After three months, Putin fires the chief of the armed forces, nicknamed “General Armageddon”.

Putin’s commander-in-chief in Ukraine, nicknamed “General Armageddon”, was fired after just three months.

Sergey Surovikin was replaced by General Valery Gerasimov to head the so-called “special operation”.

Then he was embarrassingly demoted to one of Gerasimov’s deputies.

It was one of many upheavals in Moscow’s military leadership after a series of devastating Russian losses.

Surovikin, a notorious war criminal, was the first to take full command of the invasion campaign in October.

His failed tenure was marked by the heinous bombing of Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and Russia’s withdrawal from the important southern city of Kherson.

Prior to his appointment, Surovikin led Russian troops in Syria, where he was accused of taking part in a similar civilian bombing campaign in the city of Aleppo.

In 1991, Surovikin spent at least six months in prison after soldiers under his command killed three protesters in Moscow in a failed coup.

He also received a suspended sentence in 1995 for illegal arms trafficking, which was later lifted.

His successor, Gerasimov, is one of Putin’s closest allies and one of three key figures who led the invasion.

In a statement Wednesday, the Kremlin said Gerasimov’s appointment was an “elevation of the status of leadership” within the military and was done to “improve the quality and effectiveness of the management of the Russian armed forces”.

But it is seen by many as a political move to address ongoing tensions between senior war officials.

Since the beginning of the war, reports have surfaced suggesting that there has been a power struggle within the Kremlin.

The army is broadly divided into two ‘camps’: the first is the Russian security services, led by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov.

The other side, commonly referred to as the “war party,” is led by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has become an increasingly influential figure at the front.

Mr. Prigozhin has been an outspoken supporter of Surovikin since his appointment, and his demotion is seen as a way to curtail the influence of the Wagner faction.

However, it is believed that the changes at the top will do little to improve Russia’s ailing fortunes on the battlefield.

Dara Massicot, a senior researcher at Rand Corporation, said the Department of Defense “downgraded its most competent commander in chief and replaced him with an incompetent one.”

“This is a story that has it all: power struggles, power struggles, jealousy,” she said tweeted.

She stated that while Surovikin made no strategic mistakes, Shoigu and Gerasimov were responsible for the poor planning of the campaign.

“You let it go. They signed a secret plan, several bad assumptions, said nothing to the majority of their troops. It resulted in heavy casualties and a partially broken squad,” she added.

“With Gerasimov at the helm, if this is indeed permanent, the odds increase exponentially that the Russians will ask their weary army to do something they can’t handle.

Gerasimov did not push back in February 2022 and will not do so now. IDK whether this is good or bad for Ukraine.”

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