Russia has officially appointed Colonel General Victor Afzalov nuevo commander in chief of the Aerospace Forces replacing Sergei Surovikidismissed after the armed rebellion last June of the Wagner Group headed by the late Yevgeny Prigozhin.
According to the official agencies TASS and RIA Nóvosti, the appointment was made official the day before, although Afzálov was already acting on an interim basis commander in chief of the Aerospace Forces since last August.
Afzalov was born on June 9, 1968, graduated from the Pushkin Air Defense Higher Military School of Radioelectronics (1989), the Air Defense Military University (2000) and the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (2010).
In July 2017, he was appointed commander of the Air Force and Air Defense Army of the Eastern Military District, and in August 2018, head of the main headquarters of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
Surovikin, who was also a commander and later demoted to deputy commander of the Russian forces operating in Ukraine, would have in turn been appointed chairman of the Coordination Commission on Air Defense Affairs of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).