Overview

Sergei Vladimirovich Surovikin is a Russian army general and the former commander-in-chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces. With more than 30 years of military experience, General Surovikin is an accomplished commander who has served in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Chechnya, the North Caucasus, Syria, and Ukraine. After the Wagner Group rebellion in June 2023, General Surovikin, who had ties to Wagner, disappeared from public view. He was dismissed as head of the Russian Aerospace Forces in August 2023. Since September 2023, he served as head of the Coordinating Committee for Air Defense under the Council of Defense Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Surovikin was born on October 11, 1966, in Novosibirsk, Russia, in what was then the Soviet Union. In 1987, Surovikin graduated from Omsk Higher Command Military School. He later completed his education at the Frunze Military Academy in 1995 and the General Staff Academy in 2002. In 2010, he received a law degree from the Military Institute of the Moscow Region. Surovikin began his military career as a platoon commander and quickly rose through the ranks. He was deployed to Afghanistan to serve in Soviet special forces, likely in 1988. By 1989, he was serving in the Second Guards Taman Motorized Rifle Division, becoming its commander by August 1991. Surovikin was imprisoned for six months in Matrosskaya Tishina prison after commanding a unit that killed three anti-coup protesters during the 1991 Soviet coup attempt. He was released without a conviction after the fall of the Soviet Union.

In 1995, he deployed to Tajikistan with the 201st Motorized Rifle Division, where he quickly rose to chief of staff. Early in the first decade of the 2000s, Surovikin was stationed in the North Caucasus, working under Valery Gerasimov. From 2004 to 2005, he commanded the 42nd Guards Motorized Rifle Division in Chechnya. Later in 2005, Surovikin was appointed commander of the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army of the Moscow Military District. Between 2005 and 2008, he commanded the 34th Motorized Rifle Division. In late 2008, Surovikin was appointed head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff. By January 2010, he had become chief of staff of the Volga-Ural Military District and was listed as a major general. In December 2010, he was chief of staff of the Central Military District in Ekaterinburg. By April 2012, he was serving in the central apparatus of the Russian Ministry of Defense. In October 2012, Surovikin was appointed chief of staff and first deputy commander of the Eastern Military District.

From 2016 to 2017, Surovikin commanded Russian troops in Palmyra, Syria, and the Russian Aerospace Forces, becoming the first combined arms general to lead this type of troop despite having no aviation experience. On November 22, 2017, Surovikin was appointed commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces, a position he held until August 22, 2023. In 2019, Surovikin was promoted to colonel general. Two years later, in August 2021, he was promoted to army general. From 2022 to 2023, General Surovikin commanded troops in the Donbas region of Ukraine. He was removed from his position on August 18, 2023, following the Wagner rebellion.

Surovikin’s ties to Wagner may have officially begun in 2018 when he was assigned a personal Wagner registration number. While there is no evidence that he was on Wagner’s payroll, internal documents reveal the word “VIP” written next to Surovikin’s number, along with the numbers of at least 42 other senior Russian military and intelligence officials. In 2017–2018, Yevgeny Prigozhin and Surovikin became acquainted while in Syria, where Surovikin was the top commander. For his time in Syria, where he earned the nickname “General Armageddon” for his brutal tactics, Surovikin received the “Hero of Russia” title along with the “Gold Star” medal. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Prigozhin lobbied for Surovikin to be appointed as chief military officer for the war. Surovikin reportedly acted as a liaison between the Ministry of Defense and the Wagner Group. Surovikin vanished from public view after the Wagner uprising in June 2023, and in August 2023, Vladimir Putin removed him from his position as head of the Russian Aerospace Forces. The Kremlin suspected him of having known about the rebellion beforehand. Surovikin’s first public appearance after the rebellion was in September 2023 in Algeria.

Controversial tactics and alleged atrocities have marked Surovikin’s military career, including his direction of missile strikes on Ukrainian cities, oversight of brutal bombing campaigns in Syria, and alleged human rights violations by his subordinates in Chechnya. As of November 2023, the European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Ukraine, and Japan have sanctioned Surovikin for his role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, imposing measures such as asset freezes and travel bans.