Gerasimov was one of the developers of the special operation for the peaceful return of Crimea to Russia in 2014.
Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
On January 11, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appointed Army General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff, commander of the Joint Group in the special operations zone in Ukraine. The former commander, Army General Sergei Surovikin, became one of Gerasimov’s deputies. Army General Oleg Salyukov (Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces) and Colonel General Alexei Kim (Deputy Chief of the General Staff) became two more deputies.
Undoubtedly, the most “heavy” figure in these personnel readjustments is the chief of the General Staff. And now it’s time to remember how he appeared at the head of the “consortium of brains” of the Russian Armed Forces.
Valery Vasilievich Gerasimov – from a family of workers. He took his first steps towards the top of his military career as a child, at the Kazan Suvorov School (he graduated with honors). He too graduated from the Kazan Tank Command School with a gold medal and then (also with honors) from the Armed Forces Academy. He then-and the Academy of the General Staff.
He conscientiously “trampled” all the steps of growth in command and staff posts (nowhere jumping the line, which is especially appreciated among officers).
It started with a “flight”: platoon, commanded a company, battalion, regiment, division, army (moreover, the most belligerent – the 58 combined arms in the North Caucasus, which fought in the 2nd Chechen Company).
He was chief of staff of both the Far Eastern Military District and the North Caucasus.
He commanded the Leningrad and Moscow military districts.
In 2010, he became deputy chief of the General Staff. In this position, he “allowed” himself to speak out against the adventurous reforms of Defense Minister Serdyukov. And he paid. Due to intractability, he was sent from Moscow for the third time (!) To command the military district again, this time the Central.
After Serdyukov’s resignation, the new Defense Minister Shoigu presented Gerasimov’s candidacy for the post of Chief of the General Staff to the president. Putin approved this proposal on November 9, 2012.
Gerasimov was one of the developers of the special operation for the peaceful return of Crimea to Russia in 2014. He led and developed the operations of our troops in Syria. He “had a hand” in the development of the current special operation in Ukraine.
Although on August 5, 2015, the Ukrainian military prosecutor’s office declared Gerasimov “the main ideologue of the war in Donbass”. He was declared “absentia arrest”.
The Russian Defense Ministry responded by saying that this was a political provocation and that the Security Service of Ukraine was a “reservoir of idiocy”.
Gerasimov – Hero of Russia and holder of 9 Soviet and Russian orders.
I had many occasions to meet and talk with the Chief of the General Staff. But only once, with great difficulty, did I convince him for an interview. He explained his frequent denials as follows: “I need to manage the troops and not give interviews.” He is an unusually modest and laconic man. But all who served or continue to serve under him unanimously say that he has strong control and the ability to make non-standard decisions.
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