More on Gen. Surovikin;

TG / DeNATOfication | From Russia with Love

"Sergei Surovikin is de facto the new Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. The process of replacing the old leadership of the Defense Ministry has begun and will take some time. Although formally Gerasimov still remains the Chief of the General Staff, the operational management of not only the SMO but also of the entire Armed Forces of the Russian Federation has already been transferred to Surovikin. The only thing that currently prevents the publication of Gerasimov's resignation is Putin's categorical unwillingness to do anything under pressure.

The question of Sergei Shoigu's resignation has also been resolved. Surovikin would not be able to work with him anyway, they have a long-standing conflict. Surovikin should have become CGS three years ago by results of the Syrian campaign in which Surovikin proved to be the leading general in the Armed Forces of Russia, but it didn't work out for political reasons (Surovikin is associated with Chemezov's "party").

Surovikin was in command when SMO started, but after Istanbul it was decided to wind things down and recognize the first stage of the campaign as wrongly planned. Surovikin was transferred to lead the Southern Group (which is the only one that still continues to attack in the most inconvenient place - DPR). Shoigu was supposed to be replaced by Dyumin, but now Surovikin will have to be balanced, because Dyumin also has too good relations with Chemezov"