He then served as chief of staff and commander of another motorized rifle regiment in the North Caucasian Military District (now part of the Southern Military District) until 2003, during which time he likely participated in the Second Chechen War. From 1995 to 2000, Dvornikov served as chief of staff and then commander of an unspecified motorized rifle regiment of the Moscow Military District (which merged into the current Western Military District in 2010). From 1991 to 1994, Dvornikov served as deputy commander and then commander of a motorized rifle battalion assigned to the Western Group of Forces in Germany. Dvornikov then served as a platoon commander, company commander, and battalion chief of staff in the Far Eastern Military District (the predecessor of RussiaвЂ™s current Eastern Military District) throughout the 1980s. He graduated from the Ussuriysk Suvorov Military School-a Soviet military boarding school-at age 18 in 1978.

This update, which we are publishing in addition to our regular military operations assessments, explains DvornikovвЂ™s career history and experience in Syria, the challenges he faces, and what his appointment means for the Russian campaign in Ukraine.Дvornikov has commanded the Southern Military District since September 2016, capping a military career that began in 1978. Nor is there reason to think that the conduct of the Russian war effort will change materially more than it was already changing from the abandonment of the drive on Kyiv and the focus on the east. There is no reason to suppose, therefore, that Dvornikov was specifically selected to take control of the war effort for any particular skills or experience he might have. Had Putin selected another officer to command the entire war effort, he would likely have had to relieve Dvornikov for these reasons. This news is unsurprising Dvornikov is the most senior of the three Russian military district commanders involved in the invasion, and the Russian military is concentrating its efforts almost exclusively in the area of Ukraine that Dvornikov had already been commanding. US intelligence reported over the weekend of April 9-10 that Russian Army General Aleksandr Vladimirovich Dvornikov, commander of the Southern Military District, is now in overall command of Russian operations in Ukraine. Special Edition: Army General Aleksandr Vladimirovich Dvornikov

Mason Clark, Karolina Hird, and George Barros

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