Colonel General Surovikin - Shoigu's terrible mistake? Winged General Surovikin Sergei Surovikin.

On November 29, Krasnaya Zvezda officially published a message stating that Colonel General Sergei Surovikin, who until recently led the group Russian troops in Syria, was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces (VKS). The atypical appointment of a combined arms general attracts attention. Iz.ru recalled the career history of several senior officers national army who changed their specialization just as drastically.

Sergey Surovikin appointed head of the Russian Aerospace Forces
Biography under the microscope

Sergei Surovikin graduated from the Omsk Combined Arms Command School and commanded motorized rifle units. In particular, the battalion of the Tamanskaya division, which captain Surovikin brought to Moscow in August 1991, turned out to be the hero of the infamous incident in the Tchaikovsky tunnel on the Garden Ring. Then, while trying to block the exit of a column of armored vehicles from the tunnel, three defenders of the White House were killed.

They tried to bring Surovikin to justice for that story, but he was fully acquitted, and it is known that Russian President Boris Yeltsin personally stood up for the captain.
In the 1990s, Surovikin served in Tajikistan as part of the 201st motorized rifle division, where he rose to the rank of chief of staff. In the 2000s, he commanded divisions in Russia (including the 42nd motorized rifle division in Chechnya), and then the 20th army. In 2008-2010, he held an important post: he headed the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff. If the General Staff, according to Marshal Boris Shaposhnikov, is the brain of the army, then the GOU is the key structure of this brain, responsible for planning military operations and operational management troops.

Then Surovikin served in the leadership of the Central and Eastern military districts. Since 2013, he has headed the Eastern District, and since May 2017, he has simultaneously led the Group of Russian Forces in Syria.

Of course, any general, no matter who he is when he graduates from the school, receives a serious course of general command training at the Academy of the General Staff, getting acquainted with the characteristics of all branches of the military and types of the Armed Forces. This allows senior officers, rising to key positions in the General Staff and the Ministry of Defense, to better understand the specifics of the "neighbors" and link it into a single plan.

But it's one thing to get to know each other at the academy and during self-training, and it's quite another to grow up from the Air Force or Air Defense Forces on your own, recognizing them from top to bottom.
Let's see if it's normal for a combined arms general to lead the country's air force, air defense and missile defense? Have there been such precedents in our history and how successful are they?

Who is entitled to what

AT Soviet time the corporation of landmen quite firmly held the highest positions in the military administration. Mostly motorized riflemen, tankers, and less often artillerymen grew to the top. At the highest posts, there were practically no, say, signalmen or chemists (excluding the command of the specialized branches of the military).

A notable exception was perhaps Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov, who headed the Soviet General Staff from 1977-1984. By education, he is a military engineer and spent the first 10 years of service in the engineering troops, only after that he moved to the operational positions of headquarters.

District commanders are usually appointed from among the ground troops. The only exception is Admiral Konstantin Sidenko, who in 2010-2013 led the Eastern Military District. Prior to that, the submariner Sidenko commanded the Pacific Fleet. Such an experiment became possible thanks to a new approach to the military district (unified strategic command), which gathered under its headquarters the control of all forces and means in the reporting territory, including the air force and fleets
Among the top commanders of the army, rarely, but still, people came across not quite a “profile” initial education. General of the Army Viktor Samsonov, Chief of the Russian General Staff in 1996–1997, graduated as a Marine Corps officer and only after graduating from the Frunze Academy did he move into motorized rifle formations. Colonel-General Vladimir Komarov, head of the combat training department of the Ground Forces in 1961-1969, served in the border troops of the OGPU (NKVD) since 1930, and only with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War he joined the army, having received an ordinary rifle regiment under command.

Paratroopers were frequent "guests" in the Ground Forces, but the ground forces also managed to lead the "winged infantry". The rebellious Colonel General Vladislav Achalov, who headed the Airborne Forces in 1989-1990 and was the Minister of Defense in the alternative government of the Supreme Council (September-October 1993), is a tanker, and for the first seven years he served on tanks. He was transferred to the Airborne Forces only after the Academy of Armored Forces, and later he was again separated from the landing, returning to the leadership of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, then to the Leningrad Military District, and only from there he was appointed to the post of commander.

Reverse transitions happened more often. The most famous paratrooper is Vladimir Shamanov, who from the mid-1990s led combined-arms groups in the North Caucasus, and after a period of civilian political career, he returned to the service - first to the combat training department of the Ministry of Defense, and then to the post of commander of the Airborne Forces (2009-2016).

Lieutenant General Valery Asapov, who died in Syria in September 2017, is also an officer of the Airborne Forces, but from the post of chief of staff of the 98th airborne division, he went down a different line, rising to the rank of commander of the 5th combined arms army.

Among the paratroopers now occupying combined-arms command positions, we can mention the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Colonel-General Sergei Istrakov (the last position in the Airborne Forces was the commander of the airborne assault brigade). In the Ground Forces, several more officers of the Airborne Forces serve in high command positions, including the chiefs of staff of the Central and Southern military districts (Evgeny Ustinov and Mikhail Teplinskiy), as well as the commander of the 8th Army, Sergei Kuzovlev.

