Colonel-General Alexander Lapin became chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces, RBC writes, citing a source in the Ministry of Defense. The same information is given by the source URA.RU. Lapin was previously the commander of the Center group of Russian troops in the NVO, but was criticized for military failures by the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, and lost his post in November. Viktor Sobolev, a member of the State Duma Committee on Defense, told the Daily Storm that it is difficult for him to assess the likelihood of a new appointment of Lapin, but if it does happen, for the colonel-general it will definitely “be demoted.”
“There is no official information about this. This (the appointment of Lapin as Chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces) is unlikely. But if this is still the case, this is a downgrade for Lapin. Maybe they were appointed. He is young and so on. And there, the new chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces (who held this position on the website of the Ministry of Defense is not said. – Note. Daily Storm), was appointed just three months ago. Therefore, everything is possible, ”said Sobolev.
The deputy believes that the criticism of General Lapin by the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov and the founder of Wagner PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin was on the case. “But how not to criticize?! They included the Kharkiv region in the list for a referendum, it was supposed to become part of Russia. And as a result (troops) retreated to the border of the Luhansk Republic, where settlements are being shelled (by the Armed Forces of Ukraine), just like in Donetsk. In fact, they liberated the Kharkov region, and then abruptly retreated. Including as a result of not quite skillful command and control of the troops, ”Sobolev explained.
So far, there has been no official statement from the Ministry of Defense about Lapin’s new position. After his resignation from the post of commander of the Center grouping of Russian troops, Lapin was sent on a “three-week vacation,” URA.RU reported. The interlocutor of the agency claimed that the general “was given time to rest,” since he had been in the zone of military operation from the first days. It was noted that Lapin would fly to the hospital, and after some time he would return to the service. Major General Alexander Linkov was appointed interim commander of the Central Military District instead of Lapin.
On October 1, after Russia withdrew its troops from the Donetsk city of Liman (Krasny Liman), Kadyrov called Lapin a “talentless man” and declared that he would have demoted this general to a private. On October 27, the head of Chechnya criticized Lapin for breaking through the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the settlements of Terny, Torskoye and Yampolovka in the DPR. Kadyrov said that for several days he could not contact Lapin to discuss the situation on the front line with him.
The Kremlin, commenting on Lapin’s criticism, urged to do without “emotions.” “Even in difficult moments, it’s all the same, probably, emotions should be excluded without any assessment,” said Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the head of state.
Alexander Lapin was born in 1964 in Kazan. In 2017, he was appointed chief of staff of the group of Russian troops in Syria, in November of the same year he headed the command of the Central Military District. From October 2018 to January 2019, he commanded a group of troops in Syria. On July 4, Lapin was awarded the title of Hero of Russia.