Pavel Sergeevich Grachev was the most famous and scandalous Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. He held this post from 1992 to 1996. Coming from a simple worker-peasant family (his father is a locksmith, his mother is a milkmaid), he went through a difficult path to the very pinnacle of power and did a lot to ensure that he was remembered in this post for a long time.
Achievement list
Pavel Grachev was born in the Tula region in 1948. After school, he went to the Airborne Forces School in Ryazan. Upon graduation, he served in a reconnaissance company in Kaunas (Lithuania), then on the territory of the Russian Federation. In 1981 he graduated from the Frunze Military Academy in absentia. Served in Afghanistan. For his service he was awarded the Golden Star of the Hero. Then he was listed in various command positions.
Since the end of 1990, with the rank of major general, he became commander of the USSR Airborne Forces. After 2 months, he was awarded a more appropriate rank of lieutenant general. During military service, Grachev proved himself only positively. He was repeatedly wounded, shell-shocked, participated in the testing of new equipment, made over 600 parachute jumps, etc.
Grachev's actions during the putsch
During the August events in Moscow in 1991, Pavel Grachev first carried out the orders of the State Emergency Committee. Under his command, the 106th Airborne Division entered the capital and took under guard the main objects. It happened on August 19th. After 2 days, Grachev sharply changed his mind about the events, expressed his disagreement with the GKChP about the use of force to seize power and went over to the side of the president.
He gave the order to use "to protect" the White House heavy armored vehicles and personnel under the command of Alexander Lebed. Later, during the investigation of the GKChP case, Grachev stated that he was not going to give the order to storm the White House. On August 23, the president appointed Pavel Grachev as first deputy defense minister. At the same time, the lieutenant general was promoted. From that moment on, his career quickly took off.
As minister
In May 1992, Pavel Sergeevich became the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation and received the rank of Army General. During an interview with a Trud newspaper correspondent, Grachev admitted that he did not consider himself worthy of such a high position (experience, they say, is not enough). But Yeltsin convinced him. In his new post, Pavel Grachev formed the entire cabinet, selecting people from those who served in Afghanistan.
The minister opposed the imminent withdrawal of troops from the Baltics, Central Asia and Transcaucasia, rightly believing that conditions should first be created for the military at home, and then they should be transferred to a new duty station. Grachev sought to strengthen the Russian army by forbidding the formation of politicized organizations in its ranks.
There were contradictory, even strange steps during his command. For example, Grachev ordered that almost half of the weapons of the Russian army be placed at the disposal of Dudayev's militants. The minister explained this by the fact that it was not possible to withdraw weapons from the territories occupied by Dudaev. A couple of years later, the separatists fired at Russian soldiers with these machine guns.
Attitude towards Grachev
At first, the personality and actions of Pavel Sergeevich did not cause much debate. In 1993, the attitude of the opposition towards the minister changed dramatically. After the October riots in Moscow, Grachev clearly demonstrated that he was ready to raise an army against the civilian population. Shortly before that, he stated the exact opposite: the army should not interfere in the solution of internal political conflicts.
Grachev opposed the introduction of troops into Chechnya. For this he was criticized by both Chernomyrdin and Yeltsin himself. At the same time, the minister personally led the fighting in Chechnya, and rather unsuccessfully. After several crushing defeats he returned to Moscow.
Grachev was heavily criticized for many of his actions and statements. For example, at the beginning of the Chechen war, he threatened to restore order in Chechnya in two hours with one parachute regiment, and when asked how much time he needed to prepare, he answered: "Three days."
In January 1995, Grachev said that "eighteen-year-old boys" in Chechnya were dying "with a smile", referring to the dead Russian soldiers.
In 1993, in order to relieve himself of responsibility, he asked Yeltsin for written permission to open fire on the White House if necessary. After the Grozny "successes" Grachev began to advocate the gradual reduction of the army and its transfer to a contract basis.
Scandals
In 1997, Pavel Grachev was appointed advisor to the general director of Rosvooruzhenie. The following year, he became an adviser to the general director of the Rosoboronexport company. In 2007, Grachev was fired from his last post due to the "abolition" of this and some other posts.
One of the loudest scandals was the case of corruption in the top military leadership of units located in Germany. It was in the early 90s. Alexander Lebed said that Grachev was involved in this case and acquired several Mercedes abroad with the money obtained by dishonest means. In this case, Grachev was not held accountable, but he did not dispute his guilt in any way.
Biography
GRACHEV Pavel Sergeevich (January 1, 1948 - September 23, 2012), statesman and military leader Russian Federation, army General. Born in the village of Rvy, now the Leninsky district of the Tula region. In military service since 1965. He graduated from the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School in 1969, the Military Academy. M.V. Frunze in 1981, the Military Academy of the General Staff in 1990. From September 1969, P.S. Grachev - commander of a reconnaissance platoon and company of cadets of the Ryazan Airborne School, commander of a training paratrooper battalion. Since 1981 - deputy commander, and since July 1982 - commander of a separate guards airborne regiment in Afghanistan. Since June 1983 - Chief of Staff of the Guards Airborne Division. In 1985-1988 - Commander of the Guards Airborne Division in Afghanistan. From June 1990 - First Deputy Commander, and from December 1990 - Commander of the Airborne Forces. From August to December 1991 - First Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR. In 1992, Grachev was awarded the rank of army general. From January 1992 - First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States, from April - First Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. From May 1992 to June 1996 - Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. In this position, he formed the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, prepared reforms in the Armed Forces in accordance with the instructions of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief - the President of the Russian Federation.
