Minister Grachev biography. Media about the mysterious death of General Grachev: “There was a plausible version to leave with dignity.” What caused death: alcohol or mushrooms

Bloggers are discussing the personality of Pavel Grachev, the first Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, who died yesterday at the age of 65. General Grachev, who had the unofficial nickname “Mercedes Pasha” and sided with Yeltsin in 1991, is known for organizing the shooting of the Russian parliament in October 1993 and defeat in the First Chechen war.

Criminal Pavel Grachev: “White and fluffy”

starshinazapasa Died former minister Russian Defense Pavel Grachev

Former Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev died at the age of 65, RIA Novosti reports citing a representative of the Vishnevsky military hospital. The politician died on September 23 around 15:00 Moscow time.
There is no official data yet on the causes of Grachev’s death. It is known that the general was hospitalized on September 12 in the intensive care unit of the Vishnevsky hospital. According to the LifeNews portal, Grachev was then diagnosed with a stroke.
Pavel Grachev served as Russian Minister of Defense in 1992-1996 in the government of Viktor Chernomyrdin. He was one of the participants in the August putsch, on the side of the State Emergency Committee he commanded the airborne troops, but during the putsch, together with a group of other military men, including generals Boris Gromov and Vladislav Achalov, he went over to the side of Boris Yeltsin.
Grachev took the post of Russian Minister of Defense on May 18, 1992; shortly before that, he - the first in Russia - was awarded the rank of army general. Under Grachev, Russia fought the First Chechen War (1994-96), after the defeat of which the minister began to be criticized and subsequently, in June 1996, was dismissed.
After leaving the post of minister, Grachev worked in senior positions, first at Rosvooruzhenie, then at Rosoboronexport. Since 2007, Grachev has been an adviser to the general director of the Omsk production association Popov Radio Plant.
Lenta.ru

alex-tverskoy The fate of Pavel Grachev...

holmogor Pavel Grachev was very unlucky that ex-deputy Sergei Yushenkov was killed as a sidekick for money much before his death.

As a result, the only strong and unconditionally true statement of Grachev that is memorable to the public: “You bastard!” Now they hardly remember it, because it’s not relevant.

krylov Parachutist

After a difficult, long life, Pavel Grachev, a Russian statesman and military leader, the first Yeltsin governor, died.

It seems that no one writes anything good about him - not patriots, not liberals, not communists, no one at all.

True, they remember different things: the shot parliament, the Chechen campaign, corruption in the army, the “Mercedes Pasha”, etc.

Although, in fact, he was just a Soviet military man. Not even the worst. That the elders saw him and promoted him, first raising him, and then appointing him to Yeltsin’s team, was lucky: his place of birth played a role (even the name - “the village of Rva”, luxurious), corresponding parents, textured appearance, clumsy speech, stupid peasant greed and peasant he was smart, and other circumstances had developed: just such a person was needed. I don’t even think that he was particularly active and “eager to do it himself.” They put the man on skis and he went.

There was some good in him too. In Afghanistan, he didn’t put living people in stacks at all, he spent no more than the standard (and this is the best of all that we generally say about our “military leaders”). Before the shooting of the White House, he got drunk, which in these circles is considered a sign of humanity. He tried to “preserve” the “army” - which in some sense he succeeded, adjusted for quotation marks. In Chechnya... well, in Chechnya there was a state matter, as in Transnistria, Ossetia, Abkhazia and so on. It was not his business, his business was to carry out political decisions and bear the burden of responsibility. He carried the load to the grave without spilling a word.

And what he really knew how to do, understood and loved was a parachute. Six hundred jumps.

About the late Grachev


Among the many publications about the late Grachev, commentators stubbornly do not pay attention to this characteristic detail: in the early 90s, Grachev was called “Mercedes Pasha,” and this was very offensive. Of course: the general has already purchased several Mercedes, this is out of the question!

koygore Pasha Mercedes gave oak

In Moscow, the man who, thanks to his stupidity, mediocrity and martinetry, destroyed thousands of soldiers' lives during the first Chechen campaign, has thrown off his hooves - former Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev, who was at one time contemptuously called "Mercedes Pasha" for his tricks and fraud.

He was 64 years old. Born into the family of a mechanic and a milkmaid in the village of Rva, Tula region. After graduating from school, he entered the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School, which he graduated with honors as a “platoon commander of airborne troops” and “referent-translator with German language" in 1969. He served in the Airborne Forces, then studied at the Frunze Military Academy.

