Viktor Samsonov

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Viktor Nikolaevich Samsonov
Native name	Виктор Николаевич Самсонов
Born	(1941-11-10) 10 November 1941 (age 82) Dukhovnitskoye, Saratov Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Allegiance	Soviet Union  Russia
Service / branch	Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
Years of service	1960–2002
Rank	Army General
Commands	Leningrad Military District, General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
Battles / wars	Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, First Chechen War
Awards	Order of Friendship, Order of the Red Banner, Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", Medal "For Battle Merit", Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin", Medal "For Distinction in Guarding the State Border of the USSR", Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945", Medal "In Commemoration of the 850th Anniversary of Moscow", Medal "Veteran of the Armed Forces of the USSR", Medal "For Strengthening of Brotherhood in Arms", Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR", Jubilee Medal "60 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR", Jubilee Medal "70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR", Medal "In Commemoration of the 1500th Anniversary of Kiev", Medal "For Impeccable Service"
Alma mater	Military Academy of the Russian General Staff

General of the Army Viktor Nikolaevich Samsonov (Russian: Виктор Николаевич Самсонов; born November 10, 1941) is a retired Russian and Soviet military officer. He was the acting Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation from 1996 to 1997. Previously in 1993 Samsonov was Chief of Staff at the Military Cooperation Headquarters of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Born in 1941, an ethnic Russian, he joined the Soviet Armed Forces in 1960. After graduating from college he was sent to a Naval Infantry unit, and commanded a platoon and company. He graduated from the Far Eastern Higher Command School in 1964. Graduated from the Frunze Military Academy in 1972 (as a class-mate of future Afghan war commander Boris Gromov). Since 1972 he was a Chief of Staff of a motor rifle regiment and the Chief of Staff of a tank division in the Transbaikal Military District. Then a few years he was chief of staff of a Combined Arms Army.

After graduating from the Military Academy of the General Staff in 1981 he was commander of the 4th Army. In 1987 – 1990s – Chief of Staff of the Transcaucasus Military District, and at the same time in 1988 – 1990 years – the military commander in Yerevan. Participated in the localization efforts of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. In 1990 appointed commander of the Leningrad Military District.

A member of the Communist Party from 1960 until the termination of its operations in August 1991.

During the August coup in August 1991, he was appointed military commander of the Leningrad State Emergency Committee, said of the subordination of the orders of the State Emergency Committee and ordered a state of emergency in Leningrad and the surrounding areas.