P.S. Grachev - Hero of the Soviet Union. He was awarded two Orders of Lenin and the Red Banner, Orders of the Red Star, "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 3rd class, "Badge of Honor" and medals.
On September 23, Army General and Minister of Defense of Russia from 1992 to 1996, Pavel Grachev, died of encephalitis in the Vishnevsky military hospital near Moscow. On September 25, he will be buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery opposite Boris Yeltsin, the first president of post-Soviet Russia.
Pavel Grachev will be remembered as the man who sent tanks to storm parliament in 1993 and to attack separatist Chechnya in December 1994. He was boundlessly devoted to Boris Yeltsin, who offered him the post of Minister of Defense, although he was just a general with one star on his shoulder straps, having received his unquestioning obedience in return. However, he was unable to reform the declining army, became embroiled in corruption scandals, and broke all records of unpopularity by the time he retired in 1996.
To help Boris Yeltsin
A stocky and stocky figure, an inability to speak in public... This former paratrooper and war hero in Afghanistan rose to the top thanks to the grace of Boris Yeltsin, who wanted to reward his loyalty to the "democratic" camp during an attempted putsch by the hardliners of the Soviet regime in August 1991. And very quickly he turned out to be the executor of the most unattractive orders of the head of state.
In October 1993, when Communist and nationalist deputies took refuge in the building of the parliament dissolved by Boris Yeltsin for insubordination, Defense Minister Pavel Grachev agreed to turn tanks against the rebels. Before that, the soldiers of the special forces of the FSB (the new name of the KGB) refused to storm. We don't get paid to shoot secretaries, they said. Grachev hesitated at first, but then demanded a written order signed by the president. Yeltsin forced himself to be asked twice. Russian tanks drove onto Kutuzovsky Prospekt and opened fire on the parliament in broad daylight under the stunned looks of passers-by who had gathered from afar to watch what was happening.
Take Grozny "in two hours"
In December 1994, when the president decided to send an army against the separatist Chechen province, Pavel Grachev declared that he could take Grozny "in two hours" with just one airborne regiment. The real state of affairs turned out to be completely different. Tanks ill-suited for urban combat burned, and young conscripts died “with a smile on their lips,” as Pavel Grachev, who was shown along with President Yeltsin on all TV channels on New Year's Eve, said.
The operation ended in a complete fiasco. Despite the superiority of fire, the Russian army suffered losses from a handful of poorly dressed and armed Chechens for a year and a half. The confusion, looting and abuse revealed the true state of the armed forces and were the final blow to the image of General Grachev.
Solution
In August 1996, an agreement was signed on the withdrawal of Russian troops and the recognition of the independence of Chechnya. His conclusion was the result of the work of General of the Airborne Forces Alexander Lebed, who soon became the country's Minister of Defense. New hero the day he accused Pavel Grachev of making money by selling tanks exported from East Germany to Croats, Serbs, Bosnians and Azerbaijanis ...
Earlier, in 1994, Dmitry Kholodov, a journalist for the Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid, who told the same thing in his articles, was killed with an explosive device planted in a suitcase. Seven years later, his killers from the GRU (army intelligence) were tried and found guilty. Pavel Grachev, who spoke at the hearing, admitted that he had mentioned the need to solve the problem in conversations with his subordinates, but stressed that he did not think of the worst. All suspicions were removed from him, and he was able to enjoy a quiet retirement, having worked until 2007 as a consultant at Rosoboronexport.
Bloggers are discussing the identity of Pavel Grachev, the first Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, who died yesterday at the age of 65. General Grachev, who had the unofficial nickname "Pasha-Mercedes" and sided with Yeltsin in 1991, is known for organizing the execution of the Russian parliament in October 1993 and defeat in the First Chechen War.
Criminal Pavel Grachev: "White and fluffy"
starshinazapasa Former Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev dies
Former Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev died at the age of 65, RIA Novosti reports citing a representative of the Vishnevsky military hospital. The politician died on September 23 at about 15:00 Moscow time.
There is no official data on the causes of Grachev's death yet. It is known that the general was hospitalized on September 12 in the intensive care unit of the Vishnevsky hospital. According to the LifeNews portal, then Grachev was diagnosed with a stroke.
Pavel Grachev served as Minister of Defense of Russia in 1992-1996 in the government of Viktor Chernomyrdin. He was one of the participants in the August putsch, commanded the airborne troops on the side of the State Emergency Committee, but during the putsch, along with a group of other military men, including generals Boris Gromov and Vladislav Achalov, he went over to the side of Boris Yeltsin.
Grachev took the post of Minister of Defense of Russia on May 18, 1992, shortly before that he - the first in Russia - was awarded the rank of army general. Under Grachev, Russia waged the First Chechen War (1994-96), after the defeat in which the minister began to be criticized and subsequently, in June 1996, was dismissed.
After leaving the post of minister, Grachev worked in senior positions, first at Rosvooruzhenie, then at Rosoboronexport. Since 2007, Grachev has been an adviser to the general director of the Omsk production association Popov Radio Plant.
Lenta.ru
alex-tverskoy The fate of Pavel Grachev ...
holmogor Pavel Grachev was very unlucky that ex-deputy Sergei Yushenkov was sewn as a sidekick for loot much earlier than his death.