In 1981, he was sent to Afghanistan, where he served intermittently for more than five years, and based on the results of his service, he was awarded the star of the Hero of the USSR. After returning from Afghanistan in 1988, he worked at the Academy of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces. In 1990 appointed deputy Airborne Forces Commander.

In 1991, Grachev, now commander of the Airborne Forces, played an important role in the August putsch. On the first day of the coup, the general carried out the order of the State Emergency Committee to send the 106th Airborne Division to the capital, but the next day, having agreed with Air Marshal Evgeny Shaposhnikov, and generals Vladislav Achalov and Boris Gromov (the future governor of the Moscow region), he refused to obey the State Emergency Committee and transferred on the side of Boris Yeltsin. Here it is, the essence of the general. Today is yours, tomorrow is ours. Political prostitute, what else can you say. He sensed whose was winning and switched sides.

At the end of the coup he was appointed chairman State Committee Russia on defense issues, then, in May 1992, headed the Ministry of Defense. In this position he led the withdrawal of the Western Group of Forces from Germany. In this regard, many media outlets accused the minister of corruption. Thanks to the publications of Moskovsky Komsomolets, the general was given the nickname “Mercedes Pasha” for a long time. This was not a “withdrawal of troops.” It was a shameful flight. And then how people were thrown into empty fields to live in dirty tents, without food and basic amenities, and there was nothing to spread.

Grachev’s name was also associated with the murder of newspaper journalist Dmitry Kholodov, who died on October 17, 1994 at his workplace as a result of the explosion of a bomb built into a suitcase. As the investigation believed, the murder was organized by retired Airborne Forces Colonel Pavel Popovskikh, who acted in the interests of Grachev, who was angered by Kholodov’s publications about corruption in the group Russian troops in Germany. Popovskikh and other defendants in the case were acquitted; involvement in the murder of Pavel Grachev remained unproven. Still would. With such and such a lobby. They smeared "Pasha-Mercedes".

In the spring of 1993, the Minister of Defense took part in the development of the new Constitution of Russia, and in October of the same year he supported Boris Yeltsin in a conflict with the Supreme Council. The crisis turned into armed clashes in Moscow and ended with the shooting of the White House. For these actions the general was awarded the order"For personal courage." He turned out to be a loyal guardsman. Like a mad dog, he attacked everyone the owner pointed at.

In 1994, he commanded federal troops during an unsuccessful operation to neutralize separatists controlled by Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev. After a barrage of criticism in the media in 1996, he was dismissed and left completely government activities. For what he did there, I would personally shoot that bastard.

alnikol About Pavel Grachev.

ev-chuprunov Obituary: Pavel Grachev. No stamps.

On September 23, 2012, the former Minister of Defense died Russian Federation Pavel Sergeevich Grachev. On the Internet, the attitude towards the departed military man is mostly one of disdain. However, due to Russian tradition, one should speak about the dead either well or not at all. As a kind of obituary, I offer a biography of Pavel Grachev. I will try to write at least neutrally.

Pavel Grachev (1948)- comes from a simple family. Until a certain point, a military career was built more through personal talents than through connections. Graduate of the Ryazan Airborne Forces School. Then service, a series of appointments to command positions. From 1971 to 1978, Pavel Grachev made a rapid career: he rose from platoon commander to battalion commander.
In 1979, the USSR invaded Afghanistan. It is this date that can be considered the beginning of Grachev’s real ascent to the top. In 1981, Pavel Sergeevich went to Afghanistan. Grachev spent a total of more than 5 years in Afghanistan. Received the rank of colonel (1984) and the star of Hero Soviet Union. The command noted his ability to achieve assigned tasks with minimal human losses.
Since 1990 - Commander of the USSR Airborne Forces, with the rank of Major General. Grachev's career can be described as surprisingly successful - in 20 years the officer went from platoon commander to general.

Policy
The USSR was already bursting at the seams. On August 19, 1991, the State Emergency Committee broke out. The putschists tried to reverse the situation - but extremely palely and ineptly. It seemed that they had neither a real program nor the political will and resources to take effective steps. The army was the first to see this. On August 20, Grachev, together with a group of high-ranking officers, intervened in politics - in fact, acting in the vanguard of the security forces who supported Yeltsin. The State Emergency Committee was crushed.
Naturally, new government She hasn’t forgotten her “heroes”: within three days Pavel Grachev becomes Deputy Minister of Defense, and soon receives new stars - already a colonel general.
At the beginning of May 1992, Pavel Grachev reached the apogee of his career, first becoming acting. Minister of Defense, and less than 2 weeks later he lost this console.

