Commander of Russia’s Central Military District dismissed

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO — SATURDAY, 29 OCTOBER 2022, 19:28

Colonel General Alexander Lapin, the Commander of the Russian Armed Forces’ Central Military District, has been dismissed from his post. 

Source: Chechen state television and radio; the Russian business channel, RBK: Meduza, the Russian Latvia-based media outlet

Details: On Saturday, a number of Russian media sources, including Chechen state television and radio and an RBK source familiar with the personnel decision, reported Lapin's dismissal.

As Meduza noted, Lapin has recently been actively criticised by Ramzan Kadyrov, the Head of the Chechen Republic: in early October, he accused the general of surrendering Lyman and called him "talentless". According to Kadyrov, Lapin, in charge of this area, did not provide the mobilised occupiers in Luhansk Oblast with the necessary resources, and he allegedly "was hiding" in Luhansk.

Two days ago, Kadyrov entrusted the colonel-general with responsibility for the defence of the area in the north of Donetsk Oblast, where the Armed Forces of Ukraine have recently broken through. The Head of the Chechen Republic also has questions about Lapin receiving the title of Hero of Russia for the capture of Lysychansk, "in which he was not even present."

Background: Meduza wrote that Alexander Lapin (born in 1964) has been the Commander of the Central Military District since 2017.

From 2012 to 8 July 2014, Lapin was the Commander of the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army, which includes the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade. According to international investigation, the Buk missile system used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on 17 July 2014 had been delivered from this brigade’s base near Kursk to the east of Ukraine. Bellingcat investigators mentioned Lapin in their report on the Russian military as the commander who may be responsible for the downing of the plane, noting that the Buk departed from the base in late June.

Before Lapin's appointment as Commander of the Central Military District, he was the Commander of the Russian forces in Syria.

One of the first mentions of Lapin in the media after Russia's invasion of Ukraine was a story on the Zvezda TV channel of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation about how Lapin gave awards to soldiers "on the front line" who "showed courage and heroism during the liberation of cities and towns in Chernihiv Oblast." The story was published on 29 March, and over the following days, Russia withdrew all its troops from northern Ukraine. In addition, as discovered by the BBC Russian service, among those given an award by Lapin was his son, Lieutenant Colonel Denis Lapin.

On 24 June, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation announced at a briefing that units of the Central Military District under the command of Colonel General Lapin broke through the "well-prepared defence" of the Ukrainian troops, defeated the Ukrainian forces and blockaded Lysychansk. On 3 July, Lapin was mentioned again in a message about the blockade of Lysychansk, and the next day Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded the general the title of Hero of Russia for his participation in the capture of Luhansk Oblast.

Sota [a Russian news outlet] published the latest news about the Commander of the Central Military District. According to the information it provided, a mobilised serviceman, whose company retreated from the front line without authorisation after the shelling of the Svatove district, said that Lapin put a gun to the company commander's head "with a demand to turn back."

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