Deputy Head of the Ground Forces and Advisor to Shoigu: What Permutations Putin Made in the Leadership of the Armed Forces

Vladimir Putin rearranged the Russian Defense Ministry and Armed Forces. The decree “On Appointment to a Position in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation” was posted on the Kremlin’s website.

According to the document, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces Colonel-General Alexander Lentsov was relieved of his post and was appointed adviser to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation.

Instead, Lieutenant General Alexander Matovnikov, who previously worked as the presidential plenipotentiary in the North Caucasus Federal District, will become the new deputy head.

In his Instagram, Matovnikov thanked the residents of the North-Caucasian Federal District "for cooperation and support", and the leaders of all the regions "for the common desire for common goals to improve the standard of living of every person."

“I am sure that great positive changes await our regions. Special thanks to my colleagues and colleagues. I felt your reliable shoulder, which I could always lean on. Dear friends! May peace and prosperity always reign in your homes. Health, goodness and new successes for the benefit of the North Caucasus and the whole of Russia! ”Wrote the former presidential envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District.

Anatoly Matovnikov is the son of Anatoly Matovnikov, an employee of the USSR State Security Committee (KGB). In 1986 he graduated from the Higher Border Military-Political Red Banner School of the KGB under the USSR Council of Ministers named after K. E. Voroshilov (currently - the Golitsyn Border Institute of the FSB of Russia. - RT ).

Then he began serving in the anti-terrorist unit "A" of the KGB of the USSR. Together with other fighters of the unit, he went to Afghanistan, accompanied President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev on trips to the United States, participated in ensuring the safety of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during her trip to Armenia, which suffered from the earthquake.

In 1992, he graduated from the Higher School of the Ministry of Security of the Russian Federation (now the Academy of the FSB of the Russian Federation). In the 1990s, he participated in hostilities and special operations in the North Caucasus, including the assault on a hospital seized by terrorists in Budennovsk in 1995. In the early 2000s, he ensured the protection of the Supreme Mufti, and then the President of Chechnya, Akhmat Kadyrov. In 2004, he took part in the operation to free the hostages in Beslan.

In 2014, he was appointed deputy commander of the Special Operations Forces, and a year later became the head of the MTR. He participated in the Russian military operation against international terrorist organizations in Syria, and in 2017 was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.

In the summer of 2018, Matovnikov was appointed presidential envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District, and also became a member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for strategic development and national projects.

“Must fulfill such challenging innovative breakthrough tasks”

The new adviser to the Minister of Defense, Colonel-General Alexander Lentsov in 1978 graduated from the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command twice Red Banner School named after the Lenin Komsomol. Since 1979 he served in Afghanistan. A year later, he was appointed commander of a separate reconnaissance company, then commanded a paratrooper battalion.

In 1989, Lentsov graduated from the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze. He commanded a regiment and division, participated in the Bosnian war (as head of the Russian peacekeepers), as well as in both Chechen campaigns and in the five-day war in South Ossetia.

In 2009, Lentsov was appointed deputy commander of the Airborne Forces, and since 2013, the deputy commander of the Ground Forces since July 2013. Moreover, in the early years of the conflict in southeastern Ukraine, he led a group of observers at the Joint Center for Monitoring and Coordination of the Ceasefire. Later he participated in the military operation of the Russian Federation in the SAR. In 2016, he was elected president of the International Tank Biathlon Federation.

Head of the Department of Political Science and Sociology REU named after G.V. Retired Colonel Andrei Koshkin, Plekhanova, emphasized in an interview with RT that the new adviser to Russian Defense Minister Alexander Lentsov has considerable experience, both military and administrative.

“I want to focus on the fact that today for the authorities, for the federal and regional levels, being in the Armed Forces is a rather positive part of the life of the future leader both at the federal and regional levels. The tasks set by the president in his address to the Federal Assembly and the formation of a new cabinet, headed by Mikhail Mishustin, characterize the selection of personnel who are to fulfill such difficult innovative breakthrough tasks. Naturally, it took people of a high degree of organization and the ability of such a large-scale leadership as Lentsov, ”he said.

The editor-in-chief of Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine Viktor Murakhovsky, against the background of updating the composition of the government and a number of ministries, noted that the Russian President has a minimum of complaints.

“Putin noted in his message to the Federal Assembly that it was precisely in the field of the country's defense, defense industry complex and international relations that we have achieved the greatest progress and success. In principle, the measures taken over the past years, led by the president, defense minister, and chief of the General Staff, have ensured the country's security for decades to come. Here you can just give an example of the effective work of these areas and the people who lead them, ”said the source RT.