Grachev Pavel Sergeevich. Dossier
As you know, only descendants can judge the role of a person in history. Therefore, today no one can say with certainty whether Grachev Pavel Sergeevich was right when he performed certain actions at a time when he held the most important government posts and gave orders on which the fate of thousands of people depended. At one time, his brilliant career aroused the envy of many colleagues, while many often forgot what the first Russian had to go through before he got into the highest echelons of power.
Childhood and early years
Grachev Pavel Sergeevich was born in January 1948 in the village of Rvy, in the Tula region. His father was a simple mechanic, and his mother was a milkmaid. The future military leader was a fidget and showed interest in sports, and most of all he liked basketball. After graduating from 11 classes, he entered the famous RVVD command school, deciding to link his life forever with the army.
The young man studied diligently and more than once received the praise of commanders. In 1969, Grachev Pavel Sergeevich received a diploma with honors, and he was awarded the rank of lieutenant and the qualification of a referent-translator.
Service in the ranks of the USSR Armed Forces
Grachev Pavel Sergeevich, whose biography and career until 1980 were quite typical for young military men who are his peers, at the age of 21, he was appointed to the post of commander of a reconnaissance platoon in one of the units stationed on the territory of the Lithuanian SSR.
Then for four years he was sent to serve in his native Ryazan school, where he held various positions and worked directly with cadets. In 1975, Grachev became the commander of the training battalion of the 44th training airborne division, and in 1978 he continued his education at the Military Academy. M. V. Frunze.
Afghanistan
The end of Pavel Grachev's studies at the Academy. M. V. Frunze coincided with the beginning of the last local war in the history of the USSR. The young promising commander, who showed great promise, was immediately sent to Afghanistan, where he spent the next three years. During this period, he continues his career growth, and after returning to his homeland, he is ahead of schedule awarded the rank of colonel.
1985-1991
The second trip of Pavel Grachev to Afghanistan ends with the withdrawal of the limited contingent of Soviet troops, which also included the 103rd Guards Airborne Division under his command.
In commemoration of the merits of the military leader during military operations in May 1988, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Following the old saying “Live for a century - learn for a century”, Grachev Pavel Sergeevich again goes to study and enters the Military Academy of the General Staff, after which he is appointed to the post of deputy, and then the USSR.
Transfer to Yeltsin's team
The turning point in Grachev's biography was after which he had to make important political decisions more than once. In particular, he, along with Generals Gromov and Achalov, refused to submit to the State Emergency Committee and ordered his subordinates to take the White House under their protection. Upon the return of M. Gorbachev from the Crimean Foros, Grachev was appointed first deputy, and a few days later he was awarded the rank of colonel general.
The career growth of the military leader did not stop there. In particular, in May 1992, Boris Yeltsin signed a decree according to which Pavel Sergeevich Grachev was appointed Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, whose photo has repeatedly appeared on the pages of newspapers in connection with operations in local conflict zones on the territory of the former USSR.
Chechen War
Until now, disputes about the role played by Grachev Pavel Sergeevich (Hero of the Soviet Union) during the events in the Caucasus in the first half of the 90s have not subsided. In particular, he was subjected to fierce criticism, since in June 1992 he ordered to transfer to Dzhokhar Dudayev half of all the weapons belonging to the Russian army, which were stored on the territory of Chechnya. According to Grachev, the ammunition still could not be taken out. However, the fact remains that after only two and a half years these weapons were used against Russian soldiers.
At the same time, in 1994, Grachev did not manage to avoid a conflict with Yeltsin, who considered that a week was enough time to gather military forces and enter Chechnya. An experienced commander tried to reason with the president that this was too short a time, but they did not listen to him. Pavel Sergeevich even met in Chechnya with the heads of the so-called Ichkeria, before the Russian troops entered their territory, but, unfortunately, this did not give any results.
The military leader retired at the age of 59 and took up social activities. Prior to that, he was actually betrayed by Yeltsin - in accordance with the latter's pre-election agreements with General
Personal life
Throughout his life, Pavel Grachev had a reliable rear. His wife - Lyubov Alekseevna - learned with him all the hardships of the fate of an officer's wife, with her eternal moving and exhausting expectations of her husband from dangerous business trips. In addition, there were many rumors about her husband's infidelity, but Lyubov Alekseevna did not believe them, and Pavel Sergeevich Grachev always remained her only love.
The military leader's family suffered the loss of their beloved husband and father, who died in September 2012 at the age of 64.
Pavel Grachev, the first minister of defense of post-Soviet Russia, who died last Saturday, was buried in Moscow.
The farewell ceremony was held at the Cultural Center of the Armed Forces from 11 am to 1 pm.
Condolences on Grachev's death were expressed by President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov emphasized that Grachev led the armed forces at the most difficult time and actually created the army of sovereign Russia.
The 64-year-old army general was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Vishnevsky military hospital in Krasnogorsk near Moscow on September 12 with a diagnosis of a stroke, which was subsequently not confirmed.
mysterious death
As one of the versions, it was about mushroom poisoning.
An autopsy found that the commander died of a rare disease - acute meningoencephalitis (inflammation of the brain and its membranes caused by a bacterial or viral infection).
How Grachev got infected is not known.
The former head of intelligence of the Airborne Forces, Pavel Popovskikh, rejects the possibility of an assassination attempt.
"He did not pose any kind of threat to anyone, for sure, he was generally a silent person and knew how to keep his own and state secrets, believe me, I know this for sure," Popovskikh said.
