Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces
Colonel General

Biography

Since 1983 - in active military service in the Armed Forces of the USSR.

In 1987 he graduated from the Omsk Higher Combined Arms Command School named after M.V. Frunze with a gold medal.

Since 1987 - commander of a motorized rifle platoon, commander of a motorized rifle company, chief of staff - deputy commander of a motorized rifle battalion.

In 1995 he graduated from the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze with honors. Then he served as commander of a motorized rifle battalion, chief of staff - deputy commander of a motorized rifle regiment.

Since 1998 - commander of the 149th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 201st Motorized Rifle Division.

Since 1999 - Chief of Staff - Deputy Commander of the 201st Motorized Rifle Division.

Participant of the armed conflict on the territory of the Republic of Tajikistan, participant of the Second Chechen War, participant of the military operation in the Syrian Arab Republic.

In 2002 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation with honors.

Since June 2002 - commander of the 34th motorized rifle division.

Since June 2004 - Commander of the 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division.

Since 2005 - Deputy Commander, Chief of Staff, since April 2008 - Commander of the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army.

From October 2008 to January 2010 - Head of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

From January to July 2010 - Chief of Staff - First Deputy Commander of the Volga-Urals Military District.

From July to December 2010 - Chief of Staff - First Deputy Commander of the Central Military District.

From December 2010 to April 2012 - Chief of Staff - First Deputy Commander of the Central Military District.

From April to October 2012 - head of the working group on the formation of the Military Police of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

Since October 2012 - Chief of Staff - First Deputy Commander of the Eastern Military District.

From October 2013 to October 2017 - Commander of the Eastern Military District.

On December 8, 2017, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation for the courage and heroism shown in the performance of military duty in the Syrian Arab Republic.

He was awarded the Order of St. George IV degree, Courage, "For Military Merit" and a number of medals.

On November 29, Krasnaya Zvezda officially published a message stating that Colonel-General Sergei Surovikin, who until recently led a group of 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 of the Russian 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 combat operations and operational command and control of 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 was when he graduated from the school, receives a serious general command training course 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 them 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

In Soviet times, the corporation of land workers quite firmly held the highest positions in 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 torn off 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 service - first in 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." These are the Strategic Rocket Forces (RVSN) and the Air Defense Forces, which are of interest to us, among others.

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 in succession: 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 rocket corporation, 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 Soviet aces during the war, Marshal Alexander Koldunov, was at the head of the air defense - a scandal erupted with the landing of a light-engine 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 troops in the Far East, who on September 1, 1983 gave the order 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 strange. On the contrary, there is a kind of preservation of traditions.

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. At the moment, Surovikin is 51 years old, and he continues his career. Service began in 1983.

Biography

General Surovikin graduated from the Omsk Higher Command School named after M.V. Frunze in 1987. Upon graduation, he received a gold medal for excellent achievements. 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 the State Committee for the State of Emergency realized its 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 a while, 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 the grouping of troops of the Russian Armed Forces 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's office, in his presence and in 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.

There are unprecedented changes in the leadership of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. 51-year-old appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces Colonel General Sergei Surovikin, who has been in charge of the Russian group in Syria since March 2017. A graduate of the Omsk Higher Combined Arms Command School, and then the Combined Arms Academy and the Academy of the General Staff, a motorized rifleman by education and service experience, who had never before had anything to do with military aviation. One of the ideologists of the creation of the military police in our army, it was believed that he should have headed it from December 2011. But it didn't work out. Instead, the general had to go to the Eastern Military District - first the deputy commander, and then the commander of his troops. Later, as already mentioned, there was Syria.

And now it has turned around: apparently, Sergei Vladimirovich forever hung his usual green tunic in the closet, changed into a beautiful general's uniform the color of the sky and turned into the main Russian military aviator. It is unlikely that he will simply be at the head of all the air aces of our country, who are already muttering about this.

This decision of the Kremlin can only be compared with the sadly memorable many appointments Anatoly Serdyukov Russian Defense Minister. As former colleagues told me then, at the first meeting of the collegium of the Ministry of Defense, Serdyukov read the abbreviation Air Force, familiar to servicemen (in the sense of the Air Force), in a speech prepared in advance for him as the BBC (in the sense of a British radio station). And this was only the beginning of many professional mistakes of this character on a professional path unknown to him before.

What pitfalls Colonel-General Surovikin will have to face in his new post - we will probably find out soon. But why, and why in general, did the Kremlin have to perform a personnel somersault so unheard of in the history of Russian military aviation?

Well, gratitude President Vladimir Putin for heroic deeds in the fight against international terrorism in the Middle East - this is understandable. Everyone who has had a chance to command our warring group in Syria over the years is invariably promoted. Such as, Colonel General Alexander Dvornikov, after returning home put at the head of the Southern Military District.

