The commander of the Western Military District, Colonel General Andrei Kartapolov, has been appointed Deputy Minister of Defense for Political and Educational Work. about this writes RBC with reference to sources in the Ministry of Defense and Kartapolov’s entourage. The appointment could be officially announced today.

Until now, Secretary of State and Deputy Minister of Defense Nikolai Pankov was responsible for working with personnel. “Kartapolov will become the eleventh deputy minister. In particular, the Main Directorate for Work with Personnel, which is responsible for the Youth Army and all patriotic education, will be subordinate to him,” said the publication’s interlocutor at the Ministry of Defense.

The military-patriotic movement “Yunarmiya” was created in May 2016 on the initiative of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. It is intended to unite all organizations involved in pre-conscription training of citizens. According to the movement, at the end of July 2018, there were more than 250,000 teenagers from 11 to 18 years old in its ranks. The domain armyshoprf.ru, which contains mail for communication with the movement, according to Whois data, is registered to CONCORD M LLC. Its co-owner is Russian restaurateur known as “Putin’s chef” Yevgeny Prigozhin. The company Megaline, associated with the businessman, is also one of the contractors of the Ministry of Defense.

Kartapolov led the Russian group of troops in Syria from December to March 2017. During this time, after an operation involving Russian aviation and Special Operations Forces on March 2, 2017, Palmyra was returned to the control of the Syrian government for the second time.

RBC reported on the new curator of Yunarmiya