General appointed by Putin ‘ordered strike on Kyiv’ on first day of the job
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A "brutal" general accused of warcrimes and convicted of killing innocent fellow Russians ordered this week's strike on Kyiv on his first few days on the job, an expert has claimed.
Over the weekend, the "corrupt" General Sergei Surovikin, infamous for shooting Moscow protesters in 1991, was appointed to lead the battle-weary Russian Army in Ukraine.
Just days after his appointment as "commander of the Joint Grouping of Forces in the areas of the special military operation" a devastating swathe of explosions hit multiple Ukrainian cities, killing at least 11 people.
READ MORE: Desperate Putin could unleash skin-melting chemical weapons to turn Ukraine war
And Dr Frank Ledwidge, a senior lecturer in law and strategy at the University of Portsmouth, reckons the horrific missile campaign was one of Surovikin's firsts acts in his new post.
He told the Daily Star the strikes on public places were "appalling" and added: “I’d put that down partly to the new commander, General Sergei Surovikin, he’s notably ruthless.”
“He was also involved in the Syrian war and I suspect he had something to do with it [Kyiv strikes].
“With that said, in order to run up a target list – I think there were 80 strikes – you’d need time, so that would have been done before he took over, but he would have given the order."
He issued a stark warning yesterday, October 11, saying: “If we continue on this road, there’s quite a few steps on the ladder including even chemical [warfare]."
And Surovikin is no stranger to chemical warfare, with his critics saying he was responsible for using it in Syria.
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Surovikin was entrusted by Putin to command his troops in during Russia's intervention in the Syrian civil war in September 2015, where he was accused of overseeing a brutal series of bombings that destroyed a large portion of the city of Aleppo, landing him on Human Rights Watch's list of commanders "who may bear command responsibility for violations".
His efforts also saw him commended with a medal in Russia in 2017.
The General even has a number of criminal controversies to his name after he was accused of ordering troops to open fire on a group of pro-democracy protestors in Moscow as the Soviet Union fell in 1991, killing three people.
The blood-hungry commander spent six months behind bars but was later released without trial.
He was given another prison sentence after he was found guilty of stealing and selling weapons in 1995 but was let off thanks to allegations he was framed.
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- Vladimir Putin
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