Overview

• RBC and Tatar-Inform report Lapin has been removed from military service, while Russia’s Defense Ministry has not commented.
• Sources say he will serve as an aide to Tatarstan’s head with responsibilities for recruitment, veteran support, and rehabilitation for service members’ families.
• In August, the Defense Ministry named Colonel General Yevgeny Nikiforov commander of the Sever (North) group, effectively replacing Lapin in field command.
• Lapin previously faced fierce public criticism following Russia’s 2022 setbacks around Kharkiv and the retreat from Lyman, and he later oversaw defenses during Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk in 2024.
• Ukraine’s prosecutor general named Lapin a suspect in 2022 for waging an aggressive war and violating the country’s territorial integrity.