Surovikin’s name might sound familiar to people old enough to remember the failed 1991 Soviet coup. Now 55 years old, #Surovikin once served in the Soviet special forces, including in #Afghanistan. During the 1991 coup attempt, the then-24-year-old was in charge of the 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division, which tried to break through the barricades at the intersection of #Moscow’s Garden Ring and Novy Arbat Avenue. Three protesters were killed in the clashes: Dmitry Komar, Ilya Krichevsky, and Vladimir Usov. After the coup plotters’ swift defeat, the three men were posthumously named Heroes of the #SovietUnion. Surovikin spent several months in custody, but the charges against him were ultimately lifted (the Moscow Prosecutor's Office determined that he had been “carrying out the orders of his command”).

https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/10/10/who-is-general-armageddon #military #syria #ukraine #russia #terror #war #kadyrov #wagner