INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Valery Gerasimov, who in a surprise move was named to lead Russian troops in Ukraine after months of setbacks, has been Moscow's top
general for the past decade as chief of the general staff.The decision to appoint the country's top soldier to lead an offensive on the
ground in Ukraine is extremely unusual and has been seen by many analysts as a last-ditch effort by President Vladimir Putin to resuscitate
his faltering offensive in Ukraine after a series of humiliating defeats."This has not happened since 1941, when Marshal Georgy Zhukov was
chief of general staff doesn't command armies anywhere
It is a different function: they coordinate, prepare, plan
Putting him in command of field forces is unprecedented
It violates all existing rules."Gerasimov, 67, is the Russian military's highest-ranking official after Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and
background, during military drills and meetings.Observers believe Gerasimov was closely involved in devising the plan to send Russian troops
into Ukraine in conditions of absolute secrecy.After taking over as the head of the Russian army in 2012, Gerasimov has been the
Syria to buttress the regime of Bashar al-Assad the following year.Presenting Gerasimov to Putin in 2012, the defense minister described him
as "a military man to the roots of his hair" and pointed to his "colossal" experience, both at the general staff and in the field.Gerasimov
oversaw operations in the Second Chechen War during his time in the 58th Army of the North Caucasus Military District between 1998 and
ground in Ukraine, and a Pentagon official said the general had visited the eastern region of Donbas in spring.Gerasimov was thought to be
touring the front to better understand field conditions and rally his troops after Russian forces failed to capture Kyiv.An adviser to
Ukraine's president, Oleksiy Arestovych, said in December that Ukrainian troops targeted Gerasimov during his visit to eastern Ukraine but
victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War in 1945.The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, expressed
doubt that Gerasimov would be able to claw back a victory after fading "into obscurity following the collapse of Russia's flawed initial
failures'As commander of Russian armed forces in Ukraine, Gerasimov replaced Sergei Surovikin, who had been in the top job for just three
months and will now serve as one of Gerasimov's deputies.The name of Surovikin's predecessor was not publicly announced, and the entire
command structure during the offensive remains opaque."Gerasimov will likely preside over a disorganized command structure plagued by
endemic, persistent, and self-reinforcing failures that he largely set into motion," the Institute for the Study of War said.Many analysts
also pointed out that by thrusting Gerasimov into the top role at the front, Putin wanted to reassert control after irregular forces
fighting in Ukraine including mercenary group Wagner praised Surovikin and criticized the Russian army.Born in the city of Kazan on the
He commanded the Leningrad Military District from 2007 to 2009 and the Moscow Military District from 2009 to 2010.General Pierre de
Villiers, who was chief of the general staff of the French armed forces between 2014 and 2017, said he remembered Gerasimov as a no-nonsense
military man."What I noticed was that he only recognized one thing, the balance of power," he said on French television.