“We saw each other for the last time on August 2. He didn’t look very healthy, I must say, a little so sickly, thinner. But he kept himself cheerful, was, as always, an energetic, active and businesslike person. Although, the general opinion is not only mine that he had some kind of illness. A little bit just complexion and some thinness said that he was not all right with his health. But we did not ask, and he did not say anything, "he added.
The career of Pavel Grachev turned out to be the same as the era itself - chaotic, inconsistent, somewhat successful, somewhat stupid, somewhat heroic Konstantin Bogdanov, military observer
Pavel Sergeevich Grachev was born on January 1, 1948 in the village of Rvy, Tula Region. He graduated from the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School, the Frunze Military Academy and the General Staff Academy. He commanded an airborne regiment and a division in Afghanistan. He received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union "for the performance of combat missions with minimal human losses."
"He will be remembered not as a military man, but as an official in an officer's uniform," Pavel Svyatenkov, a political scientist at the National Strategy Institute, said after Grachev's death.
"He was a real, not a parquet general. A real soldier," former head of the State Property Committee Alfred Koch tweeted.
The head of the Union of Russian Paratroopers, Lieutenant General Valery Vostrotin, agrees with Koch's assessment.
"He was a platoon commander for me - I entered the Ryazan Military School, and my first platoon commander was Lieutenant Grachev: tall, slender, master of sports in skiing. He was fair, in hussar, I would say, an officer, he is for We, the cadets, were an idol even then. Then I met him nine years later in Afghanistan. He was my commander there. Although I was already experienced, and he had just come after the academy, he again won us over instantly with his honesty, decency and professionalism "He took us, being not very experienced yet, and we were already experienced battalion commanders, to combat operations. And the main task was: not to kill anyone. In the first place was, "recalls the veteran.
Army and politics
In early 1991, a successful "Afghan" general was appointed commander of the Airborne Forces.
Selected elite troops have always been considered in the USSR and Russia as the Life Guards. Their significance objectively increases during periods of instability. Unaccustomed to this, Grachev immediately became a political figure and found himself at the epicenter of turbulent events.
According to the investigation on the "GKChP case", on August 6, 1991, KGB chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov, two days after Gorbachev's departure for Foros, invited Grachev and KGB generals Alexei Yegorov and Vyacheslav Zhizhin to his place and instructed them to prepare a strategic forecast and a list of measures to ensure state of emergency.
On August 8, the generals declared the inexpediency of introducing a state of emergency before the signing of the Union Treaty. "After August 20 it will be too late," Kryuchkov replied.
Undoubtedly understanding what was about to happen, Grachev did not warn either Gorbachev or Yeltsin, and at half past five in the morning of August 19, according to the order, raised the alert and sent the 106th Tula Airborne Division to Moscow.
However, when Boris Yeltsin called him from his dacha in Arkhangelsk, he hung up the phone and confidently declared to his comrades-in-arms: "Grachev is ours." It is noteworthy that Grachev, along with the heads of the Union republics, was among the people with whom Yeltsin considered it necessary to speak immediately.
Grachev is an experienced warrior, he passed all command positions, he smashed the "spirits" in Afghanistan. Largely thanks to Grachev, the army did not crumble to dust in the early 90s. The military know and remember that it was Pavel Sergeevich who came up with a lot of "tricks" to increase the monetary allowance for officers: either a surcharge for "tension", then pension "cheat", then an additional payment for secrecy, etc. Gennady Troshev,
retired Colonel General, Hero of Russia
Around 11:00 p.m. on August 20, when the assault on the White House was being prepared, Yeltsin's adviser Yuri Skokov met with Grachev on the street near the headquarters of the Airborne Forces. According to Skokov, Grachev asked to tell the leadership of Russia that "he is Russian and will never allow the army to shed the blood of his people."
After the failure of the putsch, Grachev was appointed first deputy of the new USSR Minister of Defense Yevgeny Shaposhnikov. He also became the first military commander to receive the rank of army general in the new Russia.
Once again, Grachev faced a dramatic choice on October 3, 1993. After supporters of the Supreme Soviet seized the building of the Moscow mayor's office and tried to storm the television center in Ostankino, and Alexander Rutskoi proclaimed from the balcony of the White House: "Tomorrow - to the Kremlin!", Boris Yeltsin demanded to bring tanks into Moscow.
Grachev at the meeting asked for a written order.
General Viktor Karpukhin, who commanded the Alpha group during the 1991 coup, later said that the words that the army and Alpha "refused to shoot at the people" sound nice, but the military would have carried out the order if they had received it in a clear, unambiguous form . However, the members of the GKChP chimed in, actually posing the question in this way: it would be nice if you took the White House, but keep in mind that we have nothing to do with it.
Yeltsin did not suffer from a lack of decisiveness and did not hide behind other people's backs. Want a written order - please!
The tanks fired 12 shots at the White House, 10 of which were unloaded blanks. Only two shells were live, and they caused a fire in the building.
According to numerous insiders, most of the Russian security forces in 1993 did not have much love for the president and his reforms. But Yeltsin was still in their eyes a responsible and predictable person, and the seizure of power by young radicals who settled in the White House could lead to anything, up to civil war or armed conflict with the West.
Even bad order was preferable in the eyes of the generals to chaos comparable to the Time of Troubles at the beginning of the 17th century.
The general attitude was expressed by the commander of the Kantemirovskaya division, Boris Polyakov, who said in those days: "For me, Rutskoi is False Dmitry."
“Whatever is said about Grachev, but he absolutely did not want the politicization of the army and fought with all his might. When Grachev made a choice and switched to full support of Yeltsin in confrontation with the Supreme Soviet, he did it for the simplest reason: he sincerely believed that it will be better for the army, and I saw in Yeltsin at least some, but a stabilizer of the situation," Konstantin Bogdanov, a military observer for the RIA Novosti agency, points out.
