Russia Resets Military Command

 

Russia taps a general with Syria experience 

to unify its military campaign in Ukraine.

 

New Russian commander in Ukraine oversaw 

brutal campaign in Syria.

 

The Russian general who has been put in charge of the invasion of Ukraine earned distinction in Moscow for his handling of his country’s intervention in the Syrian civil war, where he helped to oversee a brutal, scorched-earth campaign that drew criticism from many countries and human rights groups.

The general, Aleksandr V. Dvornikov, was dispatched to Syria in 2015 to shore up the flagging forces of President Bashar al-Assad and directed Russian forces there for a year. He was named a Hero of the Russian Federation for his role and is currently the commander of Russia’s southern military district.

Under his command, Russian forces in Syria were widely accused of bombing civilian neighborhoods, targeting hospitals and resorting to other tactics to try to break the back of the rebel movement that sought to oust Assad.