The general who gave the operational order to clear Rustaveli Avenue
'Not a single demonstrator died from a shovel. That was invented by Mr Sobchak together with the Georgian fascists.'
As commander of the Transcaucasus Military District, he gave the operational order to clear the independence rally on Tbilisi's Rustaveli Avenue on 9 April 1989, an action that left 21 civilians dead. The Sobchak commission named him, yet the chain of command ran upward to Defence Minister Yazov and the republican party leadership, and Rodionov became the only figure publicly held to account within that structure. He had previously commanded the 40th Army in Afghanistan (1985–86), and in 1996 Yeltsin made him Russia's Defence Minister, only to sack him ten months later when he refused to subordinate the army's budget to the government's reform plans.
Activities and affiliations
- 1954–1970 Military command · Soviet Union · Military and defence
Career Timeline
- 1954–1970Graduates Oryol Tank School, serves with Group of Soviet Forces Germany, gold medal at Malinovsky Armoured Academy
- 1970–1980Commands regiment, then deputy commander and commander 24th 'Iron' Motor Rifle Division. General Staff Academy with distinction
- 1980–1986Commander 28th Army Corps (Czechoslovakia), Commander 5th Army (Far East), Commander 40th Army in Afghanistan
- 1986–1989First Deputy Commander Moscow Military District, then Commander Transcaucasus Military District. Directs dispersal of Tbilisi rally, 9 April 1989
- 1989–1997Head of General Staff Academy (1989–96). RF Defence Minister (1996–97), sacked for refusing to subordinate military budget to government reform plans
Related historical events
Post-uniform politics: veterans' organizing and the left-patriotic camp, 1997-2007
After his dismissal as defence minister in May 1997, Rodionov moved into politics through veterans' organizations. From May 1994 he had headed the interregional veterans' club "Iron Division", first as president and later as chairman of its council, and in October 1995 he was elected to the council of the public movement "Honour and Motherland". In August 1997 he joined the organizing committee of the Movement in Support of the Army, Defence Industry and Military Science, launched on Lev Rokhlin's initiative, but withdrew from its activity by the end of that year.
On 19 December 1999 Rodionov was elected to the third State Duma on the KPRF-led "For Victory" bloc list, carried by the Movement in Support of the Army. Between 26 January and 5 April 2000 he sat on the Duma committee for labour, social policy and veterans' affairs, later serving on the veterans' affairs committee and in the KPRF faction. On 23 February 2002 he was elected chairman of the People's Patriotic Party of Russia, which never obtained Justice Ministry registration, a circumstance that helped it enter the Rodina bloc. The English-language profile also records him as a Duma member affiliated with the Movement in Support of the Army and the Rodina faction, chairman of the Professional Union of Military Personnel, and a member of the Duma committee on national security.