Criticism and Kholodov's case
Having taken the post of Minister of Defense in May 1992, Grachev faced many problems that until recently and in a dream could not have been dreamed of by the Russian military.
Grachev was a good airborne division commander in my 40th army [in Afghanistan]. He never rose above this level. He became a minister only because Igor Rodionov defected to Yeltsin's side in time,
Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation in 1996-1997
"A man who clumsily and honestly fought for the preservation of the" indestructible and legendary ", but clearly had neither the resources, nor the mandate, nor a coherent strategic plan for this," Konstantin Bogdanov assesses him.
According to the expert, Grachev understood the inevitability of the withdrawal of the Russian army from Eastern Europe, but opposed the withdrawal of troops from the CIS countries with all his might.
Pavel Popovskikh credits Grachev with fighting against the privatization of the military-industrial complex.
"During the years when he was Minister of Defense, Pavel Sergeevich Grachev managed to prevent the privatization of the military-industrial complex, which Anatoly Chubais and Yegor Gaidar wanted. He succeeded thanks to his special relationship with Boris Yeltsin," Popovskikh said.
Some observers believed that Grachev, who had risen from divisional to ministerial level in a little over a year, lacked experience. Others point out that in the current situation, little depended on him.
“Everything fell out of hand and went to hell, the country was written off as scrap in bulk, and with such logging, it’s better not to get in the way of echelons with chips,” says Konstantin Bogdanov.
The Minister soon became a favorite target for the media, not only the left and nationalist, but also the liberal ones.
"He stayed with Yeltsin, and that's why we had the 90s, and the new Constitution, and the market economy, and the free press, which just scolded him and poured dirt on him," Alfred Koch wonders.
When, at the direction of Grachev, two Mercedes-500s were purchased for the ministry at the expense of proceeds from the sale of the property of the former Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, the nickname Pasha-Mercedes was firmly entrenched in the press.
“The fact that in 1994 became almost the central item on the agenda of the federal press and caused an extremely painful reaction from state authorities, now, 18 years later, causes us only bewilderment. Just think, two Mercedes, but for the office, and not for yourself Today, even Navalny would not be interested in such a case," Konstantin Bogdanov noted.
Another scandal erupted after Grachev allegedly ordered the head of the economic department of the Ministry of Defense to allocate a garage to his son.
“Young, inexperienced,” one of the observers commented at the time. “In the past, it was not the minister, but the minister’s wife, who would talk to the head of the HOZU on such an issue. , the supply manager is a toady, and I am busy with state affairs.
With Pavel Grachev, we were engaged in the withdrawal of troops from the former republics of the USSR, and the construction of the Russian army, and reforms, and the first Chechen war. A lot of unfair words were said about him in the press and electronic media, but, in my opinion, he was the most powerful of those ministers of defense under whose leadership I happened to serve. He was remembered as a decent man and a brave paratrooper who made most of his parachute jumps while testing new technology. I sincerely respect him Peter Deinekin,
Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force in 1992-1998, General of the Army
Pavel Popovskikh offers his version of events.
According to him, thanks to his closeness to Yeltsin, Grachev had the opportunity to resolve many issues contrary to the position of the cabinet's financial bloc. "Because of such actions, he became objectionable to the government, and persecution began against him," says Popovskikh.
When Boris Yeltsin established the rank of Marshal of the Russian Federation on February 11, 1993, the media unanimously concluded that this was being done "under Grachev."
Two journalists from "Moskovsky Komsomolets" came to the workshop of the Ministry of Defense, where the uniforms and insignia of the highest commanding staff were made, and, in order to get sensational material, played a scene. One pretended to be drunk, while the employees escorted him out together, the other seized the moment and photographed ready-made marshal's epaulettes with huge stars and double-headed eagles on the desktop of the gold embroidery.
Due to numerous media scandals and military failures in Chechnya, Grachev never received the highest rank.
Perhaps the main opponent of Grachev, who accused him of abuse, primarily in the course of selling the property of a group of Soviet troops in Germany, was Dmitry Kholodov, a Moskovsky Komsomolets correspondent.
Colleagues of the journalist later admitted that Kholodov waged a kind of personal war with Grachev.
On October 17, 1994, a man who did not identify himself called Kholodov and indicated the number of the cell in the station's storage room, where there was a briefcase with some sensational material. When Kholodov brought it to the editorial office and tried to open it, there was an explosion.
After retiring, Grachev led a private life, left no memoirs, and rarely appeared in public. Until April 2007, he worked as an adviser to the general director of the Rosvooruzhenie company, then as an adviser to the director of the Popov Omsk Radio Plant.
A retired senior official always fell into complete insignificance. And Grachev, after his resignation, instantly disappeared, as if he had never existed. It is necessary to change the principles of forming our elite so that expulsion from a ministerial post does not equal expulsion from politics Pavel Svyatenkov, political scientist
Pavel Sergeevich Grachev
Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev speaking at the State Duma in 1994
2nd Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation (in the period from May 18, 1992 - June 17, 1996)
2nd Chairman of the State Committee of Russia for Defense Issues
(in the period August 23, 1991 - June 23, 1992)
13th Commander of the Airborne Forces of the USSR
(in the period December 30, 1990 - August 31, 1991)
Party: CPSU (until 1991)
Education: Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School
Military Academy named after M. V. Frunze
Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR
Profession: engineer for the operation of wheeled and tracked vehicles
Occupation: soldier
Birth: 1 January 1948
Rvy village, Leninsky district, Tula region, RSFSR, USSR
Death: 23 September 2012
Pavel Sergeevich Grachev(January 1, 1948, Tula region - September 23, 2012, Moscow region, Russia) - Russian statesman and military leader, military leader, Hero of the Soviet Union (1988), former Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation (1992-1996), the first Russian army general (May 1992).