As a result, Grachev's only memorable and unconditionally true statement by the public: "Bastard!" now they almost don’t remember, because it’s not relevant.
krylov skydiver
After a hard, long life, Pavel Grachev, a Russian statesman and military leader, the first Yeltsin governor, died.
It seems that no one writes anything good about him - neither patriots, nor liberals, nor communists, no one at all.
True, they commemorate different things: the shot parliament, the Chechen campaign, corruption in the army, "Pasha-Mercedes", etc.
Although in general he was just a Soviet military man. Not even the worst. That the elders saw him and put him up, first raising him, and then appointing him to the Yeltsin team - it was lucky: the place of birth played a role (even the name - "the village of Moats", luxuriously), the corresponding parents, textured appearance, clumsy speech, stupid peasant greed and peasant the same estimate, well, and other circumstances developed: such a person was needed. I don't even think that he was particularly active and "torn himself." The man was put on skis - he went.
There was good in it too. In Afghanistan, he didn’t put living people in piles at all, spent no more than the standard (and this is the best of everything that we generally say about our "military leaders"). Before the execution of the White House, he got drunk, which in these circles is considered a sign of humanity. He tried to "preserve" the "army" - which, in a sense, he succeeded, adjusted for quotes. In Chechnya...well, in Chechnya it was a matter of state, as in Transnistria, Ossetia, Abkhazia, and so on. It was not his business, his business was to carry out political decisions and bear the burden of responsibility. He carried the load to the grave without spilling a word.
And what he really knew how to understand and loved was a parachute. Six hundred jumps.
About the late Grachev
Among the many publications about the late Grachev, commentators stubbornly ignore such a characteristic detail: in the early 90s, Grachev was called "Pasha-Mercedes", and this was very insulting. Still: the general bought as many as several "Mercedes", this does not climb into any gates!
koygore Pasha-Mercedes gave oak
In Moscow, the man who, thanks to his stupidity, mediocrity and martinetism, destroyed thousands of soldiers' lives during the first Chechen campaign - the former Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev, who was once contemptuously called "Pasha-Mercedes" for tricks and fraud, threw his hooves to the ground.
He was 64 years old. Born in the family of a locksmith and a milkmaid in the village of Rvy, Tula Region. After graduating from school, he entered the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School, which he graduated with honors as a "platoon commander of the airborne troops" and "referent-translator from the German language" in 1969. He served in the Airborne Forces, then studied at the Military Academy. Frunze.
In 1981 he was sent to Afghanistan, where he served intermittently for more than five years, following the results of his service he was awarded the star of the Hero of the USSR. After returning from Afghanistan in 1988, he worked at the Academy of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces. In 1990 he was appointed deputy commander of the Airborne Forces.
In 1991, Grachev, now commander of the Airborne Forces, played an important role in the August coup. On the first day of the coup, the general carried out the order of the State Emergency Committee to bring the 106th Airborne Division into the capital, but the next day, having agreed with Air Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, and Generals Vladislav Achalov and Boris Gromov (the future governor of the Moscow Region), he refused to obey the State Emergency Committee and switched on the side of Boris Yeltsin. Here it is, the essence of the general. Today is yours, tomorrow is ours. Political prostitute, what else can you say. He sensed whose wins, and went over.
At the end of the coup, he was appointed chairman of the Russian State Committee for Defense Affairs, then, in May 1992, he headed the Ministry of Defense. In this position, he led the withdrawal of the Western Group of Forces from Germany. In this regard, many media accused the minister of corruption. Thanks to the publications of Moskovsky Komsomolets, the nickname "Pasha-Mercedes" was firmly established for the general for a long time. It was not a "withdrawal of troops." It was a disgraceful flight. And how then people were thrown into empty fields to live in dirty tents, without food and basic amenities, and there was nothing to spread.
Grachev's name was also linked to the murder of the newspaper's journalist Dmitry Kholodov, who died on October 17, 1994 at his workplace as a result of a suitcase bomb explosion. According to the investigation, the murder was organized by a retired colonel of the Airborne Forces Pavel Popovskikh, who acted in the interests of Grachev, who was angered by Kholodov's publications about corruption in the grouping of Russian troops in Germany. Popovskikh and other defendants in the case were acquitted, involvement in the murder of Pavel Grachev remained unproven. Still would. With such a lobby. They smeared "Pasha-Mercedes".
In the spring of 1993, the Minister of Defense took part in the development of the new Constitution of Russia, in October of the same year he supported Boris Yeltsin in a conflict with the Supreme Council. The crisis turned into armed clashes in Moscow and ended with the shooting of the White House. For these actions, the general was awarded the Order "For Personal Courage". Faithful oprichnik turned out. Like a mad dog, he rushed at everyone whom the owner showed.
In 1994, he commanded federal troops during an unsuccessful operation to neutralize separatists controlled by Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev. After a flurry of criticism in the media in 1996, he was dismissed and completely left state activity. For what he did there, I would personally shoot this bastard.
alnikol About Pavel Grachev.
ev-chuprunov Obituary: Pavel Grachev. Without stamps.
On September 23, 2012, the former Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Pavel Sergeevich Grachev, died. On the Internet, a dismissive attitude prevails towards the departed military man. However, due to Russian tradition, one should speak about the dead either well or not at all. As a kind of obituary, I propose a biography of Pavel Grachev. I will try to write, at least, neutrally.
