Lapine named chief of Russian ground forces

LONDON (Reuters) – Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, the target of fierce criticism from “hardliners” in Vladimir Putin’s entourage over his performance in Ukraine, has been appointed chief of staff of Russia’s ground forces, the report said on Tuesday. official Tass news agency.

The officer, formerly commander of the Central Military District of Russia, one of five in the Russian army, had been violently attacked by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigojine, whose men are fighting in Ukraine alongside the regular army, following Moscow’s loss of the Lyman logistics hub in eastern Ukraine last October.

Several senior members of the Russian army have already been replaced since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, after a series of defeats by Russian forces.

On October 8, Air Force General Sergei Surovikin was appointed General Commander of Russian forces in Ukraine after the dismissal of the commanders of the Western and Eastern Military Districts.

In August, according to the Russian agency RIA, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet was fired after several humiliating setbacks for Moscow, including the loss of the cruiser Moskva and that of eight combat aircraft in the attack on a base. Russian in Crimea.

(Reuters offices, Jean-Stéphane Brosse for the French version, edited by Blandine Hénault)