General Boris Gromov, a motorized rifle officer by education who commanded the 40th Army in Afghanistan, served as First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR in 1990-1991. At the end of 1991, he returned to the structures of the USSR Ministry of Defense, then to Russia. The appointment of Lieutenant General Ivan Yakovlev (self-propelled fighter, then commander in the tank troops) to the post of commander-in-chief of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (1968-1986) was similar. Yakovlev, in turn, was replaced by another motorized rifleman - General Yuri Shatalin, chief of staff of the Moscow Military District.

Make from scratch

There were two young types of troops who, due to the novelty and lack of mastery of the topic, were especially lucky to have "non-core commanders." This is the Rocket Forces. strategic purpose(RVSN) and just of interest to us, among others, the Air Defense Forces.

The Strategic Missile Forces were initially created by artillery generals: war hero Kirill Moskalenko and Mitrofan Nedelin, who tragically died at Baikonur in the explosion of the R-16 intercontinental missile. However, then came a long period of domination by people who had nothing to do with rocket technology, but who managed to master it.

From 1962 to 1992, the Strategic Missile Forces were commanded sequentially: infantrymen Sergei Biryuzov and Nikolai Krylov, tankman Vladimir Tolubko and infantryman (originally a machine gunner and commander of a machine gun company) Yuri Maksimov.

And if Tolubko in 1960-1968 was a member of the leadership of the Strategic Missile Forces and, in fact, directly created them from scratch (although he was then sent to command troops in the Far East for four years), then Biryuzov, Krylov and Maximov to strategic missile technology had nothing to do with their appointment.
Maksimov, by the way, before moving to the Strategic Missile Forces, managed to be a military adviser in Yemen and Algeria, as well as command the Turkestan military district at a crucial moment when Soviet troops entered Afghanistan. It was only in 1992 that the Strategic Missile Forces received their first commander, who was raised inside the corporation of missilemen, the future Marshal and Minister of Defense Igor Sergeyev.

The air defense forces were also pretty lucky with commanders from the outside. Firstly, Biryuzov, already mentioned above, managed to lead them. In 1966-1978, the Air Defense Forces were headed by Pavel Batitsky, a cavalryman who ended the war as a commander of a rifle corps and, since 1948, was transferred to the leadership of air defense groups.

Batitsky is better known as the person who personally shot Lavrenty Beria in 1953, but his contribution to the formation and strengthening of Soviet air defense - the main instrument for deterring US strategic aviation - cannot be overestimated.
After eight years - when one of the best was at the head of the air defense Soviet aces during the war, Marshal Alexander Koldunov, a scandal erupted with the landing of a light aircraft by Matthias Rust on Red Square. Koldunov was replaced as Commander-in-Chief of Air Defense by Ivan Tretyak, another combined-arms commander who led the Far Eastern Military District.

Until that moment, Tretiak had only the most indirect relation to air defense: it was he, being the commander-in-chief of the troops on Far East, September 1, 1983 ordered to shoot down a plane that invaded the airspace of the USSR and later turned out to be a Korean Air Boeing 747 passenger airliner. By the way, Tretyak, with his analytical mind and service thoroughness, left a favorable impression and good memory about himself in the air defense.

So the appointment of Surovikin, if you look at the established traditions of the troops (recall that the country's air defense forces and means are now part of the Aerospace Forces), does not look at all something strange. On the contrary, there is a kind of preservation of traditions.

Russia may change the commander of its troops in Syria, the government of Bashar al-Assad and the Turkish authorities are increasingly discussing the situation in Afrin (controlled by the Kurds), and in Damascus a Russian center for reconciliation of the warring parties was fired upon. The situation in Syria as of Tuesday looks less and less like the end of the “hot phase” of the conflict, which was discussed at the end of 2017 after the victory over ISIS. Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed the deaths and injuries of mercenaries from Russia and the CIS countries on the night of February 7-8 - we are talking about dozens of people. According to the Pentagon, there were 257 people who attacked the gas processing plant (because of it, the fight happened), however, not all of them were from Russia and the CIS.

New old assignment

The fact that the Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces (VKS), Colonel General Sergei Surovikin, may be sent to Syria to command a grouping of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, on Tuesday, citing its own sources, RIA Novosti reported. Kommersant’s interlocutors close to the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces also called this decision “very likely”, specifying that the trip, if a decision is made, can take place no earlier than March. In this case, the current commander of the group, General Alexander Zhuravlev, will return to his duties as commander of the Eastern Military District. The Ministry of Defense does not officially comment on this information.

Colonel General Zhuravlev has been in Syria since the beginning of the Russian military operation in September 2015. He served as chief of staff of the group (it was then headed by General Alexander Dvornikov; for the first stage of the operation, both received Hero of Russia stars). From July to December 2016, he commanded the Russian armed forces in Syria on his own. During this time, the Russian Aerospace Forces took an active part in the attack on Aleppo, but Palmyra was again occupied by militants of the Islamic State (the organization is banned in the Russian Federation). He returned to Syria in December 2017 by chance: initially, the leadership of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces planned to send Andrei Serdyukov, commander of the Airborne Forces, to the republic, but shortly before the trip, he got into an accident and was seriously injured. General Zhuravlev was again entrusted with the task of reducing the grouping and completing the active phase of the operation.