Youth and early career of Pavel Grachev
Was born Pavel Grachev(January 1, 1948 (according to Grachev himself - December 26, 1947) in the village of Rvy, Leninsky district of the Tula region in the family of a locksmith and a milkmaid. In 1964 he graduated from school. Since 1965 in the Soviet Army, he entered the Ryazan Higher Airborne command school, which he graduated with honors in the specialties "platoon commander of the airborne troops" and "referent-translator from the German language" (1969), graduated as a lieutenant.
After graduating from college in 1969-1971, he served as commander of a reconnaissance platoon of a separate reconnaissance company of the 7th Guards Airborne Division in Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR. In 1971-1975 he was a platoon commander (until 1972), a company commander of cadets of the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School. From 1975 to 1978 he was the commander of the training paratrooper battalion of the 44th training airborne division.
Since 1978 Pavel Grachev was a student of the Military Academy. M. V. Frunze, from which he graduated in 1981 with honors and after which he was sent to Afghanistan.
Since 1981 Pavel Grachev took part in military operations in Afghanistan: until 1982 - deputy commander, in 1982-1983 - commander of the 345th Guards Separate Parachute Regiment (as part of the Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan). In 1983, as chief of staff - deputy commander of the 7th Guards Airborne Division, he was seconded to the territory of the USSR (Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR).
In 1984, he was promoted ahead of schedule to a colonel. Upon returning to the DRA in 1985-1988, he was commander of the 103rd Guards Airborne Division as part of the Limited Contingent of Soviet Troops. In total, he spent five years and three months in the country. May 5, 1988 "for the performance of combat missions with minimal casualties." Major General Pavel Grachev He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (Medal "Gold Star" No. 11573). After returning, he served in the airborne troops in various command positions.
In 1988-1990. Pavel Grachev Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR. After graduation, he was appointed first deputy commander of the Airborne Forces. Since December 30, 1990 - Commander of the Airborne Forces of the USSR (the position of Colonel General, Grachev at that time - Major General).
Pavel Grachev
Participation in the GKChP
August 19, 1991 Grachev fulfilled the order of the Committee of the State Emergency Committee on the introduction of troops into Moscow, ensured the arrival of the 106th Guards Airborne Division (Tula), which took under protection the strategically important objects of the capital. At the first stage, the GKChP acted in accordance with the instructions of the Minister of Defense of the USSR, Marshal D.T. Yazov: he trained paratroopers, together with the KGB special forces and the troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to storm the building of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR.
Switching to Yeltsin's side
In the second half of August 20, Pavel Grachev Together with Air Marshal E. I. Shaposhnikov, Generals V. A. Achalov and B. V. Gromov, he expressed his negative opinion to the leaders of the State Emergency Committee about the plan for the forcible seizure of the Russian parliament. Then he established contacts with the Russian leadership. By his order, tanks and personnel at the disposal of General A. Lebed were sent to the White House to protect it.
Subsequently Pavel Grachev received a promotion, on August 23, 1991, by decree of the President of the USSR, he was appointed First Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR - Chairman of the State Committee of the RSFSR on Defense Issues, and on October 29, 1991, by Decree of the President of the RSFSR B. N. Yeltsin, he was appointed Chairman of the State Committee of the RSFSR on Defense Issues.
By decision of the President of the USSR Pavel Grachev promoted to colonel general and appointed First Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR (August - December 1991). From January to March 1992 - 1st Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Joint Armed Forces of the CIS; was a supporter of the idea of creating a system of unified armed forces of the CIS. Pavel Grachev himself, answering the question of the correspondent of the newspaper "Trud" Viktor Khlystun about the reasons for his appointment to the post of the first Minister of Defense of Russia after the collapse of the USSR, recalled:
- The first minister was not I, but Yeltsin. True, in jest.
- How it is?
- It all started in August 1991. Then I spoke out against the GKChP, in fact, I did not allow the capture of Boris Nikolayevich in the White House. At least that's what many thought. That is probably why Yeltsin decided to thank me. I refused several times... I am a paratrooper, I fought in Afghanistan for five years. I have 647 skydives. Commander of the Airborne Troops. Many paratroopers dream of such a career. The new appointment did not appeal to me.
And what about Yeltsin?
- I thought, then he says: maybe you are right that you are not in a hurry. With that, he let me go, but the next day he called and immediately suggested: let's go to Gorbachev, there is an idea. We go into the office. No knock. Boris Nikolayevich immediately: Mikhail Sergeevich, this is the Grachev who saved you. I appointed him chairman of the Russian Defense Committee. How will you thank him? Gorbachev replied: I am ready, I remember everything. Yeltsin immediately said: put him in the first deputy minister of defense of the USSR Shaposhnikov and give him the rank of colonel general. Gorbachev immediately gave the order to write a decree.
Chairman of the Defense Committee - what kind of position?
She was nominal. The Union was disintegrating before our eyes, and independent Russia did not yet exist. The Ministry of Defense of the USSR was headed by Shaposhnikov, he actually had the nuclear button. This continued until May 1992. Then Yeltsin called me again. By that time, the former republics of the USSR had armies and ministries. The President announced to me: I have decided to create the Ministry of Defense of Russia instead of a committee. Shaposhnikov will be in the USSR, and you will be in Russia. I appoint you minister. I say - early, Boris Nikolaevich, put Shaposhnikov, he has experience, and I - his first deputy. That was sort of decided, but the next day, May 10, B.N. calls and says with some irony, or something: well, Pavel Sergeevich, if you don’t agree, if you don’t want to help the president, then I myself will defense minister. And you are my deputy. So the first Minister of Defense of Russia was Yeltsin... A week later, a phone call: how is the situation in our troops? Tired voice. He often conveyed the mood with his voice, played. I answer everything is fine. And then Yeltsin seemed to complain: you know, I'm so tired of being a minister! Therefore, I signed a decree on your appointment.
