Viktor Samsonov
Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
from 1996 to 1997.
Early military career
Samsonov was born on 10 November 1941 in the work settlement of
Russian SFSR. After he graduated from school he first worked at a train station in Sosnogorsk. He entered the Soviet Army in 1960 as an officer cadet, and was commissioned as a lieutenant from the Far Eastern Higher Command School in July 1964. In October of that year he was assigned to the Soviet Naval Infantry, where he served as a platoon and company commander,[1] in the 55th Naval Infantry Division of the Pacific Fleet.[2] Samsonov attended the Frunze Military Academy in the early 1970s, where he was classmates with Mikhail Moiseyev and Boris Gromov,[3] and graduated in 1972.[1] Afterwards he held command roles in the motor rifle forces of the Soviet Army at the regimental and division level. In 1974 he received a promotion to lieutenant colonel ahead of schedule, and was promoted to colonel in 1979. After graduating from the General Staff Academy of the Soviet Armed Forces in 1981 Samsonov became a motor rifle division commander.[1]
In September 1983 he was made the chief of staff of a field army, and in May 1985 he was appointed as commander of the 4th Army, in the Transcaucasian Military District. In May 1987, as a lieutenant general, Samsonov was made chief of staff and first deputy commander of the Transcaucasian Military District. In July 1990 he became the commander of the Leningrad Military District, and during the August 1991 coup attempt in the Soviet Union he was named the military commandant of Leningrad by the State Committee on the State of Emergency.[1] He supported the local government[3] and did not have significant role in the events of the coup, with his main action being the increase in security at military sites in the area.[1]
Senior military career
In December 1991, shortly before the
Colonel General Samsonov was made the Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces. In early 1992, the former Soviet military on the territory of the Russian SFSR was under his command. In January, his post was renamed to being that of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Armed Forces, and in February he was formally appointed to the new position.[1] He had strained relations with the CIS Armed Forces commander-in-chief, Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov, and Russian Minister of Defense, Col. Gen. Pavel Grachev. In 1993 the attempt to create a unified CIS military fell apart,[3] and in December of that year Samsonov became the Chief of Staff for Coordinating Military Cooperation of the CIS Member States.[1]
He was promoted to rank of
Russian presidential administration while still being on active duty. He retired in March 2002.[1]
Samsonov was married and had two sons.military honours at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery on 20 November 2024.[6]
Awards and decorations
- Order of Friendship
- Order of the Red Banner
- Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR"
- Medal "For Battle Merit"
- Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin"
- Medal "For Distinction in Guarding the State Border of the USSR"
- Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
- Medal "In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow"
- Medal "Veteran of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
- Medal "For Strengthening of Brotherhood in Arms"
- Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
- Jubilee Medal "60 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
- Jubilee Medal "70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
- Medal "In Commemoration of the 1500th Anniversary of Kiev"
- Medal "For Impeccable Service"
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "САМСОНОВ Виктор Николаевич" (in Russian). Russian Ministry of Defense. Archived from the original on 22 June 2017.
- ^ "В Москве простились с бывшим начальником Генштаба генералом армии Самсоновым" [Moscow bids farewell to former Chief of the General Staff, Army General Samsonov]. Moskovskij Komsomolets (in Russian). 22 November 2024.
- ^ Jane's Information Group. 1 March 1997. Archived from the originalon 11 September 2012.
- ^ a b "Начальники Генерального штаба" [Chiefs of the General Staff]. Kommersant (in Russian). 14 May 2002.
- ^ "Памяти генерала армии Самсонова Виктора Николаевича". KVRF. 18 November 2024. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
- ^ "В Подмосковье состоялось прощание с генералом армии Самсоновым". tvzvezda.ru. 20 November 2024. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
External links
Media related to Viktor Samsonov at Wikimedia Commons
Chiefs of the Russian General Staff | ||
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 Imperial Russian Army(1810–1917) |
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 Russian Army(1917–1918) |
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 Red Army(1918–1946) |
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 Soviet Armed Forces(1946–1992) |
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 Russian Armed Forces(1992–present) |
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