The commander of the Central Military District was Lieutenant General, former commander of the 8th Army of the Southern District Andrey Mordvichev, who previously hugged the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov in the video and shouted “Akhmat is strength.” The appointment is reported by TASS with reference to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the information is also published by the state agency RIA Novosti.
According to an extract from the register, Mordvichev was appointed commander of the troops on February 16. Before him, the district was commanded by Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, who was removed after Kadyrov's sharp criticism of him.
The head of Chechnya reported on the meeting with Mordvichev during his visit to Mariupol. Mordvichev was then the commander of the 8th Guards Combined Arms Army. Kadyrov wrote on Telegram that “Andrei Nikolaevich reported on the significant successes of the fighters in critical areas,” and on the same day he published a video from the meeting. At the end of the video, Kadyrov and Mordvichev hug, and the latter says: “Akhmat is a real force!” Kadyrov replied: “This is what our commander, the best commander, says.”
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Kadyrov has openly criticized the generals and the command, while not questioning the actions of President Vladimir Putin; in his opinion, it is the generals who are to blame for the failures at the front. So, in October, the head of Chechnya accused General Alexander Lapin of the loss of Liman by the Russian military, in the same month Lapin was removed from his post. Later, Lapin was appointed chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces of the Russian Armed Forces.