Difficulties began almost immediately. On the night of January 1, radical Islamists fired mortars at the Khmeimim air base. Two servicemen were killed, several aircraft were seriously damaged. According to Kommersant, the tragic consequences could have been avoided if the "security perimeter" had been cleared around the facility. But due to the New Year holidays, the duty at the air base was carried out by a smaller number of people. Conclusions were drawn from the incident, and the repeated attack of the Islamists, which happened on the night of January 6, but with the use of UAVs, was repelled. On February 3, in the province of Idlib, a Su-25SM attack aircraft was shot down from a MANPADS, the pilot of which was given the task of patrolling the territory by the command of the group. Prior to this, only one aircraft was destroyed in the air - the Su-24M, which the Turkish Air Force shot down in 2015. All this was accompanied by communication difficulties. Many allied Syrian detachments refused to report their plans and movements to the Russian command, which often led to disorganization.

Against this background, the Syrian experience of General Surovikin looks more solid. The Ministry of Defense emphasized that it was under his command that a turning point in the fight against the Islamic State was reached and, according to official data from the Ministry of Defense, more than 98% of the territory of Syria captured by ISIS was liberated. However, a number of territories, which are clearly more than 2%, were cleared of ISIS by US-led coalition troops and Kurdish units.

The story of the release of a military police platoon surrounded by terrorists in September 2017, when the general sent a group to rescue 28 Russian servicemen without approval, came out loud. Often, traveling to the positions of the Syrian government troops, he helped local commanders in planning operations. This, according to Kommersant, was also appreciated by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The very same title of "Hero of Russia" he received following the results of a nine-month Syrian business trip (he stayed there longer than all the other commanders of the Russian Armed Forces grouping). Yes, and the general himself, according to his friends, wanted to return to Syria: this activity attracted him much more than desk work. During the absence of Sergei Surovikin, his deputy will act as commander-in-chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

Uncoordinated fights

Under General Zhuravlev, another incident occurred in Syria. We are talking about a clash on the night of February 8 near the Hisham point on the east bank of the Euphrates, when Kurdish and American forces entered into battle with a detachment, which included citizens of Russia and the CIS countries, who tried to occupy a hydrocarbon processing plant controlled by the Kurds. The military is solely responsible for the actions of military personnel, and not volunteers (from the so-called Wagner PMC). However, on Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry officially confirmed the injuries of dozens of citizens of the Russian Federation and the CIS during the recent battle, specifying that the department cannot “assess the eligibility and legality of such of them (participants in the clash from the Russian side.- "b") solutions”. At the same time, as the diplomats assured, all of them were assisted upon their return to Russia, where the wounded are being treated "in various medical institutions."

The number of wounded participants in the battle near Hisham brought to medical institutions on the territory of Russia, it can exceed a hundred, an acquaintance of one of the Wagner PMC fighters, who visited him in a Moscow hospital, told Kommersant. He made such a conclusion on the basis of the number of his comrade in the list of the wounded. At the same time, according to him, it was initially decided to leave some of the wounded in Syria. The Russian Foreign Ministry did not name the exact number of wounded, specifying that we are talking about "dozens". Earlier, the interlocutor of Kommersant, who visited a Moscow hospital, said that he personally saw only two people delivered after the battle in the vicinity of Deir ez-Zor, but they talked about the delivery of 30 wounded to Russia "by a special aircraft from the Khmeimim air base."

A former employee of PMC Wagner, as well as a former colleague of several dead near Hisham, confirmed to Kommersant: the wounded in Syria - Russians, as well as citizens of Ukraine (primarily from the Donbass) and other CIS countries - are being treated in hospitals in Moscow, the Moscow region, St. Petersburg and Rostov. According to Kommersant's sources, according to contracts with firms representing PMCs, those injured as a result of American artillery and aviation strikes can count on compensation of 700 thousand rubles, and the families of the victims - on compensation from 3 million to 5 million rubles.

The total number of Russian-speaking fighters of the detachment that participated in the attack on the positions of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, according to Kommersant's interlocutors, exceeded 500 people. True, the Pentagon, which is conducting its own investigation of the incident, claims that on February 7, 257 armed fighters who attacked the positions of Kurdish formations crossed the Euphrates. In return fire (F-15E fighters, B-52 bombers, MQ-9 attack drones, AC-130 "flying batteries" and AH-64 Apache helicopters), "more than a hundred" were killed. The Pentagon has so far refused to speculate about the possible belonging of these forces to Russia or the Syrian army, citing an ongoing investigation. The Ministry of Defense, in turn, claims that the forces that attacked the plant (they are called "militia" in the department) did not coordinate their actions with the command of the Russian group of troops in Syria.

