Command reshuffle in Russia's groups of troops fighting in Ukraine

General Andrei Ivanov, who was the first deputy commander of the Eastern Military District, became the commander of the Eastern Group.

Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, who commanded the troops of the Leningrad Military District, now heads the North Group. Previously, in 2022, Lapin commanded the Central Military District and the Center Group before being appointed First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

Lapin reportedly disbanded the Interagency Army and Intelligence Council for the Protection of Russia's Kursk Oblast several months before the Ukrainian military incursion in May.

He first made headlines after awarding the Zhukov Medal to his son, Lieutenant Colonel Denis Lapin, who was in charge of the failed Russian offensive on the Ukrainian cities of Sumy and Chernihiv. On May 7, the Russian media outlet Volgograd News claimed that Denis Lapin had been killed in a Ukrainian missile strike. The article was later removed.

Earlier, on Nov. 26, Lieutenant-General Oleksandr Sanchyk, who was acting commander of the Eastern Military District, was appointed commander of the Southern Military District. The former commander of the troop group, Colonel-General Gennady Anashkin, was appointed head of the Frunze Military Academy. 

The rotations are reportedly part of a planned process.