DUSHANBE, March 14, 2013, Asia-Plus — Colonel-General Valery Gerasimov, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, heading a Russian military delegation arrived in Dushanbe yesterday evening on a two-day visit.
Faridoun Mahmadaliyev, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense (MoD) of Tajikistan, says the main purpose of the visit for the Russian military delegation is to discuss with Tajik officials bilateral military and military-technical cooperation between Tajikistan and Russia.
Today, Gerasimov is scheduled to hold talks with Sherali Khairulloyev, Defense Minister of Tajikistan and Ramil Nadyrov, the Chief of the General Staff of Tajikistan’s Armed Forces.
A well-informed source in the Tajik government says it is expected that President Emomali Rahmon will also receive Colonel-General Gerasimov.
Today, the Russian military delegation is also scheduled to vist subunits of Russian military base in Tajikistan that are deployed in Qurghon Teppa, the capital of Khatlon province.
On March 16, Gerasimov will visit the headquarters of the Russian military base in Dushanbe.
We will recall that Gerasimov was supposed to arrive in Dushanbe on February 18 but the visit was postponed to another time.
The Chief of the General Staff is the chief of staff of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. He is appointed by the President of Russia, who is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The position dates to the period of the Russian Empire.
Valery Gerasimov (born September 8, 1955) is the current Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, and first Deputy Defense Minister, replacing Nikolay Makarov. He was appointed by President Vladimir Putin on November 9, 2012
Born in Kazan, he graduated from the Kazan Suvorov Military School (1971-1973), the Kazan Higher Tank Command School named after the Supreme Soviet of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1973-1977), the Malinovsky Military Academy of Armored Forces (1984-1987), and the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia (1995-1997).
Gerasimov was appointed Chief of General Staff following the dismissal of Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov on 6 November 2012. The previous Chief of General Staff, Army General Nikolay Makarov, was seen as close to Serdyukov and was seen by commentators as likely to be replaced by new Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu. It has been reported that Makarov resigned, but he was formally dismissed by President Vladimir Putin. Other changes were the dismissal of Alexander Sukhorukov from the position of First Deputy Defense Minister and his replacement by Colonel-General Arkady Bakhin, formerly commander of the Western Military District. Aerospace Defense Forces commander Colonel General Oleg Ostapenko was also promoted to Deputy Defense Minister.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is the military staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It is the central organ of the Armed Forces Administration and oversees operational management of the armed forces under the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The staff is organized by functions, with each directorate and operating agency overseeing an area. Working with the staffs of each of the services, the Main Operations Directorate drafts plans for strategic operations for the Supreme High Command. When the headquarters of the Supreme High Command approves the plans, the General Staff issues them to operational commanders as Supreme High Command directives. The General Staff Academy is responsible for training officers for the General Staff.
