Кеңес Одағының қорғаныс министрі Сергей Соколов

Defense Minister of the Soviet Union

Sergey Leonidovich Sokolov (Серге́й Леони́дович Соколо́в; 1 July 191131 August 2012) was a Soviet military commander, Hero of the Soviet Union, and served as Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union from 22 December 1984 until 29 May 1987.

The son of an Imperial Russian army officer, Sokolov served in the Battle of Lake Khasan during the Soviet Japanese Border Wars and also fought against Nazi Germany during World War II. He was Commander of the Leningrad Military District from 1965 to 1967 and First Deputy Defense Minister from 1967 to 1984. Sokolov was promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1978. He was in charge of Soviet ground forces during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He personally led the main Soviet incursion of ground forces on 27 December 1979. His actions and command strategies during the war made him one of the Soviet Union's most respected Marshals. On 28 April 1980 he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Sokolov was appointed Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union in 1984 and held this post until 1987, when he was dismissed by Mikhail Gorbachev as a result of the Mathias Rust affair. He was also a candidate (non voting) member of the Politburo from 1985 to 1987. From 1992, Sokolov was an advisor to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. In July 2001, he became an honorary citizen of Crimea, Ukraine. On turning 100 he stated, "Military service prestige will regain the importance it once had." Sokolov died of undisclosed causes on 31 August 2012, at the age of 101. He was buried on 3 September with full military honors at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, next to his wife of 70 years, Maria Samojlovna Sokolova (16 December 1919 – 28 August 2012) who had predeceased him three days prior. He was survived by two sons, Colonel General (Retd.) Valery Sergeyevich (born 30 September 1940), now a lecturer at the Faculty of Command and General Staff Military Academy, and Colonel General (Retd.) Vladimir Sergeyevich (born 22 January 1947), who had retired during the war in Afghanistan and was chief of staff of the 40th Army.