Overview

• RBC reports that Colonel General Alexander Lapin has been dismissed from military service, citing sources familiar with the decision.
• Tatar-inform says he is expected to become an assistant to Tatarstan’s head responsible for work with war participants and their families, including rehabilitation and reintegration.
• Russia’s Defense Ministry previously confirmed in August that Colonel General Yevgeny Nikiforov took command of the Sever (North) group, reflecting broader personnel shifts.
• Lapin formerly led the Central Military District and the Tsentr group in Ukraine, drawing sharp public criticism from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov after setbacks in Kharkiv and Lyman in 2022.
• In 2022 Ukraine’s prosecutor general named Lapin a suspect in waging an aggressive war, and reporting has linked him to defensive failures in Russia’s Kursk region in 2024.