| Pavel Sergeyevich Grachev | |
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| January 1, 1948 | |
 Russian Defence Minister Pavel Grachev speaking in the State Duma in 1994. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev. |
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| Place of birth | Rvy, Tula Oblast, RSFSR, Soviet Union |
| Allegiance |  Soviet Union Russia |
| Years of service | 1965 — 2007 |
| Rank | General of the Army |
| Commands held | Russian Ministry of Defence |
| Battles/wars | Afghan War, First Chechen War |
| Awards | Hero of the Soviet Union Order of Lenin (2) Order of the Red Banner Order of the Red Star Order for Personal Courage Order of the Badge of Honor Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces |
Pavel Sergeyevich Grachev (Russian: Па́вел Серге́евич Грачё́в), sometimes transliterated as Grachov, is a retired Russian Army General and the former Defence Minister of the Russian Federation; in 1988 he was declared the Hero of the Soviet Union. At the post of Defence Minister (from 1992 to 1996), Grachev gained notoriety because of his military incompetence displayed during the war in Chechnya and the persistent allegations of involvement in enormous corruption scandals. Later, he led the Russia's arms export agency Rosoboronexport from 1997 to 2007.
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Pavel Grachev, born in 1948 in the Tula Oblast region of RSFSR, graduated from the Ryazan Airborne Military Command School, the Frunze Military Academy and the General Staff Academy. He then joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and became a battalion commander in Lithuania from 1968 to 1981.During the Afghan War, Grachev commanded a parachute-landing regiment in 1981-1983, and was in command of the Soviet Army's 103rd Guards Airborne Division in Afghanistan in the last years of the Soviet involvement.
In December 1990, he was appointed commander of the Soviet airborne troops, the VDV. In August-December 1991, Grachev became the First Deputy Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union during the fall of the USSR.
For a period of time, in the early-to-mid-1990s, Grachev was a close friend of President of Russia Boris Yeltsin,[1] and held the post of the Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation from May 1992 to June 1996. Grachev took part in the Soviet coup attempt of 1991 and the events of the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993, during which he supported Yeltsin. In November 1994 Yeltsin called Grachev "the best defense minister of the decade."[2]
In the late 1994 to 1996, Grachev played a key role in initiating and leading the First Chechen War. He was one of authors of the idea to use force to "restore constititional order" in the breakaway republic of Chechnya and publicily promised to swiftly crush the Chechen separatist forces "in a couple of hours with a single airborne regiment."[3][4] He was rumoured to launch the disastrous storming of Grozny while drunk during the celebrations of his January 1 birthday.[5] As TIME commented in 1995: "Grachev had remarked recently that only an 'incompetent commander' would order tanks into the streets of central Grozny, where they would be vulnerable (...) Yet at the end of December he did it."[6] Eventually, in July 1996, Yeltsin sacked the disgraced Grachev following his 1996 re-election. The war soon ended in a Russian defeat, with hundreds of thousands of military and civilian casualties.
In December 1997, Grachev was appointed a senior military adviser to Rosvooruzhenie State Corporation, the Russian arms export monopoly. On April 25, 2007, Grachev was fired from this position.[7]
Grachev was accused of being personally involved in major military corruption scandals, which was not proven in court, that occurred during the withdrawal of the Soviet troops from East Germany. The alleged corruption, which gained Grachev the nickname of "Pashka Mercedes", was the focus of a series of articles published by the investigative journalist Dmitry Kholodov, killed by a booby-trapped suitcase in 1994. Four of Grachev's officers and two others were tried in the murder of the murder but later acquitted.
The archival footage of Grachev saying "tank regiments are commanded by total idiots; you send in the infantry first, then the tanks" is shown on TV in the 2002 film House of Fools.
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| Preceded by Boris Yeltsin (acting) |
Defence Minister of the Russian Federation 1992-1996 |
Succeeded by Mikhail Kolesnikov (Acting) |
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| History | Locations | Political leaders | Military leaders | Foreign involvement |
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Origins Soviet era
Recent developments 1 Involvement in the War Disputed |
Nagorno-Karabakh, North Nagorno-Karabakh, Central Nagorno-Karabakh, South |
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Military aid to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Military aid to Azerbaijan Conflict mediation |
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| Main events | Specific articles | Federals | Separatists |
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Wars Notable battles Other
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Second Chechen War |
Combatants:
Key leaders : |
Combatants: Key leaders: |
