Aleksandr Dvornikov: Russian general who helped turn tide of Syrian war

The Russian general appointed by Vladimir Putin to lead efforts to reboot the invasion of Ukraine played a prominent role in the Syrian war, where forces under his command were responsible for widespread abuses against the civilian population and were frequently accused of committing crimes against humanity.

A career military officer, he has risen steadily through the ranks since starting as a platoon commander in 1982. He fought during the second war in Chechnya and took several top positions before being placed in charge of the Russian troops in Syria.

Dvornikov was dispatched by Putin in September 2015 on an urgent mission to stabilise the position of the Syrian regime forces, who Tehran and Moscow believed were on the brink of falling to the opposition.

The decision to establish new battlefield leadership in Ukraine comes as Russia gears up for what is expected to be a large and more focused push to expand Russian control in the Donbas region, and follows a failed opening attempt to conquer Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

The anti-aircraft batteries he installed gave Russian and Syrian jets air supremacy over Idlib, and destructive bombing runs have been carried out with impunity over the past five years. Several of the fighter pilots who took part in the Syrian war have been shot down over Ukraine.

Dvornikov, who has served as commander of the southern military district since 2016, faces a very different set of challenges in Ukraine, where the Russian air force does not control the skies and its ground forces have been seriously depleted by regular supplies of advanced weaponry that was unavailable to Syrian rebels.