President Vladimir Putin has put his top military officer Valery Gerasimov in charge of Russia’s stalled invasion of Ukraine, in the latest reshuffle since the start of the war. The chief of the general staff will be expected to bolster the army’s sagging war effort while contending with the Wagner Group’s growing influence – a tall order that has led some analysts to suspect he was set up to fail.
Just three months after he last reshuffled the deck, Putin has picked another commander to lead Russia’s troubled campaign in Ukraine, reflecting the Kremlin’s dissatisfaction with the course of the so-called “special military operation” launched on February 24.