Damascus Steel vs Olive Branch

Meanwhile, in the north-west of Syria, controlled by the Kurds, the main troublemaker turned out to be one of the official guarantors of the Syrian peace, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Conductor not coordinated with Damascus military operation"Olive branch" against the Kurds President Erdogan on Tuesday announced his intention to speed up the attack on the city of Afrin, controlled by the Kurdish "People's Self-Defense Forces" and the "Democratic Union" party. “All our steps are very important in terms of security. In the coming days, the center of the city of Afrin will be surrounded by us,” Mr. Erdogan promised during a speech in Ankara, which was broadcast by the Turkish TV channel A Haber.

The Turkish leader's statement came after Operation Olive Branch, for the first time since it began on January 20, faced unexpected opposition from the Syrian authorities. On Monday, Damascus announced its determination “in the next few hours” to take control of positions controlled by Kurdish formations in the Afrin region and a number of areas bordering Turkey where Kurds live. The primary source of information was the statement of the official Syrian agency SANA, which was expressed in very harsh tones towards Ankara. "The Syrian People's Forces will enter Afrin in the coming hours to support the resilience of the residents against Turkish aggression," the Sana news agency reported. Thus, Damascus has shown a willingness not to be content with the role of an extra watching the operation "Olive Branch", and has indicated its intention to put up a barrier to further Turkish advance inland.

On Tuesday evening, the media reported the entry into the Afrin region of paramilitary fighters supporting the Syrian government forces. Representatives of the Kurdish forces confirmed the arrival of pro-government militias. At the same time, it was reported that the Turkish military fired at the area through which the Syrian formations were moving. Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that Syrian pro-government troops were trying to enter the Afrin area, but said they "retreated after shelling." Official Damascus did not comment on the operation on Tuesday evening.

The leaks that appeared about the possibility of the Kurds going under the “Damascus umbrella” apparently provoked a nervous reaction from Ankara. “If the Syrian regime takes this path, it will not remain without consequences,” President Erdogan warned on Monday, without specifying how far Ankara would be ready to go in the confrontation with Damascus.

In turn, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu outlined the conditions under which Ankara's confrontation with Damascus could be avoided. According to him, the Turkish side will not object to the fact that the Syrian government forces occupied Afrin to fight terrorists. However, if Damascus's main motive is to protect the Kurds, "no one can stop the Turkish troops," Mevlut Cavusoglu warned.

The situation in northwestern Syria has put Moscow in a difficult position, seeking to prevent an escalation of the conflict and achieve a compromise between Ankara and Damascus on the Kurdish issue.

On Monday, President Erdogan discussed the Afrin situation with his Russian counterpart by phone. According to Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov, the topic of Afrin was also discussed during a meeting of the Russian Security Council held on Tuesday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov outlined the Russian position in more detail. According to the minister, "Turkey's legitimate security interests may well be realized and satisfied through direct dialogue" with the Syrian government. “We strongly advocate that any problems be resolved while respecting the territorial integrity of the respective state, in this case Syria,” Sergey Lavrov added.

In parallel, another event took place that called into question the agreements on the end of the active phase of hostilities in Syria and the creation of de-escalation zones, reached last November in Sochi by the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran. The tragedy in the East Ghouta de-escalation zone on Monday night led to a sharp destabilization, as a result of which only dozens of people were killed and hundreds were injured. This incident became the largest after reaching agreements between Russia, Turkey and Iran and attempts to resume the peace process in Geneva and Sochi. The opposition reports massive bombardments by the Syrian army of the suburbs of Damascus, while the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties announced an increase in provocations by militants shelling residential areas of the capital.

Maxim Solopov, Sergei Strokan, Ivan Synergiev, Alexandra Djordjevic

Sergey Surovikin, Photo from 42msd.ru

A scandal erupted in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation: Lieutenant General Sergei Surovikin, who is considered the main contender for the post of head of the main department of the military police of the Ministry of Defense, was found to have a criminal record, which, in accordance with the law, should block his path to a new position. However, not only a criminal record lay a black stain on the lieutenant general's reputation. Surovikin was also seen in other scandals that were unpleasant for his reputation: one of his subordinates committed suicide after talking with him, another accused the lieutenant general of beating him, and Surovikin's wife is the founder of a dubious company.

Deputy Prosecutor General - Chief Military Prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky - wrote a letter addressed to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Anatoly Serdyukov, in which he draws attention to the conviction of Lieutenant General Sergei Surovikin, who is considered the main contender for the post of head of the main department of the military police of the Ministry of Defense, the Kommersant newspaper reports. .

"Officer Framed"

The letter addressed to the head of the Ministry of Defense was sent on December 2. It says that since November 2011, Lieutenant General Sergei Surovikin has been heading a working group on the creation of military police bodies "with the prospect of being appointed" to the post of head of the main military police department of the Ministry of Defense. Fridinsky reminds the minister that in September 1995, Surovikin, being a student of the Frunze Military Academy, was found guilty by the military court of the Moscow garrison of "assisting in the acquisition and sale, as well as wearing firearms and ammunition without an appropriate permit” (Article 17, Part 1, Article 218 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR). He was sentenced to one year of probation.

