The deputy defence minister who, at Tbilisi, pushed for force without waiting for the Politburo
"A decision must be adopted here on the scene": to the Georgian Defence Council, Tbilisi, 8 April 1989
A career officer who rose from Suvorov military school to the top of the Soviet Army, Kochetov was promoted to Army General in 1988 and appointed First Deputy Minister of Defence in January 1989. That April he was dispatched to Tbilisi, where he told the Georgian Defence Council that 'the magnitude of the crisis is not fully appreciated in Moscow' and that 'a decision must be adopted here on the scene,' opening the path to the use of force without Politburo clearance. The crackdown on 9 April killed 21 people, and subsequent documentary research established that Kochetov was acting on Yazov's instructions and that Gorbachev had not been informed in advance.
Career Timeline
- 1952Graduated Lvov Infantry School; platoon and company commander, GSVG
- 1965Graduated Frunze Military Academy; regimental commander, North Caucasus MD
- 1973Graduated General Staff Academy; commander, 24th 'Iron' Division
- 1977–1979Commander, 7th Guards Army
- 1982–1985Commander, Southern Group of Forces (Hungary)
- 1985–1988Commander, Transcaucasus Military District
- 1988–1989Commander, Moscow Military District
- 1989–1991First Deputy Minister of Defence, USSR