The appointment of the chief of the General Staff as the commander of the troops in the Northern Military District is associated with the expansion of the scope of their tasks

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on January 11 that Sergei Shoigu had made new appointments to lead the Special Military Operation (SVO). Army General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff, has been appointed Commander of the United Group of Troops (Forces) (OGV(s)).

The previous commander of the group and at the same time the commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Sergei Surovikin, appointed to this post in September 2022, became Gerasimov’s deputy. Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces Oleg Salyukov and Deputy Chief of the General Staff Colonel General Alexei Kim have been appointed two more Gerasimov’s deputies. “The increase in the level of leadership of the SVO is associated with the expansion of the scale of tasks solved in the course of its implementation, the need to organize closer interaction between the branches and branches of the Armed Forces, as well as improving the quality of all types of support and the effectiveness of command and control of groupings of troops (forces),” the report says. Ministry of Defense. Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, when asked by Vedomosti how the Kremlin views the appointment of Gerasimov as commander of the United Forces and why this was done, replied that “this is a question for the Ministry of Defense.”