Sergei Vladimirovich Surovikin is a Russian Armed Forces army general and Commander of the Aerospace Forces . He was in charge of setting up the Main Directorate of the Military Police , a new organisation within the Russian Army.Surovikin commanded the Eastern Military District between 2013 and 2017, and was presented to the news media as commander of the Group of Forces in Syria in the Russian military operation in the Syrian civil war.

On June 24, 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that Surovikin, as commander of the Southern Group of Russian Forces, led the encirclement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the cities of Gorskoye and Zolote of the Luhansk Region during the Special Military Operation
Sergey Surovykin, 2022
On October 8, 2022, by order of the Russian Ministry of Defense, he was appointed commander of the Joint Group of Forces in the war in Ukraine. On January 11, 2023, he became deputy to Valery Gerasimov , who took the post of commander of the united group of troops in Ukraine .

In late June 2023, he was arrested, according to unconfirmed reports following alleged involvement with the Wagner Group rebellion, and according to CNN was revealed to be a Wagner Group member. Surovikin's daughter, in an alleged interview to a Russian Telegram channel, claimed to be in contact with her father and insisted that he had not been detained.

Surovikin has been awarded the Order of the Red Star , the Order of Military Merit and the Order of Courage three times. He was awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation in December 2017. On 31 December 2022 President Vladimir Putin personally awarded Surovikin the Order of St. George third class.