Yazov was born in the village of Yazovo (called Lyebyezhye at the time of his birth),[2] Krestinsky volost, Kalachinsky district, Omsk province. He was the son of Timofey Yakovlevich Yazov (died in 1933) and Maria Fedoseevna Yazova, who were peasants. The family had four children.[1]
World War II
Yazov joined the Red Army voluntarily in November 1941 at the age of seventeen, not having time to finish high school. Upon joining the army, he claimed to be born in 1923, a year earlier than his actual birth.[3] He was enrolled in training at the Moscow Higher Military Command School (Evacuated due to the Battle of Moscow to Novosibirsk from 2 November 1941 to 28 January 1942) and graduated in June 1942.[4][5] He received a school graduation certificate only in 1953, already being a major.[1]
Minister of Defense Dmitry Yazov during a visit to the United States in 1989
From August 1942, he fought on the Volkhov and Leningrad fronts as commander of a rifle platoon, a commander of a rifle company, and platoon commander of front-line courses of junior lieutenants of the 483rd Rifle Regiment of the 177th Rifle Division of the Leningrad Front. He participated in the battles of the Siege of Leningrad, in the offensive operations of Soviet troops in the Baltic states, and in the blockade of the Courland Pocket. In 1944, he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.[1]
On the morning of 22 August, before the first interrogation, Yazov turned to Gorbachev with a video recorded message in which he read a letter and called himself an "old fool", regretted participating in this "adventure" and asked for forgiveness from the President of the USSR.[10] 20 years after these events, the former defence minister said that he did not remember what he said, because he did not sleep for a day. And he named the journalist Vladimir Molchanov the initiator of this letter and video.[11] In his memoirs, Yazov clarified that he was persuaded to turn to Gorbachev with a penitential speech to protect him from the criminal article "Treason to the Motherland", and under the influence of fatigue he succumbed to the persuasion of television reporters.[12]
Yazov was released on recognisance not to leave in January 1993.[13] He was amnestied by the State Duma in 1994,[14] accepting the amnesty offered by Boris Yeltsin and stating that he was not guilty. He was dismissed from the military service by Presidential Order and awarded a ceremonial weapon. He was awarded an order of Honour by the President of Russian Federation. Yazov later worked as a military adviser at the General Staff Academy.[15]
Despite his selection by Gorbachev for the Defence Minister's position, William Odom, in his book The Collapse of the Soviet Military, repeats Alexander Yakovlev's description of Yazov as a "mediocre officer", "fit to command a division but nothing higher".[16] Odom suggests Gorbachev was only looking for "careerists who would follow orders, any orders".
In March 2019, Yazov was tried in absentia and convicted of war crimes by a Lithuanian court for his role in the military crackdown in Lithuania in January 1991, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Russia denounced the trial as politically motivated and refused to extradite Yazov.[17]
Soviet Union
Russia
Marshal of the Soviet Union
