Russia's 'good-for-nothing' general reportedly dismissed after Ukraine blunders
Russian Colonel General Alexander Lapin has been dismissed from military service, Russian pro-government media outlet RBC reported on Sept. 21, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The general has long been associated with battlefield setbacks since 2022.
Lapin commanded Russia's Central Military District during Ukraine's September 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive, where Russian defenses collapsed and multiple cities were retaken.
This earned him public criticism from Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov as "a good-for-nothing" general.
In 2024, Lapin oversaw Russia's defenses in Kursk Oblast, where Ukraine launched an unprecedented cross-border incursion in 2024, seizing 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) in the first months.
The Wall Street Journal later reported that gaps in Russian defenses under Lapin let Ukraine advance.
Nine months later, Moscow launched a counteroffensive supported by 12,000 North Korean troops, eventually retaking most of the territory but at a cost of 80,000 soldiers killed or wounded.
Lapin, born in Kazan in 1964, rose through Russia's military ranks after graduating from the Kazan Higher Tank Command School.
In 2017, he served as chief of staff of Russian forces in Syria and later commanded the Central Military District and multiple Russian formations in Ukraine.
Russian pro-government media outlet Tatar-inform reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, that Lapin will now serve as an assistant to Tatarstan's head, Rustam Minnikhanov.
In 2022, Ukraine's prosecutor general named Lapin a suspect in waging an aggressive war against Ukraine and violating the country's territorial integrity and inviolability.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