Serving as Minister of Defense
Grachev still knew how to work, otherwise it is difficult to explain his rapid rise from the ranks to the post of Minister of Defense. Grachev appointed trusted people to key positions, people he had known since Afghanistan. It must be said that the time was very difficult: the economy was crumbling, hyperinflation was on the horizon. Ethnic conflicts were raging in the post-Soviet space. Abroad, in the current “independent” republics, a huge Soviet contingent remained. Local princelings robbed military reserves, legally and not. It was in such circumstances that the ministerial work of Pavel Grachev began.
Then there was the 1993 crisis. Grachev has long tried to maintain a balance between the president and the opposition, declaring that the army should be neutral. Did not work out. For stars and appointments I had to get my hands dirty in the blood of my fellow citizens. They had to call troops to Moscow: the White House was shot from tank guns. This was the price for a career takeoff.
From this moment on, Grachev becomes an odious figure for many.

First Chechen. Decline of a career.
It is difficult to say who exactly Pavel Grachev crossed the road to. But from a certain period they began to actively discredit him. The case is about corruption. Allegedly, with the help of Grachev, a deal was carried out involving the purchase of two Mercedes cars in Germany. The scathing newspapermen gave Grachev the nickname Pasha-Mercedes, which remained with him for years to come. Lord, knowing the extent of corruption in modern Russia- what a little thing these two Mercedes were...
Next was Chechnya. A complex tangle of interests of the West and liberals, Chechen lobbyists in the Kremlin and intelligence services, behind-the-scenes games of oligarchs. Grachev and the army as a whole, corrupt newspapermen and the media blamed everything.

Grachev was also reminded of the phrase about the airborne regiment with which he intended to clear Grozny in 72 hours. This is what the General replied:
“And I still don’t refuse it. Just listen to my statement in full. Otherwise, they snatched only one phrase from the context of a big speech - and let’s exaggerate. The point was that if you fight according to all the rules of military science: with unlimited use aviation, artillery, missile forces, then the remnants of the surviving gangs could really be destroyed in a short time with one parachute regiment. And I really could do it, but then my hands were tied."

Grachev harshly criticized liberals and so-called human rights activists who twisted the armies of the army, actually condoning the militants. In 1996 he was removed from office. In fact, Grachev was responsible for the failure of the Chechen campaign.

The former Minister of Defense died on September 23 at the Vishnevsky Hospital. The main cause of death is the consequences of a severe hypertensive crisis.

PS - a complex and ambiguous life, full of ups and downs. In the biography of Pavel Sergeevich, the heroism of the times of Afghanistan and faithful service of the times of the USSR coexist with the betrayal of the times of Yeltsin and participation in political games.

History will judge.

The ex-Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, General Pavel Grachev, a military and statesman who at one time received a lot of the most contradictory characteristics from his contemporaries, is an extraordinary and significant personality who influenced not only the events of the 90s in Russia, but also the state of modern Russian armed forces. His contribution to the political atmosphere of the state is still assessed differently and will be analyzed in the future. The official cause of death of Pavel Grachev is meningoencephalitis.

He was born in 1948 in the village of Rva, Tula region, into a simple family. Graduated in 1964 high school and a year later he was called up for military service. IN Soviet army, Grachev entered the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School in 1965, graduating in 1969 with a gold medal and receiving the specialty “platoon commander of airborne troops” and “referent-translator from German”.

From 1971 to 1975, Pavel Sergeevich served in Kaunas, and later became a company commander at his native school. Already in 1975, he received command of a training parachute battalion and in 1978 became a student at the Frunze Military Academy. Since 1981, Grachev served in Afghanistan, where he participated in military operations: as deputy commander, and then as commander of the 345th Guards Separate Parachute Regiment. After a short break from 1983 to 1985, he was again sent to Afghanistan as commander of the 103rd Guards Airborne Division. Grachev was shell-shocked and wounded several times in battle.