Exactly the same was true during the Chechen war. Putin has never forgotten any of the generals who ensured his political victory. So, for example, from 1997 to 2004, the head of our General Staff was Army General Anatoly Kvashnin. So in May 2000, the former commander of the united group of troops in Chechnya was appointed Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Southern Federal District General Viktor Kazantsev who took Grozny.

There is no doubt that the current appointment of General Surovikin is from the same series of officially issued thanks from the president. But still, it would be possible to find something very significant for this honored military man, but still not connected with an absolutely unexplored field of activity, where, for this reason, you can easily break firewood for many billions. As happened with the same Serdyukov. But since Surovikin was nevertheless thrown into the VKS, it turns out that there were some other good reasons for such a decision?

Most likely yes. If we continue the analogies with Serdyukov, it is likely that the Kremlin needed the former motorized rifleman Surovikin at the head of military aviation to break the corporate ties that have developed in this main command and reform it. The first thing that comes to mind is a long overdue solution to the problem of army aviation (AA).

Let me remind you that until 2003, Russian army aviation (and these are helicopters for various purposes, primarily combat ones) was part of the Ground Forces. As it is now accepted almost all over the world. Because combat and transport helicopters are the most important means of conducting combined arms combat. And it should be in the hands of the commander who organizes this battle. That is, the commander of a motorized rifle or tank division, corps, combined arms or tank army.

But in 2003, everything was turned upside down once again. Moreover, it happened hastily and completely ill-conceived. Here's how he told reporters about that decision at one time former commander of army aviation, Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel-General Vitaly Pavlov: “Everything was decided spontaneously, at the collegium of the Ministry of Defense. I was not invited to this meeting. Previously, the question was raised (1995) about the transfer of army aviation to the country's Air Force, but then the approach was different. They created a commission of 40 people in advance, interviewed the entire army leadership, analyzed the situation and made a decision on the inappropriateness of such transformations. Here Ivanov(in those days - the Minister of Defense of Russia - "SP") asked Kormiltsev(at that time - the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces - "SP"), is he ready to transfer army aviation to the subordination of the Air Force Commander-in-Chief Mikhailova. He, without hesitation, replied: "Aviation should be in the same hands." Stupidity. The real stupidity ... After a while they will come to their senses, but this will again run into colossal costs, both human and financial. I am sure that for what they have done breadwinners, neither Kvashnin(then the Chief of the General Staff - "SP") will not answer.

And here is how he commented on the situation Colonel General Leonid Ivashov, in the past - a member of the collegium of the Ministry of Defense: “The decision to transfer it (army aviation -" SP ") to the Air Force was made under pressure from a very narrow-minded military leader - Anatoly Kvashnin. He broke a lot of wood. Army aviation is called that because it is designed to support the army on the battlefield. From the very beginning it was obvious that the decision to give helicopters to the Air Force was wrong. First, the Air Force and Air Defense are combined into one structure and solve common specific tasks. Helicopter units are a burden for them. Secondly, the Ground Forces themselves lost very powerful fire support. This was especially evident in August 2008 during the war with Georgia. When our troops moved forward, there was not a single helicopter in the district that could be used for fire support, evacuation, reconnaissance, or the deployment of special groups. Even the department for interaction with aviation was disbanded. For these nonsense, you just need to plant.

Of course, no one, for the transfer of AA, first to the Air Force, and then to the Aerospace Forces, has not been imprisoned and will not be imprisoned. But the 08.08.08 war with Georgia really showed that a lot of firewood had been broken. And the generals began to slowly take back. At the same time, it was necessary (and still has to be!) to overcome the serious hardware resistance of the main command of the Aerospace Forces, which, as you can understand, is not at all eager to return helicopter pilots to the bosom of the Ground Forces. Apparently, because with them you will have to lose a considerable financial pie, high staff positions and other delights.

In 2008, the already mentioned Colonel General Pavlov told the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper: “Diplomacy has nothing to do with it. And it's not about me. Yes, I was and remain a staunch supporter of army aviation being part of the Ground Forces. But this is not some kind of whim, not the ambitions of a lover, I will not hide, a professional in his branch of the army. This is an objective necessity, determined by the realities of modern combat and confirmed by practice.

If you have noticed, after the events in South Ossetia, even some of those who previously argued with foam at the mouth the expediency of transferring army aviation under the “wing” of the Air Force, publicly admit the inconsistency and even harmfulness of their idea. Where does this insight come from? Yes, this war itself, be it wrong, showed that the Air Force command, with all its desire, does not have the ability to constantly monitor the situation in the theater of operations and directly control aviation on the battlefield. The Air Force has other tasks. They (I mean, first of all, "long-range", bombers) hit bridges, warehouses, arsenals, railway junctions, and so on, that is, strike at predetermined targets. And the helicopter is the weapon of the battlefield. Its task is to search for and beat tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, artillery, enemy manpower. This means that the command and control structures for these weapons should be located in the Ground Forces."

