Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appointed Lt. Gen. Andrei Shvaichenko as the new commander of the Strategic Missile Forces (SMF), the Kremlin said on August 3.
The presidential decree ordered that Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, head of the missile forces, was replaced by his deputy Shvaichenko.
The new commander, 56-year-old, took the post as the first deputy commander of the missile forces in 2001.
The outgoing commander, who has held the position since 2001, reached the mandatory retirement age of 60 in December 2008 and is now discharged from military service.
Solovtsov might seek the top post at the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology (MIT), the Itar-Tass news agency quoted an unnamed source with the defense sector as saying.
MIT is the designer of the silo-based and mobile Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles. Its director general resigned following the recent failed launch of Russia's new Bulava ballistic missile.
