Dmitry Timofeyevich Yazov (Russian: Дми́трий Тимофе́евич Я́зов; 8 November 1924 – 25 February 2020) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union. A veteran of the Great Patriotic War, Yazov served as Minister of Defence from 1987 until he was arrested for his part in the 1991 August coup, four months before the fall of the Soviet Union.[1] Yazov was the last person to be appointed to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union on 28 April 1990, the only Marshal born in Siberia, and at the time of his death on 25 February 2020, he was the last living Marshal of the Soviet Union.
Early life
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]
Career
World War II
Yazov in 1941.
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
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]
Death
Yazov (right) and Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu in 4 February 2020
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