Russia Sends Former Ukraine Commander Surovikin to Algeria

Russia has deployed General Sergey Surovikin, a former commander of Russian invasion forces in Ukraine, to Algeria as the head of a group of military specialists.

That was reported by the Kommersant newspaper, citing pro-Kremlin Telegram channels and photos published by the Russian Embassy in Algeria.

Surovikin led Russia’s military operations in Ukraine from October 2022 to January 2023.

During his tenure, Russian troops retreated from the western bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region under pressure from the Defense Forces of Ukraine.

After being removed from his post, he continued as commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces until August 2023.

Surovikin disappeared from public view following the Wagner Group’s failed mutiny in June 2023.

Media reports at the time speculated that he may have supported the rebellion and had been detained.

In February 2025, Viktor Sobolev, a member of the State Duma’s Defense Committee, said Surovikin was working as a military advisor in an unspecified African country.

Today, May 12, the Kommersant newspaper, citing pro-war Russian Telegram channels, reported that Sergei Surovikin is working in Algeria. He was identified in photos posted by the Russian Embassy in Algeria on May 9.

Though not identified by name, the embassy referred to him as the “head of a group of Russian military specialists.”

Surovikin, a controversial figure in Russian military history, first gained notoriety during the failed August 1991 coup in the Soviet Union.

Then a young officer, he ordered his unit to break through a blockade by demonstrators, resulting in the deaths of three civilians — one was crushed by an infantry fighting vehicle, and two more were shot. He was arrested but released seven months later on orders from then-President Boris Yeltsin.

In 1995, the Moscow Garrison Court convicted him of involvement in illegal arms sales, sentencing him to one year of probation. He was later acquitted and the charges were dropped.