Pavel Grachev (1948)- comes from a simple family. Until a certain point, a military career was built more on personal talent than on connections. Graduate of the Ryazan Airborne School. Then the service, a number of appointments to command positions. From 1971 to 1978, Pavel Grachev made a rapid career: he took off from a platoon commander to a battalion commander.
In 1979, the USSR invaded Afghanistan. It is this date that can be considered the beginning of Grachev's real ascent to the top. In 1981, Pavel Sergeevich went to Afghanistan. Grachev spent a total of more than 5 years in Afghanistan. He received the rank of colonel (1984) and the star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. The command noted his ability to achieve the assigned tasks with minimal human losses.
Since 1990 - commander of the USSR Airborne Forces, with the rank of major general. Grachev's career can be described as surprisingly successful - in 20 years the officer went from platoon commander to general.
Politics
The USSR was already bursting at the seams. On August 19, 1991, the State Emergency Committee broke out. The putschists tried to reverse the situation - but extremely pale and clumsily. One got the impression that they had neither a real program nor the political will and resources to take effective steps. The first to see this was in the army. On August 20, Grachev, together with a group of high-ranking officers, intervened in politics - in fact, speaking at the forefront of the security forces who supported Yeltsin. The GKChP was crushed.
Naturally, the new government has not forgotten its "heroes": three days later, Pavel Grachev becomes Deputy Minister of Defense, and soon receives new stars - already a colonel general.
In early May 1992, Pavel Grachev reached the climax of his career, first becoming acting. Minister of Defense, and in less than 2 weeks he lost this prefix.
Work as Secretary of Defense
Grachev still knew how to work, otherwise it is difficult to explain his rapid rise from the bottom to the post of Minister of Defense. Grachev placed trusted people, familiar to him since the days of Afghanistan, in key positions. I must say that the time was very difficult: the economy was crumbling, hyperinflation was on the nose. Ethnic conflicts flared in the post-Soviet space. Abroad, in the current "independent" republics, a huge Soviet contingent remained. Local princelings robbed military bases, legally and not. It was in such circumstances that the ministerial work of Pavel Grachev began.
Then came the 1993 crisis. Grachev has long tried to maintain a balance between the president and the opposition, stating that the army should be neutral. Did not work out. For asterisks and appointments, I had to stain my hands in the blood of fellow citizens. Troops had to be called to Moscow: the White House was shot from tank guns. That was the payoff for a career takeoff.
From that moment on, Grachev becomes an odious figure for many.
First Chechen. Career decline.
It is difficult to say who exactly Pavel Grachev crossed the road. But from a certain period they began to actively denigrate him. A case of corruption. Allegedly, with the help of Grachev, a deal was carried out related to the purchase of two Mercedes cars in Germany. Biting newspapermen pasted Grachev's nickname Pasha-Mercedes, which remained with him for years to come. Lord, knowing the extent of corruption in modern Russia- what a trifle these two Mercedes were ...
Next was Chechnya. A complex tangle of interests of the West and liberals, Chechen lobbyists in the Kremlin and special services, behind-the-scenes games of the oligarchs. Grachev and the army as a whole, corrupt newspapermen and the media found fault with everything.
Grachev also remembered the phrase about the airborne regiment, with which he intended to clear Grozny in 72 hours. Here is what the General said:
“And even now I don’t refuse it. Just listen completely to that statement of mine. Otherwise, after all, they snatched out only one phrase from the context of a big speech - and let’s exaggerate. It was about the fact that if you fight according to all the rules of military science: with unlimited use aviation, artillery, missile troops, then the remnants of the surviving bandit formations could indeed be destroyed for a short time one parachute regiment. And I really could do it, but then my hands were tied"
Grachev harshly criticized the liberals and so-called human rights activists who twisted the arm of the army, in fact pandering to the militants. Removed from office in 1996. In fact, Grachev was responsible for the failure of the Chechen campaign.
The former Minister of Defense died on September 23 at the Vishnevsky Hospital. The main cause of death is the consequences of a severe hypertensive crisis.
PS - a complex and ambiguous life, full of ups and downs. The heroism of the times of Afghanistan and the faithful service of the times of the USSR coexist in the biography of Pavel Sergeevich with the betrayal of the Yeltsin times and participation in political games.
History will judge.
From the very beginning
Born on January 1, 1948 in the village of Rvy, Leninsky district, Tula region, in a working-class family, Russian.
In 1969 he graduated from the Ryazan Higher Airborne School, in 1981 - the Military Academy. Frunze (with honors), in June 1990 - the Academy of the General Staff.
In 1969-71 he served as commander of a reconnaissance platoon of an airborne division in the city of Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR. In 1971-72 he was the commander of a platoon of cadets of the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School, in 1972-75 he was the commander of a company of cadets of the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School. From 1975 to 1978 - commander of a training airborne battalion of a training airborne division.
In 1978-81 he was a student of the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze.
From 1981 to 1983 he was in Afghanistan: in 1981-82 - deputy commander of a separate 354th airborne regiment as part of a limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, in 1982-83 - commander of a separate 354th airborne regiment.
From 1983 to 1985 - Chief of Staff of the 7th Division in Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR.
In 1985 he was returned to Afghanistan, until 1988 he was commander of the 103rd Guards Airborne Division named after the 60th anniversary of the USSR. In total, he served in Afghanistan for 5 years and 3 months. For merits in the Afghan campaign, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union ("for the performance of combat missions with minimal human losses"). The award took place after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
After studying (in 1988-90) at the Academy of the General Staff, in 1990 he became deputy commander, and from December 30, 1990 - commander of the Airborne Forces (VDV).