In July 2010 then Commander of the Airborne Forces, Colonel General Vladimir Shamanov slashed irritably from his shoulder: "It would be the right decision to return army aviation to the Ground Forces, as is done all over the world."

In 2012, the then Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, Colonel General Vladimir Chirkin announced that by 2020, 14 army aviation brigades would be additionally formed in the Ground Forces. At the same time, he, however, did not explain how all this would be combined with the very fact of the continued subordination of army aviation to the Aerospace Forces.

A little later, a representative of the Aerospace Forces clarified that the compromise reached with the ground forces was as follows: the helicopter brigades had indeed gone to the Ground Forces, but the organization of their combat training remained with his department. Apparently, according to the principle: "Everything that flies is ours."

Accordingly, the Department of Combat Training of Army Aviation is retained in the Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces. His chief, in essence, is the unofficial commander of army aviation. Today it Major General Oleg Chesnokov.

Judging by his public speeches, Chesnokov believes that the management scheme of AA, born in pain, is close to ideal today. And in confirmation, he cites the fact that in recent years the combat power of his troops has been steadily growing. The raid of crews is increasing, new equipment is rhythmically arriving. To a large extent, the efforts of helicopter pilots achieved victory in Syria. As if if this structure were wholly and completely part of the Main Command of the Ground Forces, everything would have turned out differently.

Why all of a sudden? New helicopters are coming into service because the country is able to provide a significant defense order. The average flight time of crews is growing due to the rhythmic financing of the combat training of the entire army, and helicopter pilots in particular. And also because of the ongoing hostilities in the Middle East. And all this is not happening at all because the combat training of helicopter units and formations is organized precisely by the Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces. In the Ground Forces, they would probably have coped with this too. Only for this it would be necessary to organize a full-fledged administrative structure of army aviation there. Including, of course, the organization of combat training. Something like the one that was before 2003, when the Russian army aviation included up to 40 helicopter regiments, 9-10 separate helicopter squadrons, the Combat Use Center in Torzhok and the Syzran Higher Military Aviation School. All this colossus from Moscow was led by the Army Aviation Administration, consisting of 111 officers. Each district has an AA command post of 50-70 officers.

It is simply impossible to imagine that today the functions of these long-abolished powerful structures are fully performed by the only department of combat training of helicopter pilots of eight officers headed by Major General Chesnokov, which has been preserved in the Aerospace Forces. In addition, the once single body of army aviation today looks divided between two serious departments - the SV and the VKS. The experience of the previous service suggests that this also does not add harmony to the overall military-bureaucratic process.

So, a lot of things need to change here urgently. The new Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces, General Surovikin, and the cards in hand. Who, if not him - the former commander of the 42nd motorized rifle division and the commander of the district - knows the price of supporting infantry by helicopter pilots on the battlefield? And what does it mean to beg these helicopters from aviators literally for Christ's sake?

Therefore, if he is behind this reform and dressed as a president in a flight uniform, I personally would understand this. But it will be difficult for Surovikin. This is to be sure. It would be simple - long ago the entire army aviation would have returned to the Ground Forces. As they say - overripe.

It is not the first day that the news has been spreading in the media that the Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces has been appointed and General Surovikin S.V. will become it. He will take this post instead of General Viktor Bondarev. The Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces received a new distribution and will work in the Federation Council. The former commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces will work with the committee in the field of defense and security and is currently preparing to take on a new position. The new appointment of the Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces and the reshuffle in the leadership were not unambiguously perceived by everyone.

How military personnel in the VKS reacted to the appointment

The military personnel of the Aerospace Forces reacted especially negatively to this appointment. Although the dismissal of Bondarev, the commander of the VKS, is also due to the fact that his leadership has distinguished itself by an increased number of air accidents. But unlike his predecessor, Sergei Surovikin never had anything to do with the air force, he commanded motorized rifle formations for most of his military career, and in recent years he led the work of the detachment in Syria. According to the pilots, entrusting the command of the Aerospace Forces to a person who had no experience at the helm of an aircraft is an extremely reckless decision.

Major General of the Air Force Alexander Tsialko also took this news without much enthusiasm. In his opinion, the commander-in-chief of the VKS should be a professional in his field. With such assignments, it often happens that the commander has to be taught basic knowledge first. It will be difficult for him to delve into the documents, the organization of work and simply understand the life of the pilots. The command of such troops is trained in specialized military educational institutions.

