin, the Russian ground forces, in a short span, made rapid advancements in Ukraine and captured a large portion of its territory; however, other Russian Army Groups did not perform as expected by the Russian government; therefore, in October 2022, the MoD replaced Colonel General Gennady Zhidko with General Sergei Surovikin as the overall force commander of the Russian military conducting operations in Ukraine. During an interview, after his appointment, Surovikin said,
  

  The situation in this area is difficult. The enemy is deliberately striking infrastructure and residential buildings. Russian forces in the Kherson region have been driven back by 20-30 km (13-20 miles) in the last few weeks and are at risk of being pinned against the western bank of the 2,200-km-long Dnipro river that bisects Ukraine. So yes, the situation is tense, but let’s not panic. Panic is bad for everything. The Russian paratroopers and guards here are ready to defend, we have people, equipment and artillery here.”

  

• Reportedly, after Sergei Surovikin took over the command of the Russian forces in Ukraine, the Russian forces intensified their attempts to re-capture the territory lost to the Ukrainian Army during the Ukrainian counter-offensive.

• Sergei Surovikin consumes alcoholic beverages.