“Not only for moral and ethical reasons, but also in accordance with Art. 20 of the draft law "On the Military Police of the Armed Forces Russian Federation", a ban on serving in the military police of citizens with or who had a criminal record is reasonably provided for," Fridinsky summarizes. "I ask you to take into account the above when considering the appointment of the head of the main department of the military police."

The draft law "On the Military Police of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation" is still being developed. But even the replacement of police positions by persons with a removed or canceled conviction is impossible according to Art. 29 of the law "On Police". “In order for a candidate with a cleared or canceled conviction to be able to get a position in the military police, the drafters of the law will have to make changes to the draft. It is unlikely that the requirements for military policemen can be softer than for ordinary ones,” says Dmitry Chernyakov, managing partner of the Muranov, Chernyakov and Partners Bar Association.
However, according to the deputy head of the Military Investigation Department for the Southern federal district Sergey Sypachev, the incident with Surovikin's criminal past is just an innocent prank.

“While studying at the Frunze Military Academy, there were cases when some teachers illegally sold weapons, for which they were criminally punished. Fulfilling the request of one of these teachers, Major Surovikin agreed to hand over a pistol to a colleague from another course, which was supposed to be used ostensibly to participate in the competition. The major, not realizing his true intentions, fulfilled the order, ”he said in a conversation with the publication.

According to the interlocutor of Kommersant, during interrogation, Sergei Surovikin said that he was sure that he was not committing anything illegal. “When the investigation figured out that the officer had been framed, the charge was dropped and the conviction was extinguished,” Sypachev explained, adding that at the present time in such cases a person is treated not as an accused, but as a witness.

Suicide on the job

However, if you delve into the biography of Lieutenant General Surovikin, you can easily find that the incident with a criminal record is far from the only dubious episode in his past. So, in April of this year, after a conversation with a lieutenant general, in front of his colleagues, the deputy commander of the 34th motorized rifle division for weapons, Colonel Andrey Shtakal (32nd military camp), committed suicide.

Thirty-seven-year-old Colonel Andrei Shtakal began serving in the 32nd military camp (34th motorized rifle division), from June last year as deputy commander for armaments. His responsibilities included the preparation and preservation of military equipment under the control of the unit.

The incident happened on April 21st. According to the colonel's colleagues, the conversation between Shtakal and Surovikin took place in raised tones. And almost immediately after him, Andrei Shtakal, in front of the officers who had gathered at the headquarters, pulled out his service pistol and shot himself in the temple. AT serious condition the colonel was hospitalized. But the doctors failed to save him: yesterday at 6 am local time Andrey Shtakal died.

On the fact of the suicide of the colonel, the military prosecutor's office of the PUrVO launched an investigation. Investigators considered several versions, including problems in his personal life. But official troubles were considered the main reason for suicide. As noted in military prosecutor's office, during the check, which was recently launched by the commission of the commander-in-chief in the 32nd military town (deployed in Yekaterinburg), claims have already been made against the officer. In particular, shortcomings were identified in the preparation of equipment for combat operations. Information about the final outcome of the investigation could not be found.

Among Andrei Shtakal's colleagues, the attitude towards the incident is ambiguous. According to them, he had previously had conflicts with the leadership of the unit and headquarters of the PUrVO. Although, at the same time, the colonel's colleagues indicate that he was a good commander and a decent person.

Another high-profile incident involving Lieutenant General Surovikin occurred a month earlier, in March of this year. Then the lieutenant colonel of one of the military units of Yekaterinburg, Viktor Tsibizov, complained to the prosecutor's office of the garrison that he had been beaten by his senior commander, the division commander, Major General Sergei Surovikin. According to the victim, the reason for the beatings in the general’s office was that Tsibizov voted “for the wrong candidate” at the by-elections to the State Duma on March 14.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Tsibizov, on March 14, higher-ranking officers took him to the office of the division commander, Major General Surovikin, from the polling station, where he was as an observer from the headquarters of State Duma candidate Yevgeny Zyablitsev. In the presence of the general, senior officers insistently “recommended” him for several hours not to appear at the polling station until the end of the voting, threatening severe sanctions, up to and including dismissal and failure to provide him, Tsibizov, with an apartment.

Lieutenant Colonel Tsibizov is sure that the political predilections of the command of the unit turned out to be the reason for the pressure on him, which made a bet before the vote on another candidate for the State Duma - the general director of the non-ferrous metal processing plant Nikolai Timofeev. On the eve of the by-elections to the State Duma in the 162nd Verkh-Iset constituency, Timofeev promised the military to protect their interests, unlike Zyablitsev, who at all meetings with voters said that it was necessary to cut the budgetary funding of the military in favor of pensioners.

On the evening of March 16, when the preliminary results of the vote were already known and it became clear that Zyablitsev had won the election, Viktor Tsibizov was again taken under escort to the office of the division commander, General Surovikin. There, according to the lieutenant colonel, he was required to write a letter of resignation and beaten.

“In addition to the general’s office, there were his adjutant, his deputy for educational work Colonel Chukrov and a third officer, whose last name I do not know,” Viktor Tsibizov told Izvestia. - They beat me, pushed me in the chest, in general, behaved like soldiers and sergeants in the barracks. Later, I went to the medical unit and documented minor bodily injuries.”