In May 1888, Pavel Grachev received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for a successful military operation at the Satukandav Pass. After returning home, he continued his service and in 1988 became a student at the Academy of the General Staff Armed Forces THE USSR. After its completion, he was appointed deputy commander of the Airborne Forces, and from December 1990 - commander.

During the August putsch, Major General Grachev, by order of the State Emergency Committee, brought the 106th Guards Airborne Division into Moscow. However, he, along with other military leaders who arrived in the capital, refused to carry out the order of the putschists to seize the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Having contacted the government, Grachev gave the order to protect the White House. For this, he later received an appointment from Gorbachev as First Deputy Minister of Defense and Chairman of the RSFSR State Committee on Defense Issues. In October of the same year, new President - Boris Yeltsin confirmed this position by awarding Grachev the rank of colonel general.

Since February 1992, Grachev was the first deputy commander-in-chief of the United Armed Forces of the CIS and expressed ideas for creating a system of unified armed forces of the CIS. In May 1992, he received direct control of the Russian Armed Forces and became the first army general in Russia after the collapse of the USSR. From that time on, Pavel Grachev was the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation until 1969.

During his activities in this post, Pavel Sergeevich quite successfully resolved some issues regarding the conclusion Soviet troops from the former Soviet republics, strengthening unity of command in the army and others. During the intensification of Chechen militants by 1994, Grachev advocated a peaceful resolution of issues, but was criticized by the leadership and the opposition. The war in Chechnya dragged on, despite his assurances that all military operations would be completed in a short time. This and statements about the reduction of the Armed Forces and contract service became the reason for Grachev’s resignation from office. After several years of working as a military adviser on various issues, he was retired in 2007.

In September 2012, 64-year-old Gromov was taken to the Vishnevsky Hospital in serious condition, but doctors were unable to save him: he died 12 days later. Trying to establish why Pavel Grachev died, experts put forward 2 main versions: a stroke as a result of alcohol intoxication and mushroom poisoning: the day before the patient celebrated a friend’s birthday. There are also suggestions by the former press secretary of the Ministry of Defense Barants about the voluntary poisoning of the general after failures and a long painful illness. The real reason Only his relatives know about Grachev’s death.

He is buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.

