Vladimir Putin has appointed Alexei Dyumin, a former Kremlin agent, to take charge of defense in the Kursk region, replacing his military leader Valery Gerasimov’s duties in the region, according to an official and several pro-war Russian military bloggers. .
“My resources showed this data beforehand. In fact, Dyumin was invited to an assembly [with Putin] and was tasked with overseeing the conduct of the anti-terrorist operation. But the main task is to defeat the Armed Forces of Ukraine that have invaded the territory of the Kursk region,” Nikolai Ivanov, deputy of the Russian State Duma of the Kursk region, told RTVI on Tuesday.
Newsweek was unable to independently verify the reports about Dyumin’s appointment and contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
Reports of the appointment of Kremlin aide Dyumin, President Putin’s former bodyguard and governor of the Tula region, come as Gerasimov reportedly came under fire after rejecting intelligence warnings that Kiev forces were preparing to launch a armored attack against Kursk, which borders Ukraine. . north-eastern region of Sumy.
Bloomberg, citing an anonymous Kremlin insider, reported on August 8 that Kremlin officials were frustrated with Gerasimov’s handling of the war. Similar accusatory reports about him circulated on Russian Telegram channels last week, as Ukrainian troops pushed deeper into Kursk. region.
Ukraine launched its armored attack on Kursk on Aug. 6 and reportedly temporarily seized a large number of square kilometers of Russian territory. Russian research site Agentstvo reported that as of last Monday, the scope of military operations in the Kursk region exceeded 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles).
Thousands of citizens have been evacuated from the region and Russia has declared a state of emergency at the federal level.
The Russian military has also been forced to deploy more resources in the region, diverting its troops from the war it has unleashed in Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry released videos on August 9 showing the movement of the military apparatus towards the Sudjansky district of Kursk. which is now believed to be occupied across Ukraine.
Russian channel Telegram Rybar, founded by Mikhail Zvinchuk, a former Russian Defense Ministry worker, said Dyumin’s appointment indicates that without Moscow’s involvement, security forces would not be able to overcome the “operational crisis in the region. ” “Kursk”.
Last week, it was hypothesized that Putin had appointed Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), to take charge of operations in the Kursk region.
The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, estimated on August 10 that Putin likely appointed Bortnikov because “he had already proven himself to be an effective crisis manager. ” that threatened the internal stability of Russia and the Kremlin regime.
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Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek journalist based in Kuala Lumpur. She focuses on the war between Russia and Ukraine. Isabel joined Newsweek in 2021 and in the past she has worked with media outlets such as Daily Express, The Times, Harper’s BAZAAR and Grazia. She has an MA in News Journalism from the City of London, University of London and a BA in Journalism in Russian from Queen Mary, University of London. Languages: English, Russian
You can contact Isabel by emailing i. vanbrugen@newsweek. com or by following her on X @isabelvanbrugen
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