- Interview "Pavel Grachev:" I was appointed responsible for the war "", the newspaper "Trud" No. 048 of 03/15/2001
Minister of Defense Pavel Grachev
Since April 3, 1992 - First Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia, responsible for interaction with the High Command of the Joint Armed Forces of the CIS on the management of military formations under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation.
Since May 7, 1992 Pavel Grachev- Acting Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation; on the same day, he, the first in Russia after the collapse of the USSR, was awarded the rank of army general. He became the first military leader in the modern history of Russia to be awarded this title. Since May 18, 1992 - Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. Most of the senior leadership of the Ministry was formed from among the generals whom he personally knew from joint service in Afghanistan. He opposed the accelerated withdrawal of parts of Russian troops stationed outside the former USSR, in the Baltic states, Transcaucasia and some regions of Central Asia, justifying this by the fact that Russia does not yet have the resources necessary to solve the social problems of military personnel and their families. He sought to prevent the weakening of unity of command in the army, its politicization: they banned the All-Russian Officers' Assembly, the Independent Trade Union of Military Personnel and other politicized army organizations.
Until June 23, 1992 Pavel Grachev continued to hold the position of First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the CIS Joint Armed Forces - Chairman of the State Committee of the Russian Federation on Defense Issues.
At first time Pavel Grachev was almost never criticized either by the President of Russia or by the communist opposition. He stated that "the army ... should not interfere in the resolution of domestic political problems, no matter how acute they are."
However Pavel Grachev after his statements during the constitutional crisis in the country in the fall of 1992 about the support of the President by the army, the attitude of the opposition towards Grachev changed to sharply critical. In March 1993, Grachev, like other power ministers, made it clear that he took the side of the President. During the riots that began in Moscow on October 3, after some delay, he called troops into the city, which the next day, after tank shelling, stormed the parliament building.
In May 1993, he was introduced to the working commission to finalize the draft of the new Constitution of Russia.
November 20, 1993 Pavel Grachev Appointed a member of the Russian Security Council by presidential decree.
November 30, 1994 Pavel Grachev By decree of the President of Russia, he was included in the Group for Leading Actions for the Disarmament of Bandit Formations in Chechnya. In December 1994 - January 1995, from headquarters in Mozdok, he personally led the military operations of the Russian army in the Chechen Republic. After the failure of several offensive operations in Grozny, he returned to Moscow. Since that time, in periodicals of the entire political spectrum, he has been sharply criticized for actually refusing to reform the army, for its failure to restore order in Chechnya, and "for a policy pursued in the selfish interests of the highest generals."
He advocated a phased reduction of the Armed Forces for the period until 1996, believed that the army should be formed according to a mixed principle, with a subsequent transition to a contract basis. Pavel Grachev sent to the disposal of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief by presidential decree of June 17, 1996 as a result of an election agreement between B. Yeltsin and A. Lebed.
Subsequent activities of Pavel Grachev
After leaving office, Pavel Grachev for a long time (until the autumn of 1997) was at the disposal of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
On December 18, 1997, in accordance with a special decree of the President of Russia, he assumed the duties of an adviser to the general director of the Rosvooruzhenie company. On April 27, 1998, he was appointed chief military adviser to the general director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Rosvooruzhenie" - "Rosoboronexport", officially taking up his duties.
In April 2000, he was elected president of the Regional Public Fund for Assistance and Assistance to the Airborne Forces "Airborne Forces - Combat Brotherhood".
On April 25, 2007, the media, citing Colonel-General Vladislav Achalov, chairman of the Union of Russian Paratroopers, reported that Grachev was dismissed from the group of advisers to the general director of Rosoboronexport "due to organizational events." On the same day, the press service of the department clarified that, firstly, this happened on February 26, and secondly, due to the fact that from January 1, in accordance with the Federal Law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Russia on issues of secondment and transfer of military personnel, as well as the suspension of military service ”, the institution of secondment of military personnel to Rosoboronexport was abolished, after which several of them, including General of the Army Pavel Grachev, at the personal request were presented for secondment for further military service at the disposal Minister of Defense of Russia.
Since 2007 - chief adviser - head of the group of advisers to the general director of the Omsk production association "Radiozavod im. A. S. Popova. In the same year he was transferred to the reserve.
Scandals and their investigations
According to opponents, Grachev was involved in the case of corruption in the Western Group of Forces in 1993-1994. Against him in the Russian media, accusations were repeatedly made for the illegal acquisition of imported Mercedes cars, which were registered with the help of the command of the Western Group of Forces. None of these accusations was disputed by Pavel Sergeevich in court, but he was also not held accountable.
Question: Do you remember when Pavel Grachev bought two Mercedes-500s in Germany when he was Defense Minister? Then, with the light hand of the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, Grachev was nicknamed Pasha-Mercedes. And the nickname stuck to him so much that many still remember. Grachev, through Colonel General Matvey Burlakov, who commanded the troops that were being withdrawn from Germany, did not understand how he purchased those ill-fated cars. True, not for themselves, but for official needs.