Former chief military adviser to the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Rosoboronexport", former Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, army general. Hero of the Soviet Union, awarded the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner, the Red Star, "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", "For Personal Courage", as well as the Afghan Order of the Red Banner. He was a defendant in the case of the murder of journalist Dmitry Kholodov. Died in Moscow on September 23, 2012.
Pavel Sergeevich Grachev was born on January 1, 1948 in the village of Rvy, Tula region. Graduated with honors from the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School (1969) and Military Academy named after Frunze (1981). In 1981-1983, as well as in 1985-1988, Grachev took part in hostilities in Afghanistan. In 1986, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union "for performing combat missions with minimal casualties." In 1990, after graduating from the Military Academy of the General Staff, Grachev became deputy commander, and from December 30, 1990, commander of the USSR Airborne Forces.
In January 1991, Grachev, by order of USSR Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov, introduced two regiments of the Pskov Airborne Division into Lithuania (according to some media reports, under the pretext of assisting the republic's military registration and enlistment offices in forced recruitment into the army).
On August 19, 1991, Grachev, following the order of the State Emergency Committee, ensured the arrival of the 106th Tula Airborne Division in Moscow and its taking under the protection of strategically important objects. According to media reports, at the beginning of the putsch, Grachev acted in accordance with Yazov’s instructions and prepared paratroopers together with KGB special forces and Ministry of Internal Affairs troops to storm the building of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. On August 20, Grachev, together with other high-ranking military officers, informed the Russian leadership about the intentions of the State Emergency Committee. The media also voiced a version according to which Grachev warned Boris Yeltsin about the impending coup on the morning of August 19.
On August 23, 1991, Grachev was appointed chairman of the RSFSR State Committee for Defense and Security with a promotion in rank from major general to colonel general and became first deputy minister of defense of the USSR. After the formation of the CIS, Grachev became Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the United Armed Forces of the CIS (CIS Joint Forces), Chairman of the Russian State Committee on Defense Issues.
In April 1992, Grachev was appointed first deputy minister of defense of Russia; in May, he first became acting minister and then minister of defense in the government of Viktor Chernomyrdin. In the same month, Grachev was awarded the rank of army general. Grachev, according to a number of media reports, himself admitted his lack of experience, so he surrounded himself with experienced and authoritative deputies, mainly “Afghan” generals.
The role of Grachev in the operation to withdraw Russian troops from Germany was assessed ambiguously by the media. Noting the complexity and scale military operation(it became the largest ever committed in peacetime), the press also indicated that, under the guise of preparing and carrying out the withdrawal of troops, corruption and theft flourished. However, none of the senior military officials who served in Germany were convicted, although several trials took place.
In May 1993, Grachev became a member of the working commission for finalizing presidential project constitution of Russia. In September 1993, after presidential decree number 1400 on the dissolution of the Supreme Council, he stated that the army should obey only Russian President Yeltsin. On October 3, Grachev called troops to Moscow, who stormed the parliament building the next day after the tank shelling. In October 1993, Grachev was awarded the Order “For Personal Courage,” as stated in the decree, “for the courage and courage shown in suppressing the armed coup attempt on October 3-4, 1993.” On October 20, 1993, Grachev was appointed a member of the Russian Security Council.
In 1993-1994, several extremely negative articles about Grachev appeared in the press. Their author, Moskovsky Komsomolets journalist Dmitry Kholodov, accused the minister of involvement in a corruption scandal in the Western Group of Forces. On October 17, 1994, Kholodov was killed. A criminal case was opened into the murder. According to investigators, the crime was organized by retired Airborne Forces Colonel Pavel Popovskikh to please Grachev, and his deputies acted as accomplices in the murder. Subsequently, all suspects in this case were acquitted by the Moscow District Military Court. Grachev was also a suspect in the case, which he learned about only when the decision to terminate the criminal case against him was read out. He denied his guilt, pointing out that if he spoke about the need to “deal with” the journalist, he did not mean his murder.
According to some media reports, in November 1994, a number of career officers Russian army with the knowledge of the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, they took part in hostilities on the side of the forces in opposition to the President of Chechnya, Dzhokhar Dudayev. Several Russian officers were captured. The Minister of Defense, denying his knowledge of the participation of his subordinates in hostilities on the territory of Chechnya, called the captured officers deserters and mercenaries and stated that Grozny could be taken in two hours with the forces of one airborne regiment.
On November 30, 1994, Grachev was included in the group leading the actions to disarm gangs in Chechnya; in December 1994 - January 1995, he personally led the military operations of the Russian army in the Chechen Republic from headquarters in Mozdok. After the failure of several offensive operations in Grozny returned to Moscow. Since that time, he has been subjected to continuous criticism both for his desire for a forceful solution to the Chechen conflict, and for the losses and failures of Russian troops in Chechnya.
On June 18, 1996, Grachev was dismissed (according to some media reports - at the request of the appointed assistant to the president for national security and Secretary of the Security Council Alexander Lebed). In December 1997, Grachev became the chief military adviser to the general director of the Rosvooruzhenie company (later the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Rosoboronexport). In April 2000, he was elected president of the Regional Public Fund for Assistance and Assistance to the Airborne Forces "Airborne Forces - Combat Brotherhood". In March 2002, Grachev headed the General Staff commission for a comprehensive inspection of the 106th Airborne Division stationed in Tula.
On April 25, 2007, the media reported that Grachev was dismissed from the post of chief military adviser to the general director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Rosoboronexport. The Chairman of the Union of Russian Paratroopers, Colonel General Vladislav Achalov, with reference to whom the media disseminated this information, said that Grachev was removed from the post of adviser “in connection with organizational arrangements.” On the same day, the press service of Rosoboronexport clarified that Grachev was relieved of his post as adviser to the director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise and seconded to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation to resolve the issue of further passage military service back on February 26, 2007. The press service explained this personnel decision by the abolition of the institution of seconding military personnel to Rosoboronexport on January 1, 2007. Information about Grachev’s resignation appeared in the media a day after the death of the first Russian President Yeltsin, who appointed the ex-Minister of Defense to the position of adviser to the state company by a special decree.
In June 2007, Grachev was transferred to the reserve and appointed chief adviser - head of a group of advisers to the general director of the production association "Radio Plant named after A. S. Popov" in Omsk.
On September 12, 2012, Grachev was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Vishnevsky military hospital in Moscow; on September 23, he died. The next day it became known that the cause of death was acute meningoencephalitis.
Grachev had a number of state awards. In addition to the Hero's Star and the Order "For Personal Courage", Grachev was awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Red Star, "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", as well as the Afghan Order of the Red Banner. He was a master of sports in skiing; headed the board of trustees of the CSKA football club.
Grachev was married and had two sons - Sergei and Valery. Sergei graduated from the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School.

