Valentin Sergeyevich Bobryshev (Russian: Валентин Сергеевич Бобрышев; 5 March 1945 – 30 November 2022) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and later

Russian Army 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, ...

officer. He commanded the

Leningrad Military District The Order of Lenin Leningrad Military District () is a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The district was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1968. In 2010, it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern ...

from 1997 to 2005, having reached the rank of

General of the Army 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 ...

in 2003.

Biography

Valentin Bobryshev was born on 5 March 1945 to a military family. He graduated from the Kyiv Suvorov Military School in 1963, and joined the Soviet Army the same year. He graduated from the in 1966. In September that year he served in the 131st Pechenga Motorized Rifle Division of the 6th Army of the

Murmansk Murmansk () is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast in the far Far North (Russia), northwest part of Russia. It is the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle and sits on both slopes and banks of a modest fjord, Ko ...

, and in November 1966, he became the commander of a reconnaissance platoon. In September 1969, Bobryshev was the commander of a motorized rifle company. In October 1971, he was the deputy battalion commander. In November 1972, he was promoted as a battalion commander. In August 1974, he studied at 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 graduating from the academy, in June 1977, he became the commander of a motorized rifle regiment in the 123rd Guards Motorized Rifle Division in the

Far Eastern Military District The Far Eastern Military District () was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Pacific Fleet and part of the Siberian Military District to form the new Eastern Military District. Histo ...

. From September 1979, he became the chief of staff of the 123rd Guards Motorized Rifle Division, a position he held until August 1981. In July 1983, after graduating from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces named after K. E. Voroshilov, https://web.archive.org/web/20170222194738/http://www.iovpani.spb.ru/attachments/208_Portret_073-080.pdf he became the commander of the 19th Guards Tank Nikolaev–Budapest Division of the

Southern Group of Forces The Southern Group of Forces (YUGV) was a Soviet Armed Forces formation formed twice following the Second World War, most notably around the time of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. First Formation On June 15, 1945, the 26th and 37th Armies (fr ...

in Hungary. In September 1985, Bobryshev was the 1st Deputy Commander of the

14th Guards Army The 14th Guards Combined Arms Army () was a field army of the Red Army, the Soviet Ground Forces, and the Russian Ground Forces, active from 1956 to 1995. By the 1990s, according to sources within the 14th Army, the majority of its troops came fro ...

of the

Odessa Military District The Odessa Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military administrative division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This district consisted of Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldavia and five Oblasts of Ukraine, Ukrainian oblasts of Odesa ...

. In June 1987, he was the chief of staff of the 1st Guards Army of the

Kiev Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exist ...

. In May 1988, he was promoted to commander of the 1st Guards Army. In August 1991, Bobryshev was the Chief of Staff of the

Baltic Military District The Baltic Military District () was a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces in the Baltic states, formed shortly before the German invasion during World War II. After the end of the war the Kaliningrad Oblast was added to the District's co ...

. In November 1991, he was the Chief of Staff of the in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. In September 1994, Bobryshev was the commander of the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization, regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an ar ...

collective peacekeeping forces during the

Tajikistani Civil War The Tajikistani Civil War,, group=pron also known as the Tajik Civil War, began in May 1992 and ended in June 1997. Regional groups from the Garm and Gorno-Badakhshan regions of Tajikistan rose up against the newly formed government of Preside ...

. In May 1995, Bobryshev was part of the CIS summit in Tajikistan amidst of the Tajik Civil War. In June 1995, Russian President

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

appointed Bobryshev as commander of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Tajikistan. In December 1995, Bobryshev became the Chief of Staff – First Deputy Commander of the

. On 18 December 1996, after the district commander, Colonel General Sergey Seleznyov, died in a plane crash, Bobryshev was appointed acting commander of the Leningrad Military District. On 4 March 1997, he was confirmed as commander of the district. He was promoted colonel general in May 1997. On 1 December 2000, he was awarded with honors and the certificate by the CIS Military for courage during the Tajik civil war. On 5 March 2002, despite the Chechen incidents and setbacks, Bobryshev was part of formation of the

76th Guards Air Assault Division The 76th Guards Chernigov Red Banner Order of Suvorov Air Assault Division (; MUN 07264) is a division of the Russian Airborne Forces based in Pskov. The division traces its lineage back to the 76th Guards Rifle Division, formed in March 1943 f ...

Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=Ru-Псков.oga, p=psˈkof; see also Names of Pskov in different languages, names in other languages) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov O ...

, with Defence Minister

Sergei Ivanov Sergei Borisovich Ivanov (, ; born 31 January 1953) is a Russian senior official and politician who has been serving as the Special Presidential Envoy on the Issues of Environmental Activities, Ecology and Transport since 12 August 2016. He h ...

as part of the military reforms. Bobryshev was promoted to General of the Army by decree of the President of Russia on 21 February 2003. On 5 March 2005, Bobyrshev was awarded the Order of Honor. On 10 March 2005, Bobryshev, by now aged 60, was succeeded in his post by Igor Puzanov. According to the law “On Military Duty and Military Service,” active military service at the rank of army general was limited to the age of 60. This could be extended to 65 with the joint agreement of the officer and the president. However, at a press conference at the end of February, Bobryshev admitted to reporters that he had earlier in the month “submitted his resignation due to reaching retirement age.” He was in the reserve from 2005 and retired from the army in 2010. Bobryshev died on 30 November 2022 at the age of 77. He was buried at the

Nikolskoe Cemetery Nikolskoe Cemetery () is a historic cemetery in the centre of Saint Petersburg. It is part of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and is one of four cemeteries in the complex. The third cemetery to be established in the monastery complex, the Nikolskoe ...

of the

Alexander Nevsky Lavra Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra or Saint Alexander Nevsky Monastery was founded by Peter I of Russia in 1710 at the eastern end of the Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg, in the belief that this was the site of the Neva Battle in 1240 when Alexa ...

in Saint Petersburg.

Personal life

Bobryshev lived in Saint Petersburg, and had worked as deputy head of the

October Railway Oktyabrskaya Railway or October Railway () is the subsidiary of RZD, servicing railway lines in the north-west of Russia. It stretches from Moscow's Leningrad Terminal in the south to Murmansk beyond the Arctic Circle in the north. The total leng ...

Russian Railways Russian Railways or RZD () is a Russian fully state-owned vertically integrated railway company, both managing infrastructure and operating freight and passenger train services and has a near-monopoly on long-distance train travel in Russia. ...

in 2009. Bobryshev was married and had a son and daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bobryshev, Valentin 1945 births 2022 deaths Russian military personnel Soviet Army personnel People of the Tajikistani Civil War People from Stavropol Krai Generals of the army (Russia) Recipients of the Order of Military Merit (Russia) Recipients of the Order of Honour (Russia) Recipients of the Medal of Zhukov Frunze Military Academy alumni Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union alumni Burials at Nikolskoe Cemetery