- Colonel Igor Konashenkov
Pavel Grachev owned the famous phrase, said before the start of the operation of the federal troops in Chechnya, that it was possible to restore order in the republic in seventy-two hours with the help of one "fifty kopecks" - the 350th regiment of the 103rd Airborne Forces. This phrase was uttered after the failure of an attempt to capture Grozny by the Chechen opposition with the support of Russian tankers in November 1994.
Later, he commented on a quote about one regiment of the Airborne Forces as follows:
Pavel Sergeevich, what about your infamous promise to take Grozny in two hours with the forces of one parachute regiment? “And I still don’t give up on it. Just listen fully to that statement of mine. Otherwise, they snatched out only one phrase from the context of a big speech - and let's exaggerate. It was about the fact that if you fight according to all the rules of military science: with the unlimited use of aviation, artillery, missile troops, then the remnants of the surviving bandit formations could really be destroyed in a short time by one parachute regiment. And I really could do it, but then my hands were tied.
January 1995 Grachev at a press conference after the “New Year's assault” on Grozny, he said: “These eighteen-year-old boys died for Russia, and died with a smile. They need to erect monuments, and they are being denigrated. This one... This peacekeeper-deputy... Kovalyov. Yes, he has nowhere to put brands, nowhere to put brands. This is an enemy of Russia, this is a traitor to Russia. And they meet him there, everywhere. This Yushenkov, this bastard! It's different, you can't say it, it's the army that gave him an education, gave him a title. Unfortunately, in accordance with the decree, he is still a colonel in the Russian army. And he, this bastard, protects those scoundrels who want to ruin the country.”
Personality assessments of Pavel Grachev
Gennady Troshev, Colonel General, Hero of Russia in his memoirs “My War. The Chechen diary of a trench general" gave his own, versatile assessment of Grachev, giving place to both the negative aspects of his activities and the positive ones:
Grachev is an experienced warrior, he passed all command positions, he smashed the "spirits" in Afghanistan, unlike most of us who had not yet gained combat experience, and we expected some non-standard solutions from him, original approaches, after all, useful, "educational" criticism.
But, alas, he hid his Afghan experience as if in the storeroom of the museum, we did not observe any kind of internal burning, fighting passion in Grachev ... Put the old preference player next to the table where the game is being played - he will be exhausted from the desire to join the fight for the buyback . And here - some kind of indifference, even detachment.
… I am afraid that this confession of mine will disappoint many, but I continue to assert that it is largely thanks to Grachev that the army did not crumble to dust in the early 90s, like many things did in that period. The military know and remember that it was Pavel Sergeevich who came up with a lot of "tricks" to increase the monetary allowance for officers: either a bonus for "tension", then pension "cheat", then payment for "secrecy", etc. the merit is that he did not allow the army to be destroyed under the guise of military reform, as required by the young reformers. If he had yielded then in the main, Russia would not have an army today, just as it does not, by and large, have an economy. - Gennady Troshev. "My war. Chechen diary of a trench general, memoirs, book
Hero of Russia, General of the Army Pyotr Deinekin: “With Pavel Grachev, we were engaged in the withdrawal of troops from the former republics of the USSR, and the construction of the Russian army, and reforms, and the first Chechen war. A lot of unfair words were printed and said about him in the so-called "independent" press and electronic media, but, in my opinion, he was the most powerful of those ministers of defense under whose leadership I happened to serve. He was remembered as a decent man and a brave paratrooper who made most of his parachute jumps while testing new technology. I sincerely respect him…” (“Donetsk communication resource”, 05/19/2008).
Army General Rodionov, Igor Nikolaevich: “Grachev in my 40th army was a good commander of the airborne division. He never rose above this level. He became a minister only because he defected to Yeltsin's side in time.
Illness and death
On the night of September 12, 2012, Grachev was hospitalized in a serious condition in the 50th cardiological intensive care unit of the Central Military Clinical Hospital. Vishnevsky in Krasnogorsk near Moscow. According to news agencies and the press, Grachev suffered a severe hypertensive crisis with cerebral manifestations, but poisoning was not ruled out.
He died on September 23, 2012 at the military clinical hospital named after Vishnevsky.
Personal data
From his youth he was fond of sports (he loved football, volleyball and tennis), in 1968 he became the master of sports of the USSR in cross-country skiing.
Was married, widow - Grachev Lyubov Alekseevna. Had two sons. Senior, Sergey b.1970, officer of the Armed Forces of Russia, graduated from the same airborne school as his father; junior, Valery, b.1975 - studied at the Security Academy of the Russian Federation.
Awards and titles
Hero of the Soviet Union (May 1988)
Two orders of Lenin
Order of the Red Banner
Order of the Red Star
Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" III degree
Order "For Personal Courage" (October 1993, "for courage and bravery shown during the suppression of an armed coup attempt on October 3-4, 1993")
Order of the Badge of Honor
Order of the Red Banner (Afghanistan)
Honorary Citizen of Yerevan (1999)
Military service of Pavel Grachev
Former Chief Military Adviser of Rosoboronexport, Former Minister of Defense of Russia
Former chief military adviser to the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Rosoboronexport, former Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, General of the Army. Hero of the Soviet Union, awarded the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Red Star, "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", "For Personal Courage", as well as the Afghan Order of the Red Banner. He was accused in the case of the murder of journalist Dmitry Kholodov. He died in Moscow on September 23, 2012.
Pavel Sergeevich Grachev was born on January 1, 1948 in the village of Rvy, Tula Region. He graduated with honors from the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School (1969) and the Frunze Military Academy (1981). In 1981-1983, as well as in 1985-1988, Grachev took part in the fighting in Afghanistan. In 1986 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union "for the performance of combat missions with minimal casualties",,. In 1990, after graduating from the Military Academy of the General Staff, Grachev became deputy commander, and from December 30, 1990 - commander of the USSR Airborne Forces,.
