Boris Vsevolodowitsch Gromov

Colonel-General Boris Vsevolodowitsch Gromow
Photo: Michail Evstafjew

Boris Vsevolodowitsch Gromow ( Russian Борис Всеволодович Громов ; born November 7, 1943 in Saratov ) is a Russian military and politician. He was Colonel General of the Soviet Army , Deputy Interior Minister of the Soviet Union , Deputy Defense Minister of Russia and from 2000 to 2012 Governor of Moscow Oblast .

Life

Boris Gromov was born in Saratov on the Volga in 1943 . He attended the Suvorov military schools in Saratov and Kalinin and then went through the various levels of command and staff training up to the general staff - first at the SM Kirov officers' college for commanders of motorized rifle troops in Leningrad , then at the military academy "MW Frunze" and at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR "KJ Voroshilov" . During his military career, Gromov gained experience in various parts of the Soviet Union - in the Baltic States , in the northeastern Caucasus and in Central Asian Turkestan . From January 1980 to July 1982 he was used in the Afghanistan war , then in the Carpathian Military District. In 1987 he became the commander of the 40th Army in Afghanistan with the rank of lieutenant general . Gromov initiated the final withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan by February 15, 1989. From February 1989 to 1990 he commanded the Kiev military district . On May 9, 1989, he was promoted to Colonel General. For his services he was awarded the title " Hero of the Soviet Union ".

President Gorbachev rewarded him in 1990 with promotion to the ministerial bureaucracy as First Deputy Interior Minister of the USSR.

Two attempts were made to remove Gromov from the army:

• After the August putsch against Gorbachev in 1991, he fell temporarily out of favor, but was able to return to the army shortly afterwards - as First Deputy Chief Commander of the Land Forces. Under President Boris Yeltsin he was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation in June 1992 .
• During the conflict between President Boris Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet at the beginning of October 1993, Gromov again got into a dilemma when he maintained contact with Yeltsin's opponents until he stormed the White House in Moscow. Eventually he broke up with his superior, Defense Minister Grachev, because of differing views on military doctrine and the war in Chechnya .

In March 1995, Gromov was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a military expert .

He was also at the head of the patriotic movement "Mojo Otetschestwo" (My Fatherland) and the Association of Afghanistan Veterans, which opposed the war in Chechnya and organized humanitarian aid for war invalids and their families.

Boris Gromow (2010)

Boris Gromov became governor of Moscow Oblast and a member of the Duma in 2000 .

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 , he was an advocate of the US war in Afghanistan and for closer cooperation with the US.

In July 2002, he declared a state of emergency on 22 of the Oblast's 35 Rajons due to severe forest fires. 200 large fires were fought by around 2,000 firefighters and another 3,000 soldiers.

On December 7, 2003, Gromov again won the gubernatorial elections with over 75 percent of the votes cast.

In the spring of 2005, Gromow declared in Berlin that as a tactical advisor to the US in Afghanistan, he had recommended buying from opponents of the Taliban as an effective method.

In July 2005, in the presence of the then Federal Council President Matthias Platzeck (SPD) , Gromow signed an agreement on closer cooperation between the ILA in Berlin-Schönefeld and the MAKS in Moscow.

In 2007 his term of office was extended for another five years, but in 2012 he was not reappointed governor and was replaced by Sergei Schoigu on May 11, 2012 .

Awards (selection)

• Hero of the Soviet Union (1988)
• Order of Lenin (1988)
• Order of Merit for the Fatherland 2nd Class (2003)
• Order of Merit for the Fatherland III. class
• Order of Merit for the Fatherland IV Class (2008)
• Order of Honor (2012)
• Order of the Red Banner
• Order of the Red Star
• Order “For Service to the Fatherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR” III. class
• Medal "For Merit in Combat"
• Medal “For impeccable service”, 1st class
• Medal "For impeccable service" 2nd class
• Medal “For Impeccable Service” III. class
• Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (Ukraine) IV class (2014)
• Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (Ukraine) Class V (2003)
• Order of Friendship of Peoples (Belarus) (2005)

literature

• Boris W. Gromow , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 11/1995 from March 6, 1995, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Web links

Commons : Boris Gromow  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Website of Boris W. Gromow ( Memento from August 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (Russian) (accessed April 22, 2011)
• Boris V. Gromov, Governor of the Moscow Region (Russian)
• Article by Gromov on the Afghanistan war (Russian)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Curriculum vitae of Boris W. Gromow ( memento from March 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (Russian) (accessed April 22, 2011)
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Heroes of the Soviet Union (Russian)
3. ↑ Ukas of the President of Russia from November 6, 2003 1309 (Russian)
4. ↑ Ukas of the President of Russia dated November 7, 2008 № 1590 (Russian)
5. ↑ Ukas of the President of Russia from March 30, 2012 № 348 ( Memento from July 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (Russian)
6. ↑ Ukas of the President of Ukraine dated February 12, 2014 № 72/2014 (Ukrainian)
7. ↑ Ukas of the President of Ukraine of November 7, 2003 № 1277/2003 (Ukrainian)
8. ↑ Ukas of the President of Belarus from November 22, 2005 № 536 (Belarusian)
9. ↑ Order of Friendship of Peoples in Belarus (Russian)