Demonstrated personal loyalty to the Minister of Defense of the USSR Dmitry Yazov and called him "dad".
In January 1991, he ensured the implementation of the order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR Yazov on the introduction of two regiments of the Pskov Airborne Division into Lithuania. The pretext was to assist the military enlistment offices of the republic in the forced recruitment of draft evaders into the army. On the eve of the Vilnius events in January 1991, Grachev spoke out in the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper against the use of landing troops in interethnic conflicts. In his opinion, this is the business of the KGB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. For this statement, he received a scolding from Marshal Yazov, however, without any consequences for his career. At the beginning of 1991, Grachev did not actually participate in directing the actions of the paratroopers in the Baltic states, whose activities during this period were coordinated by General Vladislav Achalov.
On August 19, 1991, following the order of the State Emergency Committee on the introduction of troops into Moscow, he ensured the arrival of the 106th Tula Airborne Division in the capital and its taking under the protection of strategically important objects. At the first stage of the coup attempt, he acted in accordance with the instructions of Marshal Yazov: he trained paratroopers, together with the KGB special forces and the Interior Ministry troops, to storm the building of the RSFSR Armed Forces. At the same time, he maintained contacts with the Russian leadership, in particular with Yuri Skokov, with whom he was on friendly terms for a long time.
On the afternoon of August 20, together with other high-ranking military men (in particular, Air Marshal Shaposhnikov, Generals Vladislav Achalov and Boris Gromov), he expressed his negative opinion to the leaders of the State Emergency Committee about the plan to capture the White House, and then informed the Russian leadership that the landing units were not will storm the White House (according to General Achalov, Grachev said he was sick when Achalov and Gromov, convinced that the storming of the White House would lead to huge casualties, went to report their point of view to the member of the State Emergency Committee, General Valentin Varennikov. According to the memoirs of General Alexander Lebed, Grachev conveyed through him to the White House a message about the time of the alleged assault on the White House - and not information that the Airborne Forces will not participate in the assault).
Not having confidence that the military would follow the order, the State Emergency Committee canceled the initial decision and the order to storm was not issued. Grachev himself subsequently claimed that he "refused to participate in the storming of the Russian White House."
After the failed coup attempt, Grachev received an offer from Yeltsin to take the post of Minister of Defense of the RSFSR (not provided for by the then state structure of the republic) instead of Konstantin Kobets, who was appointed to this position on August 19. Together with a group of military men, Grachev convinced Yeltsin not to create a republican ministry of defense, so that a split along national lines would not occur in the armed forces of the USSR. Instead of the ministry, the State Committee of Russia for Defense Issues with a staff of about 300 people was created - a coordinating body between the USSR Ministry of Defense and Russian government structures.
On August 23, 1991, Grachev was appointed chairman of the Russian State Committee for Defense Affairs with a promotion from major general to colonel general and became the first deputy minister of defense of the USSR. After the formation of the CIS, Grachev became, respectively, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Joint Armed Forces of the CIS (CIS Joint Armed Forces).
At this time, General Grachev acted as a supporter of a unified armed forces. He stated that the army should not interfere in resolving the internal problems of the state, no matter how acute they may be. He opposed possible purges in the army.
On April 3, 1992, Grachev was appointed First Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia (whose duties were temporarily performed by Russian President Yeltsin). In early May, Grachev was temporarily entrusted with the direct leadership of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation with the right to issue directives, orders and orders for the Armed Forces - with the simultaneous assignment of the military rank of army general.
The units of the armed forces stationed in Russia, the Baltic states, Transcaucasia, some regions of Central Asia, outside the former USSR, have passed under the control of the Russian Ministry of Defense. The senior leadership of the ministry was formed mainly from veterans of Afghanistan. One of the deputy ministers was the former commander of the Soviet troops in Afghanistan, who signed the pre-putch "Word to the People" Boris Gromov.
One of Grachev's first orders as defense minister was to allow Russian troops stationed in zones of interethnic conflicts to open fire to kill in the event of an attack on military units. Grachev opposed the accelerated withdrawal of Russian troops from Poland and the Baltic states, justifying this by the fact that Russia does not yet have the resources necessary to solve the social problems of military personnel and their families.
For the first time after his appointment, Grachev was almost not criticized by the national-patriotic and communist opposition, many of whose leaders considered him an ideologically close person to themselves. However, in the future, especially after the statement in the fall of 1992 about the support of the President by the army, the attitude of the opposition towards Grachev changed to sharply critical. The "Union of Officers" held a "trial of honor" over Grachev.
He sought to prevent the weakening of unity of command in the army, its politicization. They were banned from the All-Russian Officers' Assembly, an independent trade union of military personnel, some politicized officers were dismissed from the army, for example, the leader of the "Union of Officers" Stanislav Terekhov.
In 1993, in his speech at the Supreme Soviet of Russia after the March statement of the President on the "introduction of a special procedure for governing the country," Grachev, like other power ministers, proclaimed his loyalty to the Constitution, at the same time clearly made it clear that he was on the side of Yeltsin. Before the April referendum, he announced that he would vote in support of the President.
In May 1993, he was introduced by Yeltsin's order to the working commission to finalize the presidential draft of the Constitution of Russia.
