Rustam Muradov | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2020 | |
| Native name | Рустам Мурадов |
| Born | (1973-03-21)21 March 1973 (age 52) |
| Allegiance |
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| Branch |
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| Service years | 1990–present |
| Rank | Colonel General |
| Commands | 2nd Guards Combined Arms Army |
| Conflicts | |
| Awards | Hero of the Russian Federation Order of Courage (2) Order of Military Merit Order of Alexander Nevsky |
Colonel GeneralRustam Usmanovich Muradov (Russian:Рустам Усманович Мурадов; born 21 March 1973) is aRussian Ground Forces officer.[1][2] In December 2024 he was appointedChief of the Main Staff and First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces.[3]
Muradov was the Commander of theEastern Military District from 2022 to 2023,[4] and was previously the Deputy Commander of theSouthern Military District from 2018 until 2022. He was awarded the titleHero of the Russian Federation in 2017.
In October 2022, General Muradov was appointed Commander of theEastern Military District. In April 2023, amid theRussian invasion of Ukraine, Muradov was unofficially relieved of his command following a series of failed Russian attacks close to the eastern Ukrainian town ofVuhledar. These attacks resulted in notably high casualties for the Russian Armed Forces and the loss of scores of equipment pieces, including at least 26 tanks.[5]
Rustam Usmanovich Muradov was born inChinar,Derbentsky District of theDagestan ASSR within theRussian SFSR, thenSoviet Union.[6] EthnicallyTabasaran,[7] his father Usman Muradov was born in Khanak inTabasaransky District of the Dagestan ASSR[8][9] but later moved with his parents north to Chinar, after the earthquake in southernDagestan in 1966. There, he married Umizhat, and had three sons including Rustam.
Muradov studied at the local Chinar high school. He then graduated from theKazan Suvorov Military School. Being in military service since 1990, he graduated from the Leningrad Higher Combined Arms Command School[10] andCombined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation with honors in 1995.[11][12] In 2015, he graduated from theMilitary Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.[13]
In 1996, he was a platoon and company commander. In 2008, he was appointed the commander of the 242nd Motor Rifle Regiment, and until 2009, served as the commander of the 17th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade. From 2009 to 2012, he was commander of the36th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade of theEastern Military District. In 2012, he was promoted to a major general. From 2012 to 2013, he served as the head of the473rd Lysychansk District Training Center of theCentral Military District, located in the Sverdlovsk region of Russia ("Lysychanskaya" is an honorific given to a predecessor of one of the training academy's units, which participated in the liberation of the so-named Ukrainian city in 1943).[14] From 2013 to 2015, he studied in the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.[15][full citation needed]
From 2015 to 2017, he served as the First Deputy Chief and Chief of Staff of the41st Russian Combined Arms Army. In 2016, he was the representative of Russia at theJoint Russian-Ukrainian Center for Control and Coordination of Ceasefire and Stabilization of the Line of Delimitation of the Parties (JCCC) inDonbas. On 5 March 2016, inDonbas, Muradov, along with other representatives of the Russian side in the JCCC, came under fire for about 20 minutes.[16]
In 2017, he was appointed as amilitary adviser in Syria. Muradov was awarded the title ofHero of the Russian Federation in the same year. Then he served as the commander of the 2nd Guards Red Banner Army of the Central Military District until Andrey Kolotovkin replaced him in 2018.[17] Since then, he is the deputy commander of theSouthern Military District.[18] He was promoted tolieutenant general on 20 February 2020 by the decree of thepresident of Russia,Vladimir Putin.[19]
On 11 November 2020, he was appointed the commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces inNagorno-Karabakh, after apeace agreement endingthe war over the region.[20] He was replaced by Major GeneralMikhail Kosobokov on 9 September 2021.[21]
Muradov has been involved in the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine in several posts.
On 7 October 2022, General Muradov was appointed Commander ofEastern Military District,[22] and was promoted toColonel general on 18 February 2023.[23]
In February 2023, Muradov came under fire for a failed offensive in thebattle for Vuhledar, where reports of the loss of nearly 30 mostly intactinfantry fighting vehicles and many Russian soldiers occurred.[24]
On 26 March 2023, it was reported in Russian media that Muradov was dismissed from his position as Commander of Eastern Military District.[25][26] While this news was not officially confirmed by the Russian government, head of Russian investigative channel RybarMikhail Zvinchuk stated that Muradov had been given an official vacation that is "almost tantamount to resignation".[27] Following this, it was reported by Russian war correspondents that he had been replaced as acting commander of the Eastern Military District by Lieutenant GeneralAndrey Kuzmenko, despite officially remaining at its head.[28] TheBritish Ministry of Defence described Muradov's replacement as the "most senior Russian military dismissal of 2023."[29]
In February 2022, the European Union imposed personal sanctions against Muradov in connection with the Russian military operation in Ukraine. He was also sanctioned by New Zealand.[30]
He is also sanctioned by theUK government in 2022 in relation to theRusso-Ukrainian War.[31]
Leadership of theRussian Ground Forces | ||
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| Commander-in-Chief Chief of the Main Directorate(1998–2001) |  | |
| Chief of the Main Staff and First Deputy Commander-in-Chief Deputy Chief of the Main Directorate(1998–2001) | ||
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