Vasily Vasilyevich
Kolesnik
1935-2002
Vasily Vasilyevich Kolesnik was the commander of a separate special–purpose battalion of a limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, a colonel. He was born on December 13, 1935 in the village of Slavyanskaya, now the city of Slavyansk-on-Kuban, the Krasnodar Krai, in the family of an employee. In 1939, Vasily Vasilyevich’s parents moved to Ukraine to the village of Alifirovka in the Mirgorodsky district of the Poltava region. During the Great Patriotic War, the parents fought in a partisan detachment, but they were betrayed by traitors and were shot on November 7, 1941. After the liberation of the Ukrainian SSR, together with his elder brother, he was brought up in the family of his mother’s younger sister. In 1945, together with his brother, he entered Krasnodar Suvorov School. In 1947, the school was transferred to the city of Ordzhonikidze (now Vladikavkaz) and renamed Caucasian SMS. In 1953, after graduating from Caucasian Suvorov Military School, he enlisted in the Soviet Army. In 1956 he graduated from Caucasian Military Combined Arms School in Ordzhonikidze (now Vladikavkaz). In 1956, he was sent to the Far Eastern Military District as the platoon commander in a separate special purpose company of the 25th Army. In 1957, he was transferred to the Northern Group of Troops (Poland), appointed as the commander of a separate training platoon of the 27th separate battalion of special forces. In 1960, he was appointed as the commander of the reconnaissance company of the same battalion. In 1963, he left to study at the Academy. In 1966, he graduated from M.V. Frunze Military Academy, intelligence faculty. In 1966, he was again sent to the Far Eastern Military District, to the city of Ussuriysk, the Primorsky Krai, to the post of head of the operational intelligence department of a separate special forces brigade. Since 1971 he was the Chief of staff of a separate brigade “Special Forces” of the Central Asian military district in the city of Chirchik, the Tashkent region, and since 1975 the commander of the same brigade. In November 1977, he was appointed to the post of a senior officer in the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff. In 1979, under the leadership of V.V. Kolesnik a separate special purpose battalion (over 500 people) was formed and trained according to his methods, of which he was appointed as the commander. In December 1979, the battalion left for Afghanistan to fulfill a special mission of the Soviet government. On December 27, 1979, the forces of the battalion’s fighters, together with special purpose units of the KGB of the USSR, stormed the Amin Palace. By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated April 28, 1980, Colonel Vasily Vasilyevich Kolesnik was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal. In 1980-1982, V.V. Kolesnik studied at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR. After graduating in 1982, he was appointed as the head of the special intelligence directorate of the GRU of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces. Since 1992, Major General V.V. Kolesnik was retired. He held the position of the President of the Moscow City branch of the Social Guarantees Fund for Military Personnel.
Address: Moscow, Festivalnaya str., 69