Surovikin himself denied all accusations against him. “I didn’t beat anyone personally, I didn’t even touch Tsibizov with a finger,” the general said. - But I submitted a report to the prosecutor's office even earlier - regarding the monthly absence of this comrade lieutenant colonel from the service. I hope that a criminal case will be initiated against him.”

The general claimed that Lieutenant Colonel Tsibizov, assistant head of the department for educational work of the division headquarters, did not apply to a higher commander with a request to release him from service while working at the election headquarters and did not receive official permission for this. And even a 10-day absence from service for an officer is a serious military crime, desertion. Not to mention the agitation in favor of this or that candidate, which is forbidden in the troops. In addition to the persons named by Tsibizov, there were no witnesses or eyewitnesses of the incident.

Soon Viktor Tsibizov withdrew the statement from the prosecutor's office.

Business interests of Surovikin's wife

It is impossible not to mention another high-profile case, to which Lieutenant General Sergei Surovikin is related. In February of this year, blogger and public figure Leonid Volkov published a post in which he talked about the business of the governor's daughter Sverdlovsk region Alexandra Misharin Anastasia. The post was titled "Governor Misharin's family is engaged in sawing!". Further, the author of the entry explained that "there are no artistic hyperbole here." The fact is that Anastasia Misharina owns Argusles LLC, a company that specializes in sawing, planing and impregnating wood.

Among the other founders of this LLC are the cousin of the Sverdlovsk governor Andrey Misharin, the chief informant of Russian Railways OJSC Latushkin Oleg Alexandrov (“it would seem, what does the forest have to do with it?” The blogger writes) and Anna Surovikina - the wife of the hero of this material.

Further in the post, it was written what exactly the daughter of the governor and his comrades (the founders of the Argusles company) were sawing: “In 2005, the girls picked up a collapsed timber industry enterprise and hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest for nothing, and said: in 2007 we will start making plywood here! They didn't start in 2007. In 2008, they didn’t start either, but they received a road and houses in the village as a gift from the region. In 2009 they did not start, but received a discount of 75 million for electricity. They did not start in 2010 either, but they received 300 million for the power plant. And they built a temple."

The daughter of the governor, in turn, accused the blogger of slander and sued him.

Note that the well-known blogger Alexei Navalny also wrote about Anastasia Misharina earlier. “Anastasia is a young entrepreneur. At the age of 18, she co-founded the Argus company and contributed 125 million rubles to its authorized capital. This is an example for all of you. While you were chewing your sandwiches and pies in the school cafeteria, Anastasia saved up. So 125 million and scored. And typing - invested. Very successful, ”the anti-corruption official ironically.

Next, Navalny published a list of companies where young Anastasia also acts as an owner or manager, and this list is impressive: the governor’s daughter is the founder of 11 companies and holds leadership positions in another 18.

However, the story didn't end there. Ilya Melekhin, a correspondent for the Yekaterinburg TV channel 4, said in his LiveJournal that he filmed a story based on Leonid Volkov's post about the business successes of the governor's daughter. However, the material was banned from being shown, as they say,.

"Who did this? I was told that the story was filmed after a call from Moscow. The owners of the channel are located in the capital. However, I assume that the call actually came from the governor's residence,” writes Melekhin. “Why is this necessary? This is necessary so that the name of Alexander Misharin's daughter (I fully admit that she is as clean as a tear) is not mentioned in connection with this case, ”he concludes. According to the journalist, either the head of the Governor's Administration, Vyacheslav Lashmankin, or his deputy, Vadim Dubichev, could have removed the story.

According to materials:

In the article we will talk about General Surovikin. Although not everyone knows this person, he is worthy of our attention, and from the article you will find out the reason. Keep reading to find out how an ordinary man became a general.

First meeting

The future Colonel General Surovikin was born in the autumn of 1966 in the city of Novosibirsk. After he became a Russian military leader, who commanded the troops of the Eastern District. In 2013 he became a colonel general. On this moment Surovikin is 51 and continues his career. Service began in 1983.

Biography

General Surovikin graduated from the Omsk Higher Command School named after M.V. Frunze in 1987. At the end educational institution received a gold medal for excellent performance. In the summer of 1991, he was already a captain. At that time, Surovikin served in the motorized rifle battalion of the Taman division and was its commander. By order of the State Committee for the State of Emergency, the battalion was sent to the Garden Ring, where it was to form commandant posts. During the conflict known to all Russians, three people died in the tunnel on the Garden Ring. These were the military who were part of the battalion: D. Komar, I. Krichevsky and V. Usov. Dmitry Komar was crushed during the BMP maneuver, Vladimir Usov and Ilya Krichevsky were shot dead.

Arrest

After State Committee due to the state of emergency, he realized his defeat, Surovikin was arrested. For about 7 months he was under investigation, but after that the charges were dropped from him, since it was proved that he clearly followed the orders of his leadership. After his release, the man was even promoted on the personal orders of Boris Yeltsin, the current president of Russia at that time.

