Russia Day Promotions

As noted earlier, there were relatively few Russia Day promotions in the MOD, possibly because President Vladimir Putin handed out a lot of new brass to his personal National Guard.

But to review, there was a single three-star promotion, and five two-star promotions for MOD officers.

Eleven men received their first stars including the:

• Commanders of the 29th and 60th Missile Divisions of the RVSN;
• Commander of the 136th Motorized Rifle Brigade;
• Deputy Commander of Space Troops, Aerospace Forces;
• Chief of Communications, Eastern MD;
• Chief of the Personnel Directorate, Northern Fleet;
• Chief of “Resource Support,” Western MD;
• Director of the Transportation Support Directorate, MOD; and
• An associate professor in the Strategy Department of MAGS.

General-Major Shulyak as a colonel

The latter — 48-year-old General-Major Viktor Shulyak — received his Hero of the Russian Federation award as a young Naval Infantry officer in Chechnya in January 1995.  He commanded a Northern Fleet air-assault company in the fight for the Council of Ministers building in central Groznyy.  He personally destroyed five enemy firing positions and was pretty severely wounded.

He went on to command a battalion, serve in a directorate of the General Staff, and graduate from the Military Academy of the General Staff where he remains a faculty member.

Two new general-majors were not identified precisely, but one is probably in the Aerospace Forces and the other might be a deputy chief of staff for the Central MD.

The promotion list now contains names of more than 400 generals and admirals against the 730 the MOD says it has.