In April 1993, the Russian prosecutor's office opened an investigation into a case of corruption in a group of Russian troops in Germany, in which, according to his opponents, Grachev was also involved.
Against Grachev, as well as against other top military commanders (Shaposhnikov, Kobets, Volkogonov, etc.), accusations were repeatedly made of privatization in 1992 at low prices of state dachas of the former USSR Ministry of Defense in the village of Arkhangelskoye near Moscow.
In September 1993, after Presidential Decree No. 1400 on the dissolution of parliament, Grachev declared that the army should obey only President Yeltsin and "would not interfere in political battles until the moment when political passions turn into a nationwide confrontation." On October 3, when bloody riots began in Moscow (the capture of the mayor's office, the storming of Ostankino, etc.), after some delay, he summoned troops to Moscow, who the next day, after tank shelling, stormed the parliament building.
In October 1993, he attended the pre-election congress of the People's Patriotic Party (leader Alexander Kotenev) and expressed his support for it.
On October 20, 1993, by presidential decree, he was appointed a member of the Russian Security Council.
In the press, both national-patriotic and communist ("Tomorrow", "Soviet Russia"), and radical-democratic ("Moskovsky Komsomolets"), Grachev was repeatedly accused of patronizing General BurlakovA>, whose name is associated with rampant corruption in the Western Group of Forces in Germany. In the newspaper "Tomorrow" Grachev was given the nickname "Pasha-Mercedes" - for his love for cars of the corresponding brand. After the assassination on October 17, 1994, of Dmitry Kholodov, an employee of the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, who repeatedly wrote about corruption in the army, the editors of the newspaper actually blamed Grachev for this murder: “General democracy is on the alert! Destroying everyone who does not fit into its statutory framework becomes a priority task. Gentlemen Grachev, Burlakov and others like them, hiding in the wide pockets of lampas trousers, large and small sins of their activities, sooner or later will receive their own, if not from justice, then from the Lord God. Grachev himself suggested that the murder of Kholodov "was conceived as a provocation against the Minister of Defense, the GRU and the Armed Forces as a whole."
In November 1994 a number of career officers Russian army(mostly tankers and pilots from the military units of the Moscow Military District), with the knowledge of the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, signed contracts with the Federal Counterintelligence Service and were sent to Chechnya to participate in hostilities on the side of the opposition to Chechen President Dzhokhor Dudayev. Several Russian officers were captured by Dudayev. The Minister of Defense, denying his knowledge of the participation of his subordinates in the hostilities on the territory of Chechnya, called the captured officers deserters and mercenaries. In support of his non-involvement in the events in Chechnya, he said that Grozny could be taken in two hours by the forces of one airborne regiment. Later, the participation of Russian officers in the storming of Grozny was documented. In response to rumors of Grachev's imminent resignation, Boris Yeltsin called him the best defense minister of recent decades.
On November 30, 1994, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, he was included in the Leadership Group for the disarmament of gangs in Chechnya. In December 1994 - January 1995, from headquarters in Mozdok, he personally led the military operations of the Russian army in the Chechen Republic.
After the failure of several offensive operations in Grozny, he returned to Moscow. Since that time, he has been subjected to continuous criticism in the State
Duma and in the periodicals of the entire political spectrum - both for belonging to a group of politicians and military men advocating a forceful solution to the Chechen problem, and for the losses and failures of Russian troops in Chechnya. Responding to criticism, in a television program he called the chairman of the Defense Committee in the State Duma of the first convocation, Sergei Yushenkov, a "bastard", and human rights activist Sergei Kovalev, a traitor.
Many officers who actively advocated military reform sharply criticized Grachev for actually refusing to reform and for
a policy pursued, in their opinion, only in the selfish interests of the highest generals.
Considered an enemy of Generals Boris Gromov and Alexander Lebed, who both left the army in 1994-95 largely because of their relationship with Grachev.
In early May 1995, Grachev approached the government with a proposal to transfer control over the arms trade to his department. He believed that this would allow Russia to maintain its position in the global arms market. Grachev blamed the bloated bureaucratic system and, above all, the Rosvooruzhenie company, which not only fails to explain to buyers “whom to order weapons and who will supply order", but also creates a situation where manufacturing enterprises "do not receive part of their profits".
With the appointment of Alexander Lebed as Secretary of the Security Council, on June 18, 1996, he was relieved of his post as Minister of Defense.
In February 1997, at a meeting of the State Duma, the head of the Defense Committee, Lev Rokhlin, stated that the former leadership of the Ministry of Defense, without official government orders, carried out a free supply of 84 T-72 tanks, 40 infantry fighting vehicles, as well as spare parts worth 7 billion rubles to Armenia. On April 2, he also delivered a detailed report on this issue at a closed session of parliament. According to Lev Rokhlin, the total amount of Russian losses exceeded $1 billion. According to the results of the audit, the head of the President's Main Control Department, Vladimir Putin, said that there were indeed violations, but "during the audit, we did not find documents that would indicate that Grachev gave direct instructions, orders in this regard.
In June 1997, a message appeared about the possibility of appointing Grachev as Russian ambassador to NATO headquarters.
On December 18, 1997, he assumed the duties of chief military adviser to the General Director of the Rosvooruzhenie company, Yevgeny Ananyev, but he began to officially fulfill his duties only from April 27, 1998. (In 2000, the organization was renamed Rosoboronexport).
