The biography of General Shamanov is full of interesting and contradictory facts. Having become the only army commander with experience in civilian administration, a candidate of sociological sciences and at the same time uncompromising and ruthless to enemies, combat general Vladimir Anatolyevich today occupies the position of the country's main paratrooper, considering her the most important in his career.
Childhood and youth
In the city of Barnaul in February 1957, his biography began. Vladimir Shamanov early lost his father, who left the family. He was brought up by his mother, a well-known athlete in Altai, who achieved significant success in several ways at once: athletics, cycling and skiing. It was she who formed the determination in him. Shamanov’s childhood passed in Uzbekistan, where his family moved, and where, as an eighth-grader, he watched the movie “Officers”, which determined the fate of the teenager.
His classmate was the son of the military commissar, through whom Vladimir learned about the military professions, choosing the path of the paratrooper. He entered the Tashkent Tank School, knowing in advance that the training company would be transferred to the Ryazan VVDKU. Having become a graduate paratrooper, in 1978 he began serving as a platoon commander in the famous 76th Pskov division.
Skydiving
What is considered the highest achievement of a person: career success or overcoming oneself? The future general Vladimir Shamanov, whose biography is described by modern historians, made his first parachute jump in Central Asia in 1974. He jumped with his eyes closed, and he was really scared. He was able to analyze his actions only during the next jump, which he absolutely did not want to refuse.
During his life, he climbed up to heaven 176 times to go down by parachute, overcoming his own fear and bad weather. In 1986, Shamanov almost fell victim to a tragic accident when the main parachute did not open. After the spare worked, the second dome suddenly began to straighten out too, creating a risk of weaving the lines. Having dealt with the problem already at the very ground, the officer rushed to repeat the jump in order to gain further confidence. “Born in a shirt, ” they say about people like the future general Shamanov.
Biography: family and its place in life
Vladimir Anatolyevich considers his family a great achievement. Lyudmila Shamanova, the wife of a general whose biography is widely known for accompanying her husband on all business trips, including hot spots, is the main love of his life. She was born and raised in Ryazan, where they met at the wedding of mutual friends. Immediately leaving for military camps, Shamanov wrote touching letters, seeing in the girl not only femininity and beauty, but also the ability to become a real fighting girlfriend. In Nagorno-Karabakh, his first trip to the "hot spot", she really saved his life, not afraid to grab an armed bandit by the hand when he was preparing to shoot her husband.
They got married in 1978 after graduation. Lyudmila is a lawyer by training, she graduated from the Polytechnic Institute. Two children were born in the marriage: the daughter Svetlana, jokingly nicknamed the “captain’s daughter”, for the father at that time was in the rank of captain, and the son Yuri, now a graduate of the Suvorov School and the Military University. Not a supporter of excessive custody of children, Shamanov nevertheless considered it necessary to prepare his son for the harsh military profession, personally having learned to shoot and accompanying him during the first parachute jump.
Army career
If we say that the military biography of General Shamanov was successful, it means nothing to say. He not only became the youngest commander, at the age of 42 he headed the 58th army, but at the beginning of his career he managed to bypass the obligatory steps of military posts, which does not lend itself to any logical explanation. Returning a year later from Pskov and heading a training platoon, and then a company in the RVDKU, he, at the suggestion of the commander of the Airborne Forces Dmitry Sukhorukov, was immediately appointed a battalion commander, which opened the way for him to the academy.
At the age of 29, Vladimir Anatolyevich sat down at his desk, while the senior officers received combat experience in Afghanistan. After graduating from the academy in 1989, Shamanov did not get to the front, but the annual promotion became a tradition. Having headed the army in 1999, he was neither the division commander, nor the commander of the military district, nor the officer in the airborne headquarters.
First combat experience
As the commander of the 328th regiment, Vladimir Anatolyevich Shamanov, whose biography abounds with certain contradictions, participated in military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh. This was the beginning of the 90s, when the collapse of the country took place, and it was difficult for law enforcement agencies that found themselves abroad to build the right line of behavior. Being stationed in Azerbaijan, the paratroopers hacked for him the defense of the Armenians in the Mardakert region, receiving national awards.