Scandalous case

The future Colonel General Surovikin in the fall of 1995, just during his studies at the Frunze Military Academy, was involved in a scandal. The Moscow Military Court found him guilty of assisting in the acquisition and sale of firearms and ammunition. He was also charged with carrying a weapon without a permit. The soldier received a one-year suspended sentence. However, after some time, the court figured out that the young officer had been set up. As a result, the charges against him were dropped and the criminal record was closed. Despite this, General Surovikin still tolerated hints from his enemies that there was a deal with the sale of weapons.

Rehabilitation

This couldn't go on for long. General Sergey Vladimirovich Surovikin understood that he could not get rid of this situation just like that. However, he was determined to wash himself off this stain. He goes to court, and he manages to get the decision overturned. Thus, the man managed to fully rehabilitate himself even in the eyes of his enemies. And he himself repeatedly stated in an interview that he closed this topic for himself back in 1995. Then the investigation officially apologized to him. Also, the officers took maximum measures to ensure that this dark spot no longer surfaced in the biography of General Surovikin.

Personal opinion

General Sergei Surovikin in his interviews said more than once that many returned to the topic of the arms sales scandal, especially after he received the position of senior commander in the creation of the military police. Then some people began to speculate on the old incident and try in every possible way to denigrate the dignity of the officer. Naturally, this was unacceptable for Surovikin. This also influenced the man's decision to go to court. After the official apologies were made, the speculations practically ceased, since there was no longer their very subject.

After graduation

As we already know, Colonel General Sergei Surovikin graduated in 1995. After that, he served as commander of a motorized rifle battalion in Tajikistan. After that, he was chief of staff of the motorized rifle regiment of the Gatchina division. In 2002, the guy graduated from the RF Armed Forces, and with honors.

Adulthood

Colonel-General Surovikin, whose biography we are considering, from the autumn of 2008 to the winter of 2010 worked as the head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Air Force. In 2010, he became head of the Volga-Ural Military District in Yekaterinburg. At the same time, until the spring of 2012, he held the position of chief in the same city. Since 2012, he commanded the operation to create a military police. He had great prospects for obtaining the post of head of the Main Directorate of the Military Police. In the period 2012-2013 he was the first deputy commander In the fall of 2013 he received the position of commander

present tense

Since the spring of 2017, he has been the commander of a grouping of troops Armed Forces Russia in Syria. In the fall of 2017, he created a group to release a military police platoon, which consisted of 28 servicemen from Russia. During the operation, they were surrounded by superior enemy forces and terrorists. As a result of Surovikin's actions, the Russian military completed the operation without losses, and the terrorists suffered significant losses.

Awards

General Surovikin, whose biography we reviewed, has many awards. Basically, these are medals for courage and valor during military service.

The officer was awarded the Order of the Red Star. He also has three Orders of Courage. As for the medals, he has medals "For Courage", "For Military Merit". He was also awarded medals from the Russian Federation and the USSR. He has two orders "For Merit to the Fatherland" I and II degree. All these awards are well deserved, since Surovikin carried out military service with honor, which he continues to do to this day. He was always brave and willing to take any risk in order to help his fellow soldiers.

What is the operation carried out by him in 2017 in Syria, when he helped all the military to complete the operation without loss! We can say that he saved the lives of 28 people. Our hero has received awards throughout his life, and no one will be surprised if he continues to receive them further. He is a true defender of his homeland, who knows what real honor and duty are.

Family

It is known that General Sergei Vladimirovich Surovikin has a wife. The couple had two girls, whom the man is carefully and carefully raising. There were no scandals related to the family. In many interviews, the military says that the family means a lot to him. He received this idea of ​​values ​​in his own family. He sincerely participates in the life of his daughters and wishes them a good future. However, at the same time, the man is quite secretive in terms of his personal life, but this is understandable. He is not a public person, therefore he is not obliged to lift the veil over his secrets of private life. However, when it comes to family in an interview, he always speaks of her very affectionately and tenderly.

Scandals

It is indisputable that General Surovikin showed a very worthy position in Syria. He defended his people and thereby repaid his debt to the Motherland. However, his name is still mentioned in some scandals. Now let's talk about this in more detail. So, in the spring of 2004, Lieutenant Colonel Tsibizov accused the military man of beating a man for political reasons. After that, this fact was refuted at the Headquarters of the Volga-Ural Military District. Journalists said that there was no fight or beating, that is, a pure provocation. After some trials that took place not on a legal, but on a personal level, Lieutenant Colonel Tsibizov decided to withdraw his statement from the prosecutor's office. He also apologized to Surovikin and even publicly admitted that he was wrong. In principle, this incident was settled, however, the enemies and ill-wishers of Surovikin believe that there is no smoke without fire, and some kind of conflict did take place.

In addition, those who personally know Tsibizov argue that he could not simply withdraw the application from the prosecutor's office. After all, they know him as a very principled person who zealously goes towards his goal, especially if he is sure that he is right. No one knows for sure the true state of affairs, but it can be assumed. However, we will not deal with this, since our business is to provide facts.

