Aleksandr Baranov (general)

Baranov was born on 