Sergei Surovikin is a serving colonel general in the Russian Army who commanded the Russian military during its operations in Syria in 2017 and 2019. He came to the limelight in October 2022 when the Russian government made Sergei the commander of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine.Sergei Surovikin began his military career as an officer in the Russian Army after he completed his training at the Omsk Higher Military Command School in 1987.After commissioning in 1987 as a junior lieutenant, Sergei Surovikin was sent to Afghanistan, where he participated in the Soviet-Afghan War and served with the Russian special forces “Spetsnaz” till the end of the war in 1991.After Sergei Surovikin became a captain in 1991, he was posted to Moscow as the commander of the 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division of the Russian Army.After completing his tenure as a commander of the 2nd Guards Tamanskaya Motor Rifle Division, in 1995, Sergei attended a military course at the Russian military academy M. V. Frunze.Upon completing the military course at M. V. Frunze Military Academy, Sergei Surovikin was sent to the 92nd Motor Rifle Regiment as its chief of staff after which he was appointed the chief of staff of the 149th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment.Later on, Sergei Surovikin commanded Russia’s largest mountain warfare division, the 201st Division, in Tajikistan after which he was promoted and sent to another Russian Army’s infantry division as chief of staff.Sergei Surovikin attended a staff college course in 2002 at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation after which he was posted to the Volga-Urals Military District, where he commanded the 34th Simferopol Motorized Rifle Division.After the outbreak of the second Russian-Chechen War in 2004, Sergei Surovikin became a major general following which he was sent to the Chechen Republic, where he served with the 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division as its senior commander.In 2005, Sergei Surovikin became deputy commander of the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army, which was conducting military operations in the Northern Caucasus region in Russia. Later, he became the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army’s commander.