The second scandal happened in April of the same year. It was a very high-profile incident, which was spread by journalists almost throughout the country. In the military office, in his presence and the presence of his deputy, the deputy for armaments shot himself. It was Colonel Andrei Shtakal. Little is known about this incident, and no one wants to give any information publicly, but it is perfectly clear that such situations do not happen out of the blue.

Wife

The wife of Sergei Surovikin is also a public person who often gives interviews. In one of them, a woman shared her opinion. She was asked an open and frank question about whether her husband has influence in politics. To this, the woman replied that the military has a principle - not to interfere in political affairs. She emphasized that her husband adheres to the same position, so it is simply incorrect to talk about any political influence. At the same time, the woman claims that her husband went through a rich school of life, which taught him how to maneuver in different situations. It should also be noted that he knows how to solve really complex serious problems, which is simply too tough for many. Anna Surovikina herself believes that perhaps this is precisely what is considered to be influence.

The woman says that she fell in love with Yekaterinburg for real. Her husband worked in this city for quite a long time. She says that even a bad climate can't spoil the beautiful image of the city. She was also sorry to leave Yekaterinburg due to the fact that many family friends remained here.

Summing up the results of the article, I would like to say that Colonel General Sergei Vladimirovich Surovikin is an interesting and diverse personality who has seen a lot of things on his way. This man went through serious life trials and learned many lessons from them. The Surovikin family is an example of a close-knit family that jointly achieves certain goals. Anna will always protect her husband and consider him the best, and for good reason.

In the article, we did not consider various scandalous statements, of which there are quite a lot on the Internet. We relied mainly on the facts that actually took place. At the same time, everyone has the right to form their own opinion about Colonel-General Surovikin. Remember that the military is defending the Motherland, but this does not mean that they have no right to make mistakes. They are people like you and me who are prone to make mistakes. The main thing is to always rise again and move forward.

The Ministry of Defense has chosen the main contenders for the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces (VKS). Two military leaders are being considered: Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Council of the Defense Ministry, Lieutenant General Igor Makushev, and Commander of the Space Forces, Colonel General Alexander Golovko. It is noteworthy that Colonel-General Sergei Surovikin was originally predicted for this post. His appointment could have been a sensation, since Surovikin is a combined arms commander.

As the Ministry of Defense told Izvestia, the final choice between Alexander Golovko and Igor Makushev will be made in the very near future, since the current commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces, Colonel-General Viktor Bondarev, will go to work in the Federation Council by the end of September. Both candidates are distinguished military leaders and have extensive leadership experience.

Lieutenant General Igor Makushev was born on August 6, 1964 in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. In 1985 he graduated from the Chernihiv Higher Military Aviation School for Pilots, and in 2006 - military academy General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

He has a reputation as an accomplished fighter pilot and combat commander. Makushev went through all the steps of the career ladder - from the pilot to the deputy commander of the air army. He has a qualification category "pilot-sniper" and a flight time of over 3 thousand hours. As deputy commander of the 16th air army, he took part in the operation to force Georgia to peace in August 2008. Igor Makushev became known to the general public when in the summer of 2014 he presented the position of the Russian military department in connection with the death of the Malaysian Boeing 777 at briefings.

In his current position, General Makushev solves the problems of scientific substantiation of promising areas of construction, development, training, use and support of the Armed Forces.

Unlike Makushev, the second candidate did not come from the flight crew, but from the space forces. Colonel-General Alexander Golovko was born on January 29, 1964 in Dnepropetrovsk. Graduated from the Kharkov Higher Military Command and Engineering School of Missile Troops (1986), the Military Academy. F.E. Dzerzhinsky (1996), Military Academy of the General Staff (2003).

From 1986 to 2001 he served in various command and engineering positions in military units Main test center for testing and control of space facilities named after G.S. Titov (GICIU KS). In 2007, he headed the GICIU KS, and in 2011 he became the head of the Plesetsk cosmodrome. In December 2012, Golovko was appointed commander of the Aerospace Defense Forces.

According to Izvestia, until recently, the commander of the Eastern Military District (VVO), Colonel General Sergei Surovikin, was considered the main contender. True, according to some reports, he himself refused this position. After all, even the very fact of considering the candidacy of a "land" general became a kind of sensation in military circles.

Sergei Surovikin graduated from the Omsk Higher Combined Arms Command School in 1987, and later from the Academy. M.V. Frunze and the Military Academy of the General Staff. He went through all the stages of an officer's career. In the 1990s he served in Tajikistan in the 201st motorized rifle division, and in the 2000s he commanded the 42nd guards division in Chechnya. In 2012 he led working group Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the creation of a military police. In October 2013, Surovikin was appointed commander of the Eastern Military District.

The reason for the nomination of Surovikin for the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces was that he commanded a group of troops in Syria, where he managed to effectively integrate into single system ground forces, aviation, air defense systems and space grouping.

That the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, Colonel-General Viktor Bondarev, will be delegated to the Federation Council from Kirov region became known in July of this year. Bondarev has held the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force since May 6, 2012. Colonel-General was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces on August 1, 2015. It was under him that the Air Force turned into the Aerospace Forces due to the integration of the Aerospace Defense Forces into them.