Russia may change military leadership due to failed winter offensive

The aggressor country is likely to soon change its top military command due to the unsuccessful winter offensive.

This is stated in a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Ukrinform reports.

On Saturday, Russian military bloggers said that on March 30, the Russian Defense Ministry recalled the commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel General Mikhail Teplinsky, from vacation after the Ministry of Defense replaced him with Lieutenant General Oleg Makarevich on January 13.

The Russian Defense Ministry has never confirmed Teplinsky's dismissal, and it is likely that the ministry put him on leave so that it could recall the colonel general to command the airborne troops when it deems it necessary.

Instead, Russian military bloggers claimed that Teplinsky immediately flew to the headquarters of the Russian joint forces in Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar region, to take command of the airborne troops, and that he was already planning future operations. One blogger claimed that Colonel General Alexander Lapin, Chief of the General Staff of the Army and former commander of the Central Military District (MD), was flying with Teplinsky.

The Russian Defense Ministry replaced Lapin with Lieutenant General Andrey Mordichev as commander of the Central Military District on February 17 after public criticism of Lapin for his management of the Svatovo-Kreminna line in the fall of 2022.

"It remains to be seen whether Lapin will be reinstated as commander of the (Russian - ed.) forces in Ukraine," ISW writes.

Starting on March 27, Russian sources suggested that the Russian Defense Ministry had also recently dismissed the commander of the Eastern Military District (MD), Colonel General Rustam Muradov, in response to sharp criticism of his command in connection with the significant losses of the Russian army in offensive operations near Vuhledar earlier this year.

Author - Serhii Kolomiets, 03/04/2023