Last October 2022, Moscow chose the one known as ‘general Armagedon’, Sergei Surovikin, to lead the Russian offensive in Ukraine. His command has been brief, three months later, Valeri Gerásimov has become the visible face of Moscow in the frontwhile Surovikin himself will hold a prominent post related to the Russo-Ukrainian conflict as air force chief. The new visible leader of the offensive on the ground, chosen by the Minister of Defense Sergei Shoiguis a familiar face within the Russian Army, since he has been the chief of the General Staff for 10 years.
As pointed out by the SBU, the Ukrainian security services, Gerasimov himself would have already been part of combats in his territory, specifically in the battle of Ilovaisk, in 2014, in which nearly 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed. Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied this information. In this bloody battle, fought the militias prorusas del Donbásallies of Moscow against the Ukrainian regular army. Throughout the war between the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics and kyiv, which began in 2014, Moscow has indirectly aided the rebels in eastern Ukraine, although in practice they are responding to its orders.
This military veteran wears in the Army the most of his life, since he began to serve in the late 70s in the Army of the Soviet Union. The long career of Gerásimov, born in 1955, has led him to be awarded on different occasions, with the Orders of Saint George of IV and III degree -in 2015 and 2017 respectively-, Merit to the Fatherland of I degree in 2021 and the Alexander Nevsky order in 2020 , among other distinctions. However, the most outstanding recognition of him was the title of “hero of russia”, which was granted to him by secret decree. According to Russian media such as ‘Kommersant’, he was recognized for his participation in the organization of Russian support in the Syrian war. In this conflict, Moscow came to support the Syrian autocrat Bashar Al-Assad, whose troops faced both pro-democracy rebels and rebel militias as well as Islamic State jihadists.
The ‘Gerasimov doctrine’
In 2013, the military published an article that was soon called ‘doctrina Gerasimov’. In it he talked about the hybrid warfarewhich implies that in war not only military methods are used to attack the enemy but also disinformation, hacking, insurrections or other methods, such as the war itself. Russia has been carried out for years in Ukraine itself. In the same text, he assured that “the 21st century has seen how the border between peace and war. Wars are no longer declared and a hitherto unknown pattern is beginning to be seen.” These words came to define the Kremlin perspective on the Arab Spring from 2010-2012, a period in which Moscow pointed to the West as a black hand that destabilized countries in the Middle East.
However, even the creator of the expression, British university professor specializing in Russian security and politics Mark Galeotti, has rejected its use, rejects the existence of a ‘Gerasimov doctrine’ as such. He himself has remarked how from Moscow the term is only used to criticize him and admits that he created it as a “hook headline”. Although he warned in the same text that it was not a military doctrine, he ended up creating a term that was used repeatedly between western voices.
During most of the Russian offensive in the Ukraine, Gerásimov it had passed into the background, even talking about a possible dismissal. Now he is in the difficult situation of leading the offensive on kyiv that is becoming entrenched for the Russian Army, although he will have extensive financial resources, as Russian President Vladimir Putin assured in December 2022. The head of the Kremlin guaranteed his Army what he needed, by guaranteeing that “there will be no restrictions in the financing of Army. Everything the Armed Forces ask for, they will have it.” In addition, since the end of 2022 a new mobilization in Russia has also been rumored, although for the moment Moscow He has denied that information.