Anatoly Grigoryevich Pozdnyakov (russian: Анатолий Григорьевич Поздняков; 10 October 1949 – 17 September 2001) was a Russian
Major general, incorrectly identified as a
Lieutenant General,
and aide to
Chief of the General Staff Anatoly Kvashnin.
Career
Pozdnyakov was born on 10 October 1949 in
Kirovohrad Oblast, Ukrainian SSR. He graduated from the
Kiev Suvorov Military School
The Kyiv Suvorov Military School (KvSVU) (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Київське суворовське військове училище, Russian language, Russian: Киевское суворовское военное училище) wa ...
in 1967, entering the
Kharkov Higher Tank Command School on 1 September 1967. After graduating from the school in 1971, Pozdnyakov served in tank units. He graduated from the
Military Academy of the General Staff in 1993. Pozdnyakov fought in the
Second Chechen War from 1999, and by the time of his death was deputy head of the 2nd sub-directorate of the Main Operations Directorate of the
Russian General Staff
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (russian: Генеральный штаб Вооружённых сил Российской Федерации, General'nyy shtab Vooruzhonnykh sil Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the mil ...
.
Death
Pozdnyakov was killed on 17 September 2001 when a
surface-to-air-missile
A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...
downed his
Mil Mi-8
The Mil Mi-8 (russian: Ми-8, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968.
It is now produced by Russia.
In addition t ...
helicopter in
Chechnya
Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...
(''see
2001 Grozny Mi-8 crash
The 2001 Grozny Mil Mi-8 crash in Chechnya killed 13 Russian military personnel, mostly senior military officers including two generals.
On September 17, 2001, a surface-to-air missile fired by a special Chechen group targeting Russian commande ...
'').
[
]
Official reports concluded that the attack on the helicopter was orchestrated by members of a Chechen terrorist group specialized in targeting high-ranking Russian military personnel.
[
]
Journalist
Anna Politkovskaya, however, claimed that Pozdnyakov was
assassinated
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...
by members of the Russian military.
Pozdnyakov headed a
General Staff
A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...
"inspection team"
[
]
and, according to Politkovskaya, communicated to her in an interview shortly before his death
[
]
that he had been tasked by
President Vladimir Putin to investigate and report on "military crimes".
[
]
In ''A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya'', Politkovskaya wrote:
See also
*
2001 Grozny Mi-8 crash
The 2001 Grozny Mil Mi-8 crash in Chechnya killed 13 Russian military personnel, mostly senior military officers including two generals.
On September 17, 2001, a surface-to-air missile fired by a special Chechen group targeting Russian commande ...
*
List of Second Chechen War assassinations
References
Assassinated military personnel
Victims of helicopter accidents or incidents
2001 deaths
Russian military personnel killed in action
1949 births
Russian major generals
Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia alumni
People from Kirovohrad Oblast
{{Russia-mil-bio-stub