Moscow: Colonel General Viktor Afzalov has become the new commander-in-chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces (RAF), replacing Army General Sergei Surovikin, local media reported on Saturday.
Afzalov, who was previously acting commander-in-chief of the RAF, was born on June 9,1968.
He graduated from the Pushkin Higher Military School of Radio Electronics of Air Defence in 1989, the Military University of Air Defence in 2000 and the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 2010.
He became the commander of the Air Force and Air Defence Army of the Eastern Military District in July 2017 and the chief of staff of the RAF in August 2018.
Surovikin, Afzalov’s predecessor, was appointed as head of the Coordinating Committee for Air Defence under the Council of Defence Ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States in September this year.
