Alexander Alexandrovich Zhuravlyov (5 December 1965-) was a Russian Army Colonel General who commanded the Western Military District from November 2018 to June 2022 (succeeding Viktor Astapov and preceding Andrei Sychevoi).
Biography[]
Alexander Alexandrovich Zhuravlyov was born in Golyshmanovo, Tyumen Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union in 1965. He joined the Soviet Army in 1982, and he served in Czechoslovakia from 1986 to 1991, in the Volga from 1991 to 1994, in the Russian Far East from 1994 to 2006, in the North Caucasus from 2006 to 2008, in the Central Military District from 2010 to 2015, as chief of staff of the 58th Combined Arms Army and commander of the 2nd Guards Combined Arms Army, commander of the Russian forces in Syria in 2016, as commander of the Eastern Military District from 2017 to 2018, commander in Syria in 2018, and commander of the Western Military District from 2018 to 2022. From February to April 2022, he led the invasion of northern Ukraine, and he employed the use of cluster bombs against civilian targets in Kharkiv and was sanctioned by the West for his perpetration of war crimes. He was dismissed as commander of the Western Military District in June 2022, and he was replaced by Roman Berdnikov.