According to the Kommersant newspaper, the cost of repairing Grachev's office at Rosvooruzhenie was $150,000.
In April 2000, he was elected president of the Regional Public Fund for Assistance and Assistance to the Airborne Troops "VDV - Combat Brotherhood".
On February 26, 2001, he appeared as a witness at the trial in the case of Dmitry Kholodov. He admitted that at one time he ordered the commander of the Airborne Forces, Podkolzin, to "deal" with Kholodov, but did not mean the murder of a journalist. Grachev also stated that he was sure that the defendants were not involved in the murder.
On March 11, 2002, it became known that Grachev had been appointed chairman of the General Staff commission to inspect the 106th Tula Airborne Division. According to the Kommersant newspaper, this appointment meant that the likelihood of Grachev returning to the army was very high. (Kommersant, March 12, 2002)
On March 24, 2004, a second trial began in the Moscow District Military Court in the case of the murder of journalist Kholodov. The court interrogated Grachev, who again stated that he had not given the order to kill Kholodov. According to the version of the Prosecutor General's Office, Pavel Popovskikh, head of the Airborne Forces intelligence, took Grachev's statements, calling on "to shut up the mouth and break off the legs of the journalist Kholodov," as an indication from his superiors and decided to physically eliminate him. On October 17, 1994, the journalist was given a token from the locker at the Kazansky railway station, in which there was a diplomat with "sensational documents about the Ministry of Defense." He brought the case to the editorial office, and when he opened it, there was an explosion, from which he died."
He spoke in favor of a phased reduction in the armed forces, calculated for the period until 1996. The final size of the Russian army, in his opinion, should be 1-1.5 million people. He believes that the army should be recruited according to a mixed principle, with a subsequent transition to a contract basis.
The hero of the USSR. He was awarded two orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Red Star, "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", the Afghan Order of the Red Banner.
Master of sports in skiing.
Wife Lyubov Alekseevna. Two sons. The eldest, Sergey, born in 1970, a soldier, graduated from the same Airborne Forces school that his father, the youngest, graduated from.
Valery, born in 1975 - cadet of the Security Academy of the Russian Federation.
Grachev: Kholodov probably assembled the bomb himself
In the Moscow Military Court, at the trial of the murder of journalist Dmitry Kholodov, former Defense Minister Pavel Grachev said: when he ordered to deal with journalists who defame the army, he did not mean their physical elimination. As the correspondent of Graney.Ru reports from the courtroom, Grachev emphasized that if any of his subordinates misinterpreted his order, then "this is their problem."
To a direct question whether Grachev gave the order to "deal with" Kholodov, the former minister replied as follows: "Firstly, I do not see anything criminal in this word -" sort out ". Secondly, I did not order the journalist to be killed." The general explained that at the board meeting they were ordered to deal with every journalist on every article discrediting the army. "To figure it out," according to Grachev, meant "to talk to every journalist, to find the source of that rubbish" that denigrates the army, and "to set the author on the right path." With this noble goal, the Minister of Defense took journalists with him on all his business trips and, as far as possible, reported to them. At the collegium, where he spoke about the need to deal with journalists, there were representatives of the command of the Airborne Forces, who "heard everything." As for the accused former head of the intelligence department of the Airborne Forces, Pavel Popovskikh, according to Grachev, his position was too low, and he could not attend the collegiums.
At the court session, it was announced that Pavel Grachev was a suspect in a separate criminal case on the murder of Dmitry Kholodov, but this case was closed. There was no limit to the surprise of the former minister: "So, a criminal case was opened against me? So, I was a criminal?" Grachev was sure that the investigators were interrogating him as a witness, and not as a suspect.
Then the ex-minister was explained: the suspicions against him were based on the testimony of Colonel Popovskikh. The colonel claimed that the minister asked him to deal with the journalists. Grachev turned to Popovskikh and asked: "Did you testify like that?" The defendant replied: "No." At the same time, the former minister admitted that he separately addressed the command of the Airborne Forces with instructions to talk with Kholodov, since the journalist had repeatedly visited the 45th regiment of the Airborne Forces (the commander of the special detachment of this regiment, Vladimir Morozov, and two of his deputies are defendants in the case) and "wrote well about situations in the regiment.
The former minister also explained why he forbade Kholodov to attend meetings of the Ministry of Defense, interview Grachev himself and attend his press conferences. According to the general, after one meeting, he met with Kholodov in the lobby and directly asked the journalist why he preferred to write lies about the situation in the army. To this, according to Grachev, Kholodov replied: "I personally have no complaints against you, but I get good money for my articles and will continue to write." When asked who could confirm these words, the ex-minister replied: “people were walking around”, but whether anyone can confirm, he doesn’t know.
Grachev confirmed that his reaction to Kholodov's publications was negative. "My colleagues and I" believed that Kholodov's articles were custom-made, Grachev said, they discredited the army, Grachev himself and members of his family, in particular, the minister's son. In his opinion, Pavel Gusev, editor-in-chief of MK, could have ordered the articles.