On September 23, Army General and Russian Minister of Defense from 1992 to 1996, Pavel Grachev, died of encephalitis in the Vishnevsky military hospital near Moscow. On September 25, he will be buried at the Novodevichy cemetery opposite Boris Yeltsin, the first president of post-Soviet Russia.

Pavel Grachev will be remembered as the man who sent tanks to storm parliament in 1993 and to attack separatist Chechnya in December 1994. He was infinitely devoted to Boris Yeltsin, who offered him the post of Minister of Defense, although he was just a general with one star on his shoulder straps, receiving his unquestioning submission in return. However, he failed to reform the declining army, became embroiled in corruption scandals and had broken all records of unpopularity by the time he resigned in 1996.

To the aid of Boris Yeltsin

Stocky and stocky, unable to speak in public... This former paratrooper and hero of the war in Afghanistan rose to the top thanks to the favor of Boris Yeltsin, who wanted to reward him for his loyalty to the “democratic” camp during the coup attempt by Soviet hardliners in August 1991. And very quickly he found himself executing the most unsightly orders of the head of state.

In October 1993, when communist and nationalist deputies took refuge in the building of the parliament dissolved by Boris Yeltsin for insubordination, Defense Minister Pavel Grachev agreed to turn tanks against the rebels. Before this, fighters from the special forces of the FSB (the new name of the KGB) refused to go on the assault. We are not paid to shoot secretaries, they said. Grachev hesitated at first, but then demanded a written order signed by the president. Yeltsin forced himself to ask twice. Russian tanks drove onto Kutuzovsky Prospekt and opened fire on the parliament in broad daylight under the stunned looks of passersby who had gathered to watch from afar.

Take Grozny “in two hours”

In December 1994, when the president decided to send the army against the separatist Chechen province, Pavel Grachev declared that he could take Grozny “in two hours” with just one airborne regiment. The real state of affairs turned out to be completely different. Tanks ill-suited for urban battles burned, and young conscripts died “with a smile on their lips,” as Pavel Grachev said, who was shown together with President Yeltsin on all television channels on New Year’s Eve.

The operation ended in complete fiasco. Despite the fire superiority, the Russian army suffered losses for a year and a half from a handful of poorly dressed and armed Chechens. The confusion, looting and abuses revealed the true state of the armed forces and became the final blow to the image of General Grachev.

Solution

In August 1996, an agreement was signed on the withdrawal of Russian troops and recognition of the independence of Chechnya. His conclusion was the result of the work of General of the Airborne Forces Alexander Lebed, who soon became the country's Minister of Defense. New hero day accused Pavel Grachev of making money by selling tanks exported from East Germany to Croats, Serbs, Bosnians and Azerbaijanis...

Earlier, in 1994, Dmitry Kholodov, a journalist for the Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid, who said the same thing in his articles, was killed with an explosive device planted in a suitcase. Seven years later, his GRU (Army Intelligence) killers were tried and found guilty. Pavel Grachev, who spoke at the hearing, admitted that he mentioned in conversations with his subordinates the need to solve the problem, but emphasized that he did not think about the worst. All suspicions were cleared from him, and he was able to enjoy a quiet retirement, working until 2007 as a consultant at Rosoboronexport.

ALL PHOTOS

The hospital categorically refused to provide information about Pavel Grachev’s well-being. Versions have been put forward about “severe hypertensive crisis with cerebral manifestations”, about a stroke and even about fatal mushroom poisoning
mil.ru

The hospital categorically refused to provide information about Pavel Grachev’s well-being. Versions have been put forward about a “severe hypertensive crisis with cerebral manifestations,” about a stroke and even about fatal mushroom poisoning, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper recalls.

The cause of Pavel Grachev's death was presumably a stroke, a source in military medical circles told RIA Novosti on Monday. According to the agency’s interlocutor, Grachev was admitted to the hospital with high blood pressure completely sober. “Previously, a number of media outlets claimed that he was poisoned by mushrooms, but there is no talk of any mushrooms,” the source emphasized. According to him, “a stroke developed due to pressure, which led to sad consequences.”

