Soviet airborne forces commander and deputy defence minister in the August 1991 coup
On 19 August 1991, during the GKChP coup, Achalov coordinated the entry of airborne troops into Moscow and was tasked with blockading the Ostankino television centre.
Born on 13 November 1945 in the village of Atamash, Atninsky District, Tatar ASSR, and died in Moscow on 23 June 2011. He graduated from the Kazan Tank School (1966) and the Armoured Forces Academy (1973), commanded the 7th Guards Airborne Division (1978), the 8th Guards Army (1985–1987) and the Leningrad Military District as chief of staff (1987–1989), and became a major-general in 1980. He commanded the Soviet Airborne Forces from January 1989 to December 1990 and was Deputy Minister of Defence of the USSR from December 1990 to September 1991, becoming colonel-general in 1989. Named in the GKChP indictment among the deputy defence ministers who joined the conspiracy at the 17 August 1991 meeting, he sided with the Supreme Soviet in the 1993 crisis, was appointed Defence Minister by Alexander Rutskoy, arrested and amnestied in February 1994.
Activities and affiliations
- 1966–1973 Military command · Soviet Union · Military and defence
Career Timeline
- 1966–1973Tank platoon and company commander, 8th Guards Army (GSFG)
- 1973–1975Deputy commander, 243rd Training Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, 44th Training Airborne Division
- 1975–1977Commander, 137th Guards Parachute Regiment
- 1977–1978Deputy commander, 98th Guards Airborne Division
- 1978–1982Commander, 7th Guards Airborne Division
- 1984–1985Deputy commander, 2nd Guards Tank Army (GSFG)
- 1985–1987Commander, 8th Guards Army (GSFG)
- 1987–1989Chief of Staff / First Deputy Commander, Leningrad Military District
- 1989–1990Commander, Soviet Airborne Forces (VDV)
- 1990–1991Deputy Minister of Defence, USSR
- 1993Minister of Defence, Rutskoy alternative government
- 2003–2011Chairman, Union of Russian Paratroopers
Related historical events
- 1985–1991Perestroika and Glasnostairborne commander, coordinated coup troops
- 1988–1991The Nationalities Crisis and the Collapse of Central AuthorityDeputy Defence Minister · on-site command of Vilnius operationArrived in Vilnius on 12 January 1991 and took control of all military operations, commanding the assault on the TV tower and broadcasting centre from the ground.
- 1987–1991The Baltic Independence Movement and the Baltic WaySoviet Deputy Defence Minister, field commander for the Vilnius operationArrived in Vilnius on 12 January 1991 and assumed command of all military operations.
- 1991The August Coup and the Collapse of the USSRcoordinated coup troop deployment
The Vilnius TV Tower Operation, January 1991
On 11 January 1991 Soviet forces began seizing the printing houses and communications facilities of Vilnius, and on the 12th Deputy Defence Minister Achalov arrived in the city to assume command of all military operations. That night paratroopers of the 76th Guards Airborne Division, supported by the KGB's 'Alfa' special group, stormed the television tower and the radio-and-television centre; fourteen civilians defending the tower were killed. The operation's aim was to sever broadcasting, the last channel through which the Lithuanian leadership spoke to the nation, and it was conceived as the prelude to an assault on the Supreme Council that was planned but never carried out. Achalov never disowned his command of the operation and, in an NTV interview given shortly before his death, alleged that Gorbachev had known in advance of the 13 January action. Lithuanian prosecutors later reclassified the Vilnius events as crimes against humanity and war crimes, and from 2015 tried the accused in absentia.