MOSCOW, August 3 (RIA Novosti) - Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, commander of the Strategic Missile Forces, has been replaced by his deputy, Lt. Gen. Andrei Shvaichenko, the Kremlin press service said on Monday.
Solovtsov had reached the mandatory retirement age and has been discharged from military service.
Shvaichenko was appointed first deputy SMF commander and SMF chief of staff in 2001.
Solovtsov became SMF commander in 2001.
In December 2008 he turned 60, which is the mandatory retirement age for military commanders with the rank of colonel general.
