The Chief of the General Staff (russian: Начальник Генерального штаба) is the head of the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

and the highest ranking officer of the

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...

or is also the senior-most uniformed military officer. He is appointed by the

President of Russia The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...

, who is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. The position dates to the period of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. The current Chief of the General Staff is

Army General Army general is the highest ranked general officer in many countries that use the General officer#French (Revolutionary) system, French Revolutionary System.　 In countries that adopt the general officer four rank system, it is rank of genera ...

Valery Gerasimov Valery Vasilyevich Gerasimov ( rus, Валерий Васильевич Герасимов, p=vɐˈlʲerʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪdʑ ɡʲɪˈrasʲɪməf; born 8 September 1955) is a Russian army general serving as the Chief of the General Sta ...

List of chiefs of the general staff

† denotes people who died in office.

Imperial Russian Army (1812–1917)

;Director of the Inspection Department of the Ministry of War ;Chief of the Main Staff ;Chief of the General Directorate of the General Staff

Council of People's Commissars on War and Navy Affairs (1917–1918)

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Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (1918–1921)

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Red Army (1921–1946)

;Chief of the Staff ;Chief of the General Staff

Soviet Armed Forces (1946–1991)

Russian Armed Forces (1992–present)

Notes

References

External links

Official Russian Ministry of Defense website
{{Chief of military by country

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Military of Russia Military of the Soviet Union *