The last Minister of Defense of the USSR Yevgeny Shaposhnikov died. This was reported by RIA Novosti with reference to Nikolai Deryabin, chief of staff of the “Club of military leaders”.

Shaposhnikov was 78 years old. His funeral will take place at the Federal War Memorial Cemetery in Mytishchi.

Shaposhnikov was the Minister of Defense of the USSR from August 1991 until the moment of its collapse. He was appointed to this position after the failure of the State Emergency Committee instead of Dmitry Yazov, who took part in the coup. During the coup, Shaposhnikov, then the Air Force commander, convinced Yazov of the need to withdraw troops from Moscow in order to avoid casualties.

In the 1990s, Shaposhnikov worked as the general director of Aeroflot, and then as an assistant to the president of Russia. Since 2003, he has been a member of the management of the Sukhoi Design Bureau. 

(c)MEDUZA 2020