In January 1991, Grachev, on the orders of the Minister of Defense of the USSR Dmitry Yazov, brought two regiments of the Pskov Airborne Division into Lithuania (according to a number of media reports, under the pretext of assisting the military registration and enlistment offices of the republic in forced recruitment into the army).
On August 19, 1991, Grachev, following the order of the State Emergency Committee, ensured the arrival of the 106th Tula Airborne Division in Moscow and its taking under the protection of strategically important objects. According to media reports, at the beginning of the putsch, Grachev acted in accordance with Yazov's instructions and trained paratroopers, together with KGB special forces and Interior Ministry troops, to storm the building of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. On August 20, Grachev, along with other high-ranking military men, informed the Russian leadership about the intentions of the State Emergency Committee,,. A version was also voiced in the media, according to which Grachev warned Boris Yeltsin about the impending coup on the morning of August 19.
On August 23, 1991, Grachev was appointed chairman of the RSFSR State Committee for Defense and Security with a promotion from major general to colonel general and became the first deputy minister of defense of the USSR. After the formation of the CIS, Grachev became Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Joint Armed Forces of the CIS (CIS Joint Armed Forces), Chairman of the State Committee of the Russian Federation for Defense Issues,.
In April 1992, Grachev was appointed First Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia, in May he first became Acting Minister and then Minister of Defense in the government of Viktor Chernomyrdin. In the same month, Grachev was awarded the rank of army general. Grachev, according to a number of media reports, himself admitted to his lack of experience, therefore he surrounded himself with experienced and authoritative deputies, mainly "Afghan" generals,.
The role of Grachev in the operation to withdraw Russian troops from Germany was assessed by the media ambiguously. Noting the complexity and scale of the military operation (it became the largest of those committed in peacetime), the press also indicated that corruption and embezzlement flourished under the guise of preparing and conducting the withdrawal of troops. However, none of the highest military officials who served in Germany were convicted, although several trials took place,,,.
In May 1993, Grachev joined the working commission to finalize the presidential draft of the Russian constitution. In September 1993, after presidential decree number 1400 on the dissolution of the Supreme Council, he declared that the army should be subordinate only to Russian President Yeltsin. On October 3, Grachev summoned troops to Moscow, who the next day, after tank shelling, stormed the parliament building,. In an interview published after his death, Grachev admitted that the shooting at the White House from tanks was his personal initiative: in his own words, in this way he hoped to "frighten" the defenders of the Supreme Council and avoid losses during the assault. According to Grachev himself, nine paratroopers were killed during the capture of the building, and there were losses from the opposite side ("they laid down a lot ... no one considered them just"). In October 1993, Grachev was awarded the Order "For Personal Courage", as stated in the decree - "for courage and bravery shown during the suppression of an armed coup attempt on October 3-4, 1993." On October 20, 1993, Grachev was appointed a member of the Russian Security Council,.
In 1993-1994, several extremely negative articles about Grachev appeared in the press. Their author, Moskovsky Komsomolets journalist Dmitry Kholodov, accused the minister of being involved in a corruption scandal in the Western Group of Forces. October 17, 1994 Kholodov was killed. A criminal case was opened on the fact of the murder. According to investigators, the crime, in order to please Grachev, was organized by retired Airborne Colonel Pavel Popovskikh, and his deputies were accomplices in the murder. Subsequently, all the suspects in this case were acquitted by the Moscow District Military Court. Grachev was also involved in the case as a suspect, which he learned about only when the decision to terminate the criminal case against him was read out. He denied his guilt, pointing out that if he spoke about the need to "deal with" the journalist, he did not mean his murder.
According to a number of media reports, in November 1994, a number of regular officers of the Russian army, with the knowledge of the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, took part in hostilities on the side of forces in opposition to Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev. Several Russian officers were captured. The Minister of Defense, denying his knowledge of the participation of his subordinates in the hostilities on the territory of Chechnya, called the captured officers deserters and mercenaries and stated that Grozny could be taken in two hours by the forces of one airborne regiment.
On November 30, 1994, Grachev was included in the leadership group for the disarmament of gangs in Chechnya, in December 1994 - January 1995, he personally led the military operations of the Russian army in the Chechen Republic from headquarters in Mozdok. After the failure of several offensive operations in Grozny, he returned to Moscow. Since that time, he has been subjected to continuous criticism both for the desire for a forceful solution to the Chechen conflict, and for the losses and failures of Russian troops in Chechnya.
On June 18, 1996, Grachev was dismissed (according to a number of media reports, at the request of Alexander Lebed, appointed Assistant to the President for National Security and Secretary of the Security Council). In December 1997, Grachev became the chief military adviser to the general director of the Rosvooruzhenie company (later FSUE Rosoboronexport). In April 2000, he was elected president of the Regional Public Fund for Assistance and Assistance to the Airborne Forces "VDV - Combat Brotherhood". In March 2002, Grachev headed the commission of the General Staff for a comprehensive inspection of the 106th Airborne Division stationed in Tula.
On April 25, 2007, the media reported that Grachev was dismissed from the post of chief military adviser to the general director of FSUE Rosoboronexport,. Colonel-General Vladislav Achalov, the chairman of the Union of Russian Paratroopers, with reference to whom the media disseminated this information, said that Grachev was removed from the post of adviser "in connection with organizational events." On the same day, the press service of Rosoboronexport clarified that Grachev was relieved of his post as adviser to the director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise and seconded to the Russian Ministry of Defense to resolve the issue of further military service as early as February 26, 2007. The press service explained this personnel decision by the abolition of the institution of secondment of military personnel to Rosoboronexport from January 1, 2007. Information about Grachev's resignation appeared in the media a day after the death of the first president of Russia, Yeltsin, who appointed the ex-minister of defense to the post of adviser to the state company by a special decree,,.
