The last Chief of the Soviet General Staff, who refused to fire on civilians and twice drafted military reform
“These were young people expressing their views in the square. The task before me was to resolve the conflict without bloodshed.” — when asked why he refused the Kazakh party leadership's order to deploy troops against the 1986 Alma-Ata protests.
A professional soldier who rose from conscript to the highest military post in the USSR: Chief of the General Staff. As commander of the Central Asian Military District, he refused the Kazakh party leadership's demand to send troops against the December 1986 Alma-Ata protests, resolving the standoff without bloodshed. Twice entrusted with drafting military reform, first as First Deputy Chief of the General Staff under Gorbachev and again as Chief in 1991, he advocated shorter conscription, brigade-based organization, and a defensive posture, clashing with Defence Minister Yazov and later the Russian military establishment. Appointed Chief of the General Staff after the August 1991 coup, he held the post barely four months before the Soviet Union itself dissolved, making him the last man to hold the office.
Career Timeline
- 1954Conscripted, artillery regiment, Turkestan Military District
- 1967–1968Motor rifle battalion commander, GSVG — seized airfield and key points near Prague
- 1979–1981Commander, 28th Combined Arms Army, Belorussian Military District
- 1984–1987Commander, Central Asian Military District — refused to deploy troops to Alma-Ata, Dec 1986
- 1987–1988First Deputy Chief, General Staff — drafted military reform, clashed with Yazov, removed
- 1989–1991First Deputy Chief of General Staff & Warsaw Pact Joint Armed Forces Chief of Staff
- 1991.8Chief of the General Staff, USSR — appointed after coup, dismissed as USSR dissolved
- 1992–1994Military inspector-adviser, presidential military adviser, retired 1994