In the fall of 1996, Grachev, who had already retired, was asked for a meeting by media tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky. The former minister "reluctantly agreed." Gusinsky said he wanted to apologize to Grachev. He offered to do it publicly, in front of the press. The entrepreneur refused. Then Grachev decided to find out what, in fact, they were apologizing to him for. It turns out that during the events of October 1993, Gusinsky "and his colleagues" decided that Grachev could get into a tank, drive into the Kremlin and establish a military dictatorship. When this did not happen, Gusinsky decided that "something did not work out for Grachev", but he could try again. "They decided that I didn't think it through, didn't finish it, but I can think it through and finish it," the former head of the Defense Ministry explained. And then it was decided to start a campaign to discredit Grachev in the media. The task was entrusted to Pavel Gusev, Grachev claims.
According to the former minister, Gusev personally told him that he had found a certain soldier and, for $1,000, asked him to tell that he, a soldier, allegedly saw "these guys (the defendants - ed.) preparing a suitcase." Grachev is sure that "these guys" could not prepare a crime in this way, because they were too good professionals. He does not know what kind of explosive device was used to kill the journalist. "Maybe Dima
he made it himself," Grachev suggested.
Grachev also remembered the scandalous broadcast on Vladimir Pozner's program "We" in December 1993. 15 minutes before the broadcast, when the head of the Ministry of Defense was sitting in the dressing room, his security guard ran up to him and said that Kholodov had come to the checkpoint with some woman. When the woman was asked to open the bag with which she came, it turned out that her son's head was there, she brought it to show, "so that everyone would know what order is in the army." Upon learning of this, Grachev wanted to refuse to participate in the program, but Posner persuaded him to stay. According to Grachev, the woman was not allowed into the studio. Kholodov was there, but he did not try to ask him questions about it.
Representatives of the injured party - the parents of Dmitry Kholodov - asked Grachev to remember if the minister spoke on this program about internal enemies of the army and did not mention Kholodov among them. Grachev admitted that he mentioned enemies, but he does not remember whether he named Kholodov. Then the victims said: their son was going to speak on the air with questions to the minister, but he pointed to Kholodov and said - now, he is an enemy of the army. This episode did not air. Grachev denied this statement. Here the judge stepped forward and stated that the court was looking at the full recording of the program. Indeed, the head of the Ministry of Defense stated there: the army has internal enemies, "for example, Kholodov."
Representatives of the victims asked Grachev to point out any article by Kholodov that contained lies about Grachev and the army. Grachev refused. He added that the lie that Kholodov wrote about the minister's son was enough, after which he was forced to end his military career. To the question of the victims why Kholodov was not sued, Grachev replied - "it was useless." According to him, he talked with Kholodov himself and asked his press secretary to influence the journalist, but all this was in vain. "Why didn't Kholodov sue me?" Grachev asked. The victims noted that Grachev publicly accused Kholodov only after the death of the journalist.
Finally, Grachev said that his resignation from the post of Minister of Defense was not related to the "Kholodov case." He explained: Lebed, having become the secretary of the Security Council, insisted that the minister of defense should also report to him. Grachev could not endure this and resigned.
Dmitry Kholodov died on October 17, 1994 in the building of the editorial office of Moskovsky Komsomolets as a result of the explosion of a booby trap, which was placed in a briefcase-diplomat. The prosecutor's office accuses six people of the murder of the 27-year-old correspondent: the former head of the intelligence department of the Airborne Forces Pavel Popovskikh, the commander of the special detachment of the 45th regiment of the Airborne Forces Vladimir Morozov, his two deputies Alexander Soroka and Konstantin Mirzayants, the deputy head of the Ross security company Alexander Kapuntsov and businessman Konstantin Barkovsky. According to investigators, he organized the murder of the Popovskys "out of careerist motives."
The ease, even swagger, with which the ex-Minister of Defense behaved in court, addressing either the judge, or the accused, or the public, suggests that Pavel Sergeevich had long ago moved away from the fright of those days when the public was almost I am sure that Pasha-Mercedes was involved in the death of journalist Dmitry Kholodov. Of course, the fright passed long before the current appearance of the ex-minister in court. But there was a wariness - as if something did not work out. Therefore, he did not communicate with the press, at the first trial he answered like a soldier briefly and clearly. And suddenly such emancipation. He even allowed himself to transparently hint that Kholodov died while carrying out some hellish anti-Grachevsky plan of MK editor Pavel Gusev and tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky. [...]
Letter to Yeltsin
According to the director of Rybinsk Motors JSC Valery Shelgunov, the day before the summing up of the results of the tender for the sale of the state-owned 37% stake in Rybinsk Motors JSC, scheduled for December 29, 1995, Defense Minister Pavel Grachev and Chairman of the State Defense Committee Viktor Glukhikh signed a joint appeal to President Yeltsin asking to intervene. The authors of the letter drew attention to the fact that their position is shared by the head of the administration of the Yaroslavl region, the presidential plenipotentiary in the region, the State Committee for Defense Industry, the Ministry of Defense, the chairman of the Federation Council, the Accounts Chamber, general designers and chairmen of several State Duma committees. The letter was signed by Grachev in the hospital and could not personally deliver it to Yeltsin. It went through the office of aides to the President.
According to the management of JSC Rybinsk Motors, the letter did not fall into the hands of Yeltsin, but went to Viktor Chernomyrdin. In January 1996, V. Glukhikh was removed from his post.
According to Valery Voskoboinikov, a joint letter from Defense Minister Pavel Grachev and Chairman of the State Committee for Defense Industry Viktor Glukhikh was the reason for the withdrawal from the loans-for-loans auctions of the Arseniev Aviation Company Progress, the Ulan-Ude and Irkutsk APO, the Design Bureau named after. Sukhoi.
