The last Minister of Defense of the USSR Yevgeny Shaposhnikov died

The last Minister of Defense of the USSR Yevgeny Shaposhnikov died. This was reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the head of the apparatus of the "Club of military leaders" Nikolai Deryabin.

Shaposhnikov was 78 years old. His funeral will be held at the Federal Military Memorial cemetery in Mytishchi.

• Shaposhnikov has been the Minister of Defense of the USSR from August 1991 until its collapse. He was appointed to this position after the failure of the State Emergency Committee instead of the participating in the coup of Dmitry Yazov. During the coup, Shaposhnikov, who then held the position of the commander of the Air Force, convinced Yazov of the need to withdraw troops from Moscow in order to avoid victims.
• In the 1990s, Shaposhnikov worked as the general director of Aeroflot, and then-an assistant to the President of Russia. Since 2003, he entered the leadership of the Sukhoi OKB.