General Valery Gerasimov
Chief of the General Staff

Russian President Vladimir Putin approved 09 November 2012 the candidature of Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of Russia’s Central Military District Armed Forces, as new chief of general staff. Gen. Gerasimov was suggested by Russia’s new Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu after Gen. Nikolai Makarov submitted his resignation. “I think the [defense] minister proposed a suitable candidature. I hope you will be working efficiently and at your full capacity,” President Putin said. Gerasimov had been the commander of forces in the Central Military District, a post he took up in April 2012.

Born on 8 September 1955 in the city of Kazan’, in 1977, he graduated from the Kazan’ Higher Tank Command School named after the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Tatar ASSR (Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic). He commanded platoon, company, battalion in the Northern Group of Troops and Far Eastern Military District.

After his graduation from the Military Academy of Armored Troops named after Marshal of the Soviet Union R.Ya. Malinovsky in 1987, he served as the chief of headquarters and commander of tank regiment, the chief of headquarters of a motorised rifle division in the Baltic Military District. From 1993 to 1995 — the commander of a motorised rifle division in the North-Western Group of Troops.

In 1997 after his graduation from the Military Academy of the RF Armed Forces’ General Staff, he served as the First Deputy Commander of Army in the Moscow Military District, the Deputy Commander, Chief of Staff and Commander of the 58th Army in the North Caucasian Military District.

From 2003 to 2005 he was the Chief of Staff of the Far Eastern Military District. From 2005 hes erved as the Chief of the Main Administration of Combat Training and Troops’ Service of the RF Armed Forces, and from December 2006 as the Chief of Staff of the North Caucasian Military District.

In December 2006, he was assigned as the Commander of the Leningrad Military District, and in February 2009 — as the Commander of the Moscow Military District. From December 2010 he was the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

A series of random checks in the Russian Armed Forces this week revealed a number of systemic shortcomings, General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov said on 22 February 2013. Combat alert checks were carried out in the Central and South Military Districts, the Airborne Assault Forces (VDV) and military transport aviation units. Alert duty officers in some military units demonstrated an insufficiently prompt and effective response in processing orders via automated combat command and control systems, especially in VDV troops and at the 201st Military Base in Tajikistan, Gerasimov said.

Measures taken by the Russian Defense Ministry to develop the Strategic Nuclear Forces and raise the capabilities of regular troops will prevent the United States or NATO's superiority over Russia, General Staff head Valery Gerasimov said 30 January 2015.

"The Armed Forces' priority is the quality improvement of the Strategic Nuclear Forces," Gerasimov said. The statement comes after US Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work's statement that the growth in Russia’s military spending and modernization over the past decade represented a challenge to the United States.

"This attitude toward keeping the Strategic Nuclear Forces in the condition of high combat readiness in combination with the quality improvement of the combat potential of the regular troops will prevent the military superiority of the United States and NATO over Russia," Gerasimov said.

"This year, four missile regiments are planned to be established and equipped with modern missile complexes within the Strategic Missile Forces," he added. Gerasimov's statement echoes a pledge by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who reiterated earlier in the day that the Russian military will begin working on the task set by the president to guarantee military superiority upon completion of the state weapons program.

The number of local and regional armed conflicts is on the rise globally and general instability is spreading, Russian General Staff chief Gen. Valery Gerasimov asserted 08 October 2015. "The international situation is characterized by a higher level of instability and a rise in the number of armed conflicts, while international institutions' role in tackling them decreases," Gerasimov said at an international conference on Afghanistan.