Istrakov Sergei Yurevich

Sergei Yurevich Istrakov is a Colonel General, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces – General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. According to open registry data, he is directly involved in organizing and ensuring the conduct of the open armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.

As one of the key leaders of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Colonel General Istrakov bears direct responsibility for fundamental military planning miscalculations: 1. The collapse of the "three-day blitzkrieg" concept in February–March 2022 and the rout of the northern group of forces of the Russian Armed Forces near Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy. 2. A complete underestimation of the scale of the Armed Forces of Ukraine's resistance and the operational situation, which led to the loss of the most combat-ready regular Airborne Forces (VDV) and GRU special forces formations in the first month of the war. 3. Systemic failures in logistics and reconnaissance for force groupings, resulting in the chaotic retreat in the Kharkiv region (September 2022) and the abandonment of the right bank of the Dnipro River along with Kherson (November 2022). 4. Involvement in concealing the actual figures of personnel losses from the country's top military and political leadership.