People of the Revolution and the USSR
- Chris Hani Chris Hani The SACP leader who kept the revolutionary flame alive after laying down arms
- Anatoly Mikhailovich Kornukov Анатолий Михайлович Корнуков The air-defense general who ordered KAL 007 shot down, later commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force
- Yevgeny Ivanovich Shaposhnikov Евгений Иванович Шапошников The last Soviet defence minister and final Marshal of Aviation
- Nikolai Timofeyevich Antoshkin Николай Тимофеевич Антошкин The Soviet air force general who personally led 1,927 helicopter drops over the burning Chernobyl reactor
- Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov Борис Всеволодович Громов The last Soviet soldier to leave Afghanistan, the face of the Soviet withdrawal
- Viktor Petrovich Dubynin Виктор Петрович Дубынин The 40th Army commander who halved Afghan losses, then Russia's first Chief of General Staff
- Gennady Nikolayevich Osipovich Геннадий Николаевич Осипович The Soviet air-defence interceptor pilot who shot down KAL 007
- Mikhail Semyonovich Surkov Михаил Семёнович Сурков A party cadre who moved from army organization to the late Soviet Politburo
- Nito Alves Nito Alves The radical MPLA interior minister who sought Soviet backing only to die in a failed coup
- Vladislav Alekseyevich Achalov Владислав Алексеевич Ачалов Soviet airborne forces commander and deputy defence minister in the August 1991 coup
- Pavel Sergeyevich Grachev Павел Сергеевич Грачёв The airborne commander who held the coup's key and handed it to Yeltsin
- Alexander Ivanovich Lebed Александр Иванович Лебедь The airborne deputy commander who, sent against the White House, switched sides and helped break the August coup
- Sergei Vladimirovich Yevdokimov Сергей Владимирович Евдокимов The Tamanskaya Division battalion chief of staff who turned ten tanks to defend the White House during the August coup
- Sergei Semyonovich Biryuzov Сергей Семёнович Бирюзов Marshal who helped plan the liberation of the Balkans, then commanded the Strategic Rocket Forces