Aleksandr Ivanovich Baranov (; 13 May 1946 – 12 March 2025) was a

Russian Ground Forces The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...

army general Army general or General of the army is the highest ranked general officer in many countries that use the French Revolutionary System. Army general is normally the highest rank used in peacetime. In countries that adopt the general officer fou ...

who commanded the Volga–Ural Military District from 2001 to 2004 and the North Caucasus Military District from 2004 to 2008. He served in the

Second Chechen War Names The Second Chechen War is also known as the Second Chechen Campaign () or the Second Russian Invasion of Chechnya from the Chechens, Chechen insurgents' point of view.Федеральный закон № 5-ФЗ от 12 января 19 ...

and was a recipient of the title Hero of the Russian Federation.

Military career

Baranov was born on 13 May 1946 in Kegeyli, Karakalpak Autonomous SSR,

Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (, ), also known as Soviet Uzbekistan, the Uzbek SSR, UzSSR, or simply Uzbekistan and rarely Uzbekia, was a Republics of the Soviet Union, union republic of the Soviet Union. It was governed by the Communist ...

. He was an ethnic Russian. He entered the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

in 1963, and in 1967 he graduated from the Tashkent Higher Combined Arms Command School to be commissioned as an officer. Baranov served in reconnaissance, and commanded units from the platoon to battalion level. In 1977 he became a distinguished graduate of the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (), was a military academy of the Soviet and later the Russian Armed Forces ...

. After that he served with the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, where he worked in staff and command positions at the regimental and division level. Baranov was the commander of the 24th Motor Rifle Division from 1984 to 1987 and then the first deputy commander of the 8th Tank Army. In 1991 he graduated from the Soviet General Staff Academy and was made the chief of staff and first deputy commander of the 22nd Combined Arms Army. General Baranov

In December 1994 Baranov was made the commander of the 2nd Guards Army, and in December 1996 he became the chief of staff and first deputy commander of the Volga Military District. In September 1999 he was transferred to the same position in the North Caucasus Military District and was one of the main Russian commanders during the

. Between March and May 2000 he was the acting commander of the Joint Group of Forces in the North Caucasus. On 5 May 2000, he was made a Hero of the Russian Federation for his service in the conflict. In the same month that the Volga and Ural Military Districts were combined, July 2001, Baranov was assigned as the chief of staff of the new Volga–Ural Military District. In July 2004 he was made the commander of the North Caucasus Military District. In that role he oversaw the operations against the

insurgency in the North Caucasus History and background In late 1999, Russia's Premier, Vladimir Putin, ordered military, police and security forces to enter the breakaway region of Chechnya. By early 2000, these forces occupied most of the region. High levels of fight ...

and the formation of mountain units, before retiring from the military in May 2008.

Yandiev case

In July 2006, the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

found the government of Russia guilty of the failure to protect from ill-treatment and a violation of the "right to life" of an alleged Chechen rebel fighter, Khadzhi-Murat Yandiev. Key evidence in the case, according to court documents, was video

footage In filmmaking and video production, footage is raw, unedited material as originally filmed by a movie camera or recorded by a digital video camera, which typically must be film editing, edited to create a motion picture, digital video, video cli ...

filmed by a reporter for NTV and

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

television showing an army officer, later identified as Aleksandr Baranov, ordering soldiers to "finish off" and "shoot" Yandiev after an argument between the two. Yandiev was then separated from the other prisoners and has not been seen since. Baranov, who was questioned twice over the matter, denied he sent Yandiev to his death. He argued that his "intervention" had been meant to calm Yandiev down, and that the soldiers were not his direct

subordinate A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an importan ...

s and therefore could not have taken orders from him.

Post-military

In retirement, he lived in Samara, Samara Oblast, and remained active in veterans' and patriotic organizations. Baranov died in Samara, Russia, on 12 March 2025, at the age of 78.

Honours and awards

Baranov was awarded the following. * Hero of the Russian Federation (5 May 2000) *

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

* Order of Military Merit *

Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" The Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" (), also known as the Order "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", was a Soviet Union, Soviet Order (honour), military order awarded in three classes ...

, 3rd class * Honoured Military Specialist of the Russian Federation (25 July 2006) * Honorary citizen of the Samara Oblast (4 May 2016)

References

External links