Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, has been appointed Commander of the Joint Group of Russian Occupants in Ukraine. Previously, this position was held by Sergey Surovikin.

Now Surovikin has become Gerasimov's deputy.

Surovikin's demotion in the Ministry of Shoigu was explained by "an increase in the level of leadership of the" special operation"

"The increase in the level of leadership of the "special operation" is associated with the expansion of the scale of the tasks being solved, the need to organize closer interaction between the types and branches of the troops," the Defense Ministry said.

Also, Commander-in-Chief of the RF Ground Forces Oleg Salyukov and Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation Colonel-General Alexei Kim were appointed Gerasimov's deputy.