It is because of the incompetence of the leadership that there are cases of death of pilots on duty. The VKS commander must listen to his deputies in order to avoid mistakes in leadership. Tsialko believes that Surovikin will not always do this. Therefore, problems cannot be avoided.

It's no secret that pilots dislike infantry. This is not due to great pride, but due to the fact that you need to understand the flying business. Pilots have their own special language for orders. Thanks to this, the generals put all the necessary tasks to their subordinates. For this reason alone, the new GK VKS may have problems with interaction and management.

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What is known about the new boss

Commander-in-Chief of the VKS S.V. Surovikin went through a difficult military path. His biography has difficult moments. The new head of the VKS is 50 years old, he is a regular professional military man who graduated from the military combined arms command school located in Omsk. Sergei Vladimirovich began his service back in the days of the Soviet army. Immediately after graduation, he was sent to serve in Afghanistan. He served during the war on the territory of Tajikistan, as well as in the North Caucasus. In 2002 he became a graduate of the military academy at the General Staff.

In the period 2002-2004, he headed the 34th motorized rifle division stationed in Yekaterinburg. Then he served in the 42nd division during the period of hostilities during the military conflict in the Republic of Chechnya. There he held mainly command positions and took part in the work of the headquarters. Since October 2013, he has led military formations as part of the Air Defense Forces. Since 2017, he has led the work of Russian troops in Syria. He has military awards, was awarded orders such as "for courage" and "for courage".

In the 1990s, in Tajikistan, at the risk of his life, he delivered military equipment and personnel to ensure the elimination of the serious consequences of a natural disaster in the affected regions of this country. Many of the general's colleagues speak of him as an experienced and professional military man.

But not everything is so smooth in the biography of the future commander-in-chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces. There was a moment in his life when he was taken into custody after the death of civilians. This happened in 1991, when he was still the captain of the Toman division. By order of the State Emergency Committee, he was to participate in restoring order in troubled Moscow. On August 21, at night, he was ordered to break through the barricades of civilians set up near the Garden Ring. He led the BMP column. As a result of the collision, three picketers were killed.

After this tragedy, he was forced to spend seven months in Matrosskaya Tishina, but, later, the charges were dropped, and the rank was raised to major, with the light hand of Boris Yeltsin.

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Another case occurred with Sergei Surovikin in 2004. His subordinate wrote a report to the prosecutor's office about his commander beating him because of the wrong vote in the elections, and a month later his subordinate shot himself. But in both cases, the fault of the division commander was not proven.

Creation of military police

Sergei Vladimirovich Surovikin stood at the origins of the creation of the structure of the military police, it was he who opened this structure. The authority of this unit includes the activities of the FSB and military counterintelligence. The military police not only carry out patrol tasks, but also carry out operational activities. The servicemen of these units are also required to monitor the maintenance of the Guardhouse.

Creating this structure S.V. Surovikin was supposed to become its head, but due to the fact that a long-standing conviction surfaced, for which he received 1 year probation, his candidacy was removed from consideration.

He received a criminal record as a result of a case where he was found guilty of trafficking in firearms. Later it turned out that he was set up, the conviction was canceled, but such an incident was not forgotten in the prosecutor's office. The chief military prosecutor of the Russian Federation opposed his candidacy and in 2011, in his letter to the Minister of Defense, he expressed his position. The Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Federation, in order to avoid conflict, sent Surovikin to the post of Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Military District.

Last appointment

Information that Surovikin will be appointed commander-in-chief of the VKS troops has been discussed among the military for a long time. It is believed that he received such an appointment after his excellent work carried out in the Syrian conflict. Despite the fact that he is a typical land commander, he managed to organize the work of aviation, air defense systems, space troops and motorized rifle formations.

Two other candidates were considered for this position:

1. Lieutenant General Igor Mokushev;
2. representative of the Space Forces Alexander Golovko.

S.V. Surovikin was not considered with particular seriousness among the possible candidates. Both candidates went through their military career and were associated with activities in the field of rocket and air forces, but the choice was made on this issue for other reasons.

The pilots did not want to see the candidacy of Alexander Golovko. Since at the time of the creation of the Aerospace Forces, the rocket and space forces very actively began to master the budget allocated to the entire structure. For this reason, Golovko, as a representative of the rocket and space forces, was not the best option. Therefore, the choice not in his favor only pleased the representatives of the Air Force.

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General Sergei Surovikin was chosen due to the fact that he has a wealth of combined arms experience. In such a position, a representative of one type of troops will experience difficulties. The example of his predecessor, Viktor Bondarev, is illustrative. There is an opinion that the Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces, Lieutenant General Viktor Bondarev, is leaving precisely because of the plane crash that happened in 2016 in Sochi. This tragedy influenced the decision not in his favor.