Prior to the withdrawal of troops to the Ulyanovsk region in 1993, they acted relatively independently, often using the “sweep” method. Today, human rights activists condemn the actions of Russians, but the army cannot be held accountable for political decisions.
The first Chechen campaign
Shamanov came to Chechnya in March 1995, being the chief of staff of the 7th Airborne Division. It was during this campaign that fame came to him. Gennady Troshev in his books calls him a real hero, who escaped from the hospital to his unit. In a combat vehicle, he was blown up by a mine, having received seven shrapnel wounds. Makarov saved his life, protecting him from getting a splinter in his heart. In June, the paratroopers of Colonel Shamanov took Vedeno, destroying hundreds of militants, and then in October, already in the rank of Major General, he received the position of Deputy Troshev, the commander of the 58th Army, heading the group of forces in Chechnya.
The biography of General Shamanov includes significant victories in the capture of Shatoy, Shali, Goysky and Bamut, as a result of which he was increasingly compared with either Zhukov or Yermolov, noting not only military talent, but also the inherent rigidity that Vladimir Anatolyevich showed not only to militants, but also to civilians. In July 1996, the officer was sent to the General Staff Academy, so the inglorious completion of the Chechen campaign did not cover him with a shadow of defeat.
Second Chechen Campaign (CTO)
The second Chechen campaign began in Dagestan, where Khattab and Basayev found support from the Islamists, who proclaimed an independent republic in the Kadar zone. To overcome the crisis, a tough military leader was required to destroy the hotbed of terrorism. Shamanov returned to the Caucasus as commander of the 58th army. For the capture of the villages of Chabanmakhi and Karamakhi (August - September 1999) he will be presented to the title of Hero of Russia.
The biography of General Shamanov, meanwhile, continues to provoke conflicting opinions. Heading the West group, his army made its way to Grozny with bloody battles, while Troshev, as part of the Vostok group, was looking for ways to peacefully resolve conflicts with the population. Shamanov’s relations did not develop with the OGV commander V. Kazantsev, largely because of his non-participation in the First Chechen campaign. The steepness of the army commander’s temper was manifested not only on the battlefield, but also in violation of subordination, the separation of officers in the presence of subordinates, and rigidity in relation to local residents. For a number of specific events, international proceedings later arose, but the Prosecutor General’s Office did not discern the corpus delicti on the part of the Russian army.
Governorship
By the spring of 2000, it became clear that the commander’s service in the North Caucasus Military District was coming to an end, and he was offered a position in the Moscow District. The phenomenon of the officer was that the future Colonel General Shamanov, whose biography made him a real TV star and a favorite of Russians, did not enjoy authority among his colleagues and the local population. Considering that certain military leaders envy him as the youngest army commander, Vladimir Anatolyevich decided to leave military service and run for governor, choosing the Ulyanovsk region for himself.
The local population supported his candidacy, dreaming of restoring order in the region after the 15-year reign of the former leader - Yuri Goryachev. The region was on the verge of an energy crisis, which Shamanov managed to overcome by restructuring communal debt. But it was not possible to bring the region out of those lagging behind without civilian management experience. In 2004, Shamanov withdraws his candidacy from the subsequent elections, moving to work in the government.
Return to duty
President Putin once said that the country does not throw itself at such generals as Shamanov. In 2007, he signed a decree on the return to the army of a man who had been distanced from his beloved profession for a long seven years. After participating in a military operation in Abkhazia (2008), in 2009 he was transferred from the Main Directorate of Combat Training and Military Service to the post of commander of the Airborne Forces. The paratroopers received the appointment with joy. And in 2012, Shamanov was awarded the rank of colonel general. He feels absolutely happy, repeatedly speaking out that every cadet of the RVDKU dreams of becoming the main paratrooper of the country. He succeeded.
