 Who is Valery Gerazimov, the new leader of Russia's war in Ukraine? President Vladimir Putin has put his top military officer, Valery Gerazimov, in charge of Russia's stalled invasion of Ukraine in the latest reshuffle since the start of the war. Gerazimov, 67, is not only the highest ranking officer in the army, he is also a very different type of commander from Surovkin, who was dubbed General Armageddon for his reputed ruthlessness. The longest serving chief of the General Staff since Union Times, Gerazimov, can boast of a solid CV with past successes in Chechnya and Crimea. He is also seen as a moderating influence on the course of the war and someone Washington can work with. Gerazimov, appointed chief of the General Staff and Deputy Defense Ministry Minister in 2012, is regarded as one of the country's most brilliant generals and has been recognized by the Russian President as a hero of Russia. He played a key role in the 2014 Crimea war by designing major military operations as well as in backing al-Assad in the Syrian Civil War. In addition, the Ukrainian military prosecutor's office has deemed him the main ideologue of the Donbas War. And in the current war, the US ranks him alongside Putin as one of the senior Russian officials directly responsible for the conflict, which has earned him several Western sanctions. Valery Gerazimov is, along with Minister Sergei Shoigu and President Putin, one of the three Russian men who possess a cheget, or nuclear briefcase, a mobile system that would allow the white, not red button to be pressed and the Kremlin's nuclear arsenal to be mobilized in response to an attack on its interests. Gerazimov's appointment means that all the means of destruction in the arsenals of the Russian armed forces could be used, said Russian military hardliner Igor Korachenko, who, according to Reuters, argues that part of Putin's decision is due to recent Western shipments of longer-range heavy weapons to Ukraine and the prospect that they will soon receive new armoured fighting vehicles. He is no General Armageddon, like Surovkin for sure, but it's not clear how much of an impact he can have on the course of the war. Cautions Stephen Hall, a Russia specialist at the University of Bath. Indeed, even if he wanted to overhaul the Russian army's modus operandi, he would have neither the equipment nor the means, nor indeed the manpower to do so. With the appointment of Valery Gerazimov, Russia's highest-ranking military officer as direct operational commander of the troubled war in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has doubled down on his conviction that the invasion's objections can be achieved without new leadership and is now turning to a trusted confidant who will carry out his orders without question, and analysts said. Gerazimov's appointment is likely intended to support an intended decisive Russian military effort in 2023. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, wrote in an analysis. Putin has repeatedly demonstrated he misunderstands the capabilities of Russian forces and has not abandoned his maximalist war aims in Ukraine, the analysis said. Putin may have appointed Gerazimov, the highest-ranking officer in the Russian military, to succeed a series of theatre commanders to oversee a major offensive that Putin likely incorrectly believes Russian forces can accomplish in 2023. Other analysts said Gerazimov was potentially being set up to take the fall for the further Russian failures on the battlefield. And still, others speculated that Gerazimov and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoygu were moving to reassert control for traditional military leaders over irregular forces led by Wagner mercenary group Chief Yegevny Prigozin and strongman Chechen leader Ramzan Kadirov. Gerazimov, Army General and Deputy Defence Minister, has been Chief of the General Staff for more than a decade and is a Kremlin insider who had a key role in planning the war from the start. As head of the joint forces in Ukraine, he replaces General Sergei Surovkin, who in just three months leading the war effort was credited with stabilizing Russia's position after Ukraine recaptured large swathes of territory. Some experts said personal rivalries were in the mix. Shoygu and Gerazimov demoted Surovkin and put Gerazimov in charge of the operation in Ukraine, demoting their most competent senior commander and replacing him with an incompetent one, tweeted Dara Masikot, an analyst of Russian defence issues at the Rand Corps. This is a story that has it all, infighting power struggles jealousy. Moscow's latest abrupt reshuffling of its top commanders announced Wednesday by the Defence Ministry was undoubtedly approved by Putin himself, left seasoned Kremlin watchers with their heads spinning. In Russia, many war hawks were irate that Gerazimov, whom they blame for the abysmal planning that led to repeated battlefield defeats, is now directly in charge as the war drags through its 11th month. Prigazin and Kadyrov were supporters of Surovkin, but had savagely criticised other Russian military commanders including Colonel General Alexander Leipin, who was promoted in Wednesday's shake-up according to Russian media. Leipin had been removed from a senior post in a previous reshuffling as the war faltered. Mark Gelioti, an analyst and expert on Russian security affairs, said Surovkin's demotion revealed Putin's tendency to associate people with problems. He thinks that all it takes is a new person, Gelioti said in an interview. He thinks that this was Surovkin's gambit and now he has to suffer for it. Gelioti said Gerazimov's appointment brings additional political clout to the day-to-day operational decisions but also signals an attempt to fix the Russian military's growing factionalism. The Defence Ministry's statement on Wednesday suggested that the reorganisation was linked to an expansion of the operation and intended to improve the quality and effectiveness of the management of Russian forces. There must be a hope that he can actually make sure that co-ordination with the Roscovitea Russia's National Guard, with Kadyrov's forces and above all with Wagner, will work better because that's been a disastrous failure, Gelioti said. The leadership changes, whatever their true purpose, highlight that Putin never expected to be in such a disastrous situation. He is now nearly a year into an invasion that some Russian commentators predicted would end successfully within days with victorious Russian troops parading through Kiev. Many pro-Russian military bloggers expressed skepticism that the reshuffling would solve the Russian army's mounting problems, including its reliance on hastily trained, ill-equipped recruits. The sum doesn't change by changing the places of its parts. A pro-war analyst, who goes by the handle Rybar, wrote on Telegram. Although Serovkin largely avoided public criticism, he was in charge when Russia suffered several humiliating battlefield defeats, including its retreat from Kursan city which Serovkin had predicted might be necessary when he was promoted to oversee the war.