In June 2007, Grachev was transferred to the reserve and appointed chief adviser - head of the group of advisers to the general director of the production association A. S. Popov Radio Plant in Omsk,.
On September 12, 2012, Grachev was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Vishnevsky military hospital in Moscow, on September 23 he died,,. The next day, it was reported that the cause of death was acute meningoencephalitis.
Grachev had a number of state awards. In addition to the Star of the Hero and the Order "For Personal Courage", Grachev was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Orders of the Red Banner, the Red Star, "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", and the Afghan Order of the Red Banner. He was a master of sports in skiing; headed the Board of Trustees of the CSKA football club,.
Grachev was married, he left two sons - Sergey and Valery. Sergei graduated from the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School
Used materials
Alfred Koch, Petr Aven. Pavel Grachev's last interview: "At the White House, fugitives, fire!". - Forbes.ru, 16.10.2012
Pavel Sergeevich Grachev was the most famous and scandalous Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. He held this post from 1992 to 1996. Coming from a simple worker-peasant family (his father is a locksmith, his mother is a milkmaid), he went through a difficult path to the very pinnacle of power and did a lot to ensure that he was remembered in this post for a long time.
Achievement list
Pavel Grachev was born in the Tula region in 1948. After school, he went to the Airborne Forces School in Ryazan. Upon graduation, he served in a reconnaissance company in Kaunas (Lithuania), then on the territory of the Russian Federation. In 1981 he graduated from the Frunze Military Academy in absentia. Served in Afghanistan. For his service he was awarded the Golden Star of the Hero. Then he was listed in various command positions.
Since the end of 1990, with the rank of major general, he became commander of the USSR Airborne Forces. After 2 months, he was awarded a more appropriate rank of lieutenant general. During military service, Grachev proved himself only positively. He was repeatedly wounded, shell-shocked, participated in the testing of new equipment, made over 600 parachute jumps, etc.
Grachev's actions during the putsch
During the August events in Moscow in 1991, Pavel Grachev first carried out the orders of the State Emergency Committee. Under his command, the 106th Airborne Division entered the capital and took under guard the main objects. It happened on August 19th. After 2 days, Grachev sharply changed his mind about the events, expressed his disagreement with the GKChP about the use of force to seize power and went over to the side of the president.
He gave the order to use "to protect" the White House heavy armored vehicles and personnel under the command of Alexander Lebed. Later, during the investigation of the GKChP case, Grachev stated that he was not going to give the order to storm the White House. On August 23, the president appointed Pavel Grachev as first deputy defense minister. At the same time, the lieutenant general was promoted. From that moment on, his career quickly took off.
As minister
In May 1992, Pavel Sergeevich became the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation and received the rank of Army General. During an interview with a Trud newspaper correspondent, Grachev admitted that he did not consider himself worthy of such a high position (experience, they say, is not enough). But Yeltsin convinced him. In his new post, Pavel Grachev formed the entire cabinet, selecting people from those who served in Afghanistan.
The minister opposed the imminent withdrawal of troops from the Baltics, Central Asia and Transcaucasia, rightly believing that conditions should first be created for the military at home, and then they should be transferred to a new duty station. Grachev sought to strengthen the Russian army by forbidding the formation of politicized organizations in its ranks.
There were contradictory, even strange steps during his command. For example, Grachev ordered that almost half of the weapons of the Russian army be placed at the disposal of Dudayev's militants. The minister explained this by the fact that it was not possible to withdraw weapons from the territories occupied by Dudayev. A couple of years later, the separatists fired at Russian soldiers with these machine guns.
Attitude towards Grachev
At first, the personality and actions of Pavel Sergeevich did not cause much debate. In 1993, the attitude of the opposition towards the minister changed dramatically. After the October riots in Moscow, Grachev clearly demonstrated that he was ready to raise an army against the civilian population. Shortly before that, he stated the exact opposite: the army should not interfere in the solution of internal political conflicts.
Grachev opposed the introduction of troops into Chechnya. For this he was criticized by both Chernomyrdin and Yeltsin himself. At the same time, the minister personally led the fighting in Chechnya, and rather unsuccessfully. After several crushing defeats he returned to Moscow.
Grachev was heavily criticized for many of his actions and statements. For example, at the beginning of the Chechen war, he threatened to restore order in Chechnya in two hours with one parachute regiment, and when asked how much time he needed to prepare, he answered: "Three days."
In January 1995, Grachev said that "eighteen-year-old boys" in Chechnya were dying "with a smile", referring to the dead Russian soldiers.
In 1993, in order to relieve himself of responsibility, he asked Yeltsin for written permission to open fire on the White House if necessary. After the Grozny "successes" Grachev began to advocate the gradual reduction of the army and its transfer to a contract basis.
Scandals
In 1997, Pavel Grachev was appointed advisor to the general director of Rosvooruzhenie. The following year, he became an adviser to the general director of the Rosoboronexport company. In 2007, Grachev was fired from his last post due to the "abolition" of this and some other posts.
One of the loudest scandals was the case of corruption in the top military leadership of units located in Germany. It was in the early 90s. Alexander Lebed said that Grachev was involved in this case and acquired several Mercedes abroad with the money obtained by dishonest means. In this case, Grachev was not held accountable, but he did not dispute his guilt in any way.
