Russia appoints new commander of Western Military District - intelligence

This was reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense. 

“There was another rotation in the high command in the occupying army. Colonel-General Sergey Kuzovlev was removed from the post of commander of the troops of the Western Military District. He managed to stay in this position for only about a month. Instead, the Western Military District of the Russian Armed Forces was headed by Lieutenant General Yevgeny Nikiforov,” the message says.

Previously, Nikiforov held the post of Chief of Staff - First Deputy Commander of the Eastern Military District. According to intelligence data, today he is in the command post of the West troop group in Boguchar, Voronezh region.

The formal reason for Kuzovlev's dismissal was the failure of preparations for the offensive in the Lyman direction.

“However, in fact, this is a manifestation of an internal political struggle in the top leadership of the Russian Federation: a person from the Shoigu-Gerasimov orbit is being replaced by a candidate from the Surovik-Prigozhin group,” according to intelligence. 

It is noted that Russian General Nikiforov became the fourth commander of the Western Military District since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

Prior to that, the district was headed by: Colonel-General Alexander Zhuravlyov - from November 2018 to July 2022, but in fact he was suspended from his duties from April 2022; Lieutenant General Andrei Sichevoi - from July to August 2022; Lieutenant General Roman Berdnikov - from August to September 2022; Colonel-General Sergey Kuzovlev - from November to December 2022.

• On December 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin held an all-day meeting with the commanders of the forces fighting against Ukraine. He listened to commanders' proposals for immediate and medium-term actions.