On 19 October 2026, the State Council of Tatarstan approved the appointment of Colonel General Alexander Lapin as deputy prime minister of the republic. Tatarstan head Rustam Minnikhanov signed the appointment decree the same day. Lapin had previously been appointed acting deputy prime minister on 29 September 2026.

Lapin will oversee support for participants in the war against Ukraine, cooperation with veterans’ organisations, the Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation and federal government bodies. Presenting his candidacy to lawmakers on 19 October, Tatarstan Prime Minister Alexei Pesoshin highlighted the general’s military experience and training.

Lapin was born in Kazan in 1964. He graduated from the Kazan Higher Tank Command School, the Military Academy of Armoured Forces and the Military Academy of the General Staff. During Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Lapin commanded the Centre Group of Forces and later the North Group of Forces. In 2024, he took command of the Leningrad Military District.

In autumn 2022, Lapin became the focus of a public dispute with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Following the withdrawal of Russian forces from Lyman in Ukraine’s Donetsk Region, Kadyrov accused the general of failing to defend the town, called him “incompetent” and demanded that he be demoted.

On 1 October 2022, after Russia’s Defence Ministry announced the withdrawal of troops from Lyman, Kadyrov publicly blamed Lapin for the defeat. At the time, Lapin commanded the Central Military District and the Centre Group of Forces.

According to the Chechen leader, the general had failed to provide units operating in the Lyman sector with adequate communications, coordination and ammunition. Kadyrov also claimed that Lapin had remained far from his subordinates and that Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov had ignored warnings about the danger in the area.

“What is offensive is not that Lapin is incompetent, but that he is being shielded by the top brass in the General Staff,” Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram channel on 1 October 2022.

In the same post, the Chechen leader called for the general to be demoted to private, stripped of his awards and sent to the front line to “wash away his disgrace with blood”. Kadyrov also advocated more aggressive measures in the war against Ukraine, including the imposition of martial law in border regions and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons.

On 27 October 2022, Kadyrov again criticised Lapin. He claimed that reinforcements sent to assist Russian units had spent an entire day trying to locate the general’s troops. According to Kadyrov, soldiers under Lapin’s command had been left without communications, food or ammunition, forcing other units to hold the line on their own.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private military company, also joined the criticism of Lapin, accusing Russia’s military leadership of incompetence. In late October 2022, Lapin lost his posts connected with command of Russian forces in Ukraine and the Central Military District. His military career nevertheless continued.

On 10 January 2023, Russian media reported that Lapin had been appointed chief of the Main Staff of the Russian Ground Forces. He became first deputy commander-in-chief of the Ground Forces.

In March 2024, Lapin took command of the Leningrad Military District and the North Group of Forces, which operated on the Ukrainian front. In this role, he was responsible for troops including those deployed near the border with Ukraine.

In August 2024, Ukrainian forces launched an offensive in Russia’s Kursk Region. On 21 August 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that Lapin had disbanded an interdepartmental council in the spring of that year which was responsible for coordinating efforts to protect border areas. According to the newspaper, this may have weakened coordination between the military and other security agencies. However, Russia’s defensive shortcomings were also attributed to personnel shortages and problems with command organisation.

On 21 August 2025, it became known that Colonel General Yevgeny Nikiforov had replaced Lapin as commander of the North Group of Forces. In September 2025, Russian media reported that Lapin had been discharged from military service. RBC reported the news on 21 September 2025, citing a source. No official explanation for his dismissal was given.

In May 2026, Russian media reported that Lapin might move into civilian life and stand for the State Duma with United Russia in Tatarstan. He subsequently declined the parliamentary mandate.

On 2 June 2026, a Ukrainian court sentenced Lapin in absentia to life imprisonment. He was found guilty of violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity and inviolability, as well as planning, preparing, launching and waging a war of aggression. According to the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office, Lapin commanded the Centre Group of Forces in February and March 2022 and led the advance from Russian and Belarusian territory into the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions.

The sentence was handed down in absentia because Lapin is in Russia. According to a statement issued by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, Ruslan Kravchenko, on 2 June 2026, the sentence will be enforced once the general is actually detained.

Lapin is also subject to sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. The restrictions were introduced because of his role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.