According to another version, Grachev suffered from an incurable disease for several years, and it was this disease that caused his death. About this in live Former Defense Ministry press secretary Viktor Baranets told the Russian News Service. According to him, last years the general lived in the country and was very seriously ill. “Then this incident, which was presented as mushroom poisoning, was still a plausible version for him to leave with dignity. The disease finished him off,” Baranets said.

President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov expressed their condolences to the family and relatives. The farewell ceremony for General Grachev will take place in Moscow on September 25 at the Cultural Center of the Russian Armed Forces. By decision of the head of the military department, a commission was created to organize Grachev’s funeral, headed by the Chief of the General Staff, General Nikolai Makarov.

The general who stormed Grozny and brought troops into Moscow

Pavel Grachev was born in 1948 in the village of Rvy, Tula region. In 1969, he graduated with honors from the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School. In 1981, after graduating from the Frunze Military Academy, he was sent to Afghanistan, where he served as deputy and then commander of the 345th Guards Parachute Regiment. From 1983 to 1985, Grachev served on the territory of the USSR, and in 1985 he was again sent to Afghanistan. In 1988, Grachev was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union "for completing combat missions with minimal casualties."

Grachev returned from Afghanistan with the rank of major general. After graduating from the General Staff Academy in 1990, he was first appointed deputy commander of the USSR Airborne Forces, and at the end of December of the same year he headed the airborne forces.

In 1991, Grachev took part in the August putsch. Commanding the airborne troops, he carried out the order of the State Emergency Committee to send troops into Moscow, but then, together with generals Boris Gromov and Vladislav Achalov, he went over to the side of Boris Yeltsin. On May 18, 1992, he took the post of Minister of Defense in the government of Viktor Chernomyrdin.

Grachev has repeatedly stated that the army should be aloof from internal political problems, but in October 1993 he supported Boris Yeltsin in his confrontation with the Supreme Council and gave the order to storm the White House, Gazeta.ru notes.

“In August 1991, he was given the order to storm the White House, but he didn’t do it, he refused – that’s why, in general, Yeltsin remained in power and was not arrested. And what happened happened – all these market reforms, a free press ", - this is how former Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alfred Koch commented on the significance of Grachev’s decision for the country. “In October 1993, on Yeltsin’s orders, he stormed the White House - and that is why Yeltsin remained in power,” Koch expressed his opinion in an interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

Under the leadership of Grachev, the withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory took place of Eastern Europe. The Minister of Defense has been repeatedly criticized in connection with rampant corruption in the Western Group of Forces. After covering the scandal in the press in connection with the acquisition of business-class cars in Germany for the needs of the Ministry of Defense, he received the nickname Mercedes Pasha. Later, Grachev was a witness in the murder of MK journalist Dmitry Kholodov, who was conducting an investigation into corruption among the military.

An important milestone in Grachev’s biography was the leadership of troops in the first Chechen war in 1994-1996. The general from the headquarters in Mozdok personally led the military operations of the Russian army in Chechnya, and after the failure of several offensive operations in Grozny, he returned to Moscow. Particular public outrage was caused by the failure of the New Year's assault on Grozny and Grachev's words about “eighteen-year-old boys dying for Russia with a smile,” recalls Gazeta.ru.

“By the way, he was categorically against the war in Chechnya - everyone who was close to making this decision knows this. Then they blamed it all on him. Yeltsin, so to speak, exchanged him when it turned out to be profitable,” he said on the radio station "Echo of Moscow", commenting on Grachev's participation in the Chechen campaign, Alfred Koch.

As is known, harsh criticism of Grachev in connection with the failure of the Chechen operation ultimately led to his resignation from the post of minister in June 1996. After his resignation, Grachev worked at the Rosvooruzhenie corporation, Rosoboronexport, and served as an adviser to the general director of the Omsk production association Popov Radio Plant. The general was transferred to the reserve from military service only in 2007, when he turned 60 years old.

Grachev was repeatedly blamed for the collapse of the army and unpreparedness for the first Chechen war. However, according to experts, the ex-minister should be thanked for at least maintaining control over nuclear weapons. As the head of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense, Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, told the publication, Grachev had shortcomings, the main one of which was the involvement of the army in the internal political conflict of 1993, as well as the unpreparedness of the army for the war in Chechnya, but there were in the actions of Grachev and positive points. According to the expert, in general there were more of them than negative ones.