General Boris Gromov is one of the few who succeeded, while remaining faithful to himself and his ideals, while staying afloat. Passing Afghanistan, he always opposed any attempts to resolve issues within the country using force methods. But, unfortunately, they did not always listen to him.
Childhood and study
Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov is a hereditary military man, a native of Saratov. His father never saw his son - he died just on his birthday, November 7, 1943. At the age of twelve, the boy entered the Suvorov School in Saratov, his hometown. An example for him was the elder brother Alexei, who by that time was already a Suvorovites. Two years before graduation, the school in Saratov was abolished, and he and his company were transferred to complete their education in Kalinin (modern Tver).
At the end of it, at the age of nineteen, Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov was drafted into the army. Then he continued his studies at the Leningrad Higher Combined Arms Command School named after Sergey Kirov, which was renamed St. Petersburg in 1991, and eight years later by the decision of the Russian government was liquidated.
The beginning of a military career
Upon completion of training, Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov was seconded to the military district in the Baltic states, where he grew from a platoon commander to a company commander of a motorized rifle division. In his youth, General Gromov got an opinion about himself as a talented, ambitious and promising young officer. Therefore, he was sent to study further at the Moscow Military Academy named after Mikhail Frunze. The training ended with a red diploma, after which Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov returned to his native military unit in Kaliningrad, where he had already led the battalion.
Two years later, he was promoted to chief of staff of the regiment, and since 1975, he served for five years in the military district of the North Caucasus, where he commanded the regiment for two years and then led the division headquarters. There he received the rank of major.
Hot Spot - Afghanistan
Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov made a serious and quick breakthrough in his military career during the armed conflict in Afghanistan, where he was promoted three times in rank. In 1979, a ten-year conflict began in the territory of a Muslim state, where the state forces of the republic, combined with the contingent of Soviet troops, faced armed resistance from the Mujahideen, supported by the forces of the North Atlantic Alliance and leading Islamic states. The UN then qualified the actions of the Soviet army as military intervention.
General Gromov arrived in the midst of this armed conflict, Afghanistan became for him truly a career springboard, where he arrived at the service during the entire time of the confrontation three times. At that time he was already 37 years old, shortly before that he was awarded the rank of colonel, and behind his shoulders was an excellent managerial experience. Upon arrival at the place, he was given command of the fifth Guards Motorized Rifle Division. For the first time in a hot spot, Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov served for two years. Here he received the shoulder straps of the Major General.
He continued to improve his education at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces named after Kliment Voroshilov, which he completed with honors. He returned to Afghanistan twice more: his last stay ended with an operation to withdraw troops.
Last year in Afghanistan
During his last trip abroad, General Gromov went through two more steps of the military career ladder: at the age of 44 he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general, and two years later, the uniform of the colonel was adorned on the tunic.
In his third stay at the epicenter of armed conflict, he led the fortieth army. He was her last commander. In addition, General Gromov also served as the authorized representative of the Soviet government for the temporary stay of troops in Afghanistan.
Under his leadership, Operation Magistral was conducted, which consisted of removing the hosta from the blockade of the city, which had been besieged by militias for a long time. The actions in which General Gromov Boris Vsevolodovich showed his courage and heroism were marked by the highest state award: in March 1988, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on the basis of a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the USSR.
Military merit
While in Afghanistan, General Gromov quite often assumed leadership not only in covert operations, but also in open battles. His task was to achieve the maximum effect from the operations with minimal losses in the ranks of the personnel.
It was he who was entrusted with the organization of the withdrawal of parts of the armed forces of the Soviet Army from the territory of the Afghan state. At the same time, he himself was among the last Soviet military who left a foreign country. For a year after these events, he led the troops of the Red Banner Kiev Military District.
First political steps
The arrival of General Boris Gromov in big politics happened already at the end of the country's socialist history. He was among the last people's deputies. In parallel, in November 90, he served as deputy minister of internal affairs of the Soviet Union. At the time of the putsch GKChP in the fall of 1991, the general was on vacation. He was summoned to the capital to organize the capture of the White House with the involvement of internal troops. However, Boris Gromov spoke out against the assault, which never happened.
In October 1991, Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov, whose biography began to gain dramatic momentum, headed the Central Officer Improvement Course for the Shot command. In December of that year, he became deputy commander of the ground forces, a few months later he was transferred to the first deputy commander of the general forces of the CIS Armed Forces. He worked for another three years as deputy defense minister.
Tough position of disagreement
During the period of hard times (the beginning of the nineties) he had to confront the official authorities more than once and refuse to offer, the moral aspect of which he did not share. In particular, in the fall of 1993, there was an acute question of the capture of the White House and the resolution of the conflict by force. However, Gromov responded with a categorical refusal. He also did not participate in the seizure of the building of the Supreme Council of Russia.
In 1995, disagreement with the actions of the state leadership regarding the use of the Armed Forces in resolving internal conflicts led to the fact that he wrote a report on his release from duties. Official dismissal from military service was announced after General Gromov reached his sixtieth birthday in 2003.
Public trust
General Gromov received a deputy mandate in the 1995 parliamentary elections, where he passed Saratov’s representative in a single-mandate constituency. In the Committee on Foreign Affairs, he was responsible for armaments and international security.
Deputy Gromov remained in parliament in the next electoral cycle. Zero years were marked by the election of a retired general to the post of governor of the Moscow region. He worked for this position for twelve years.
Governor's Chair
Three years later, voters did not change their minds and again elected him the head of the region. When the regional leaders became appointed nomenclature, the President approved him in this position for another term from 2007. He left this job at the age of 69.
After the resignation of the gubernatorial powers, he joined the Federation Council as a representative of parliament from the Moscow region. Then he became a deputy of the Moscow Regional Duma.
He joined the ruling party, United Russia, ten years ago. The general activity of the general began with his election as the leader of the "Combat Brotherhood", the All-Russian Movement of Veterans of Local Wars and Military Conflicts in 1997. He also leads the Twin Cities, an international association. During his long career, General Gromov was repeatedly awarded orders and medals not only of the USSR and Russia, but also of such countries as Ukraine, Belarus, Afghanistan. On his jacket are many awards received during his service in the Soviet Armed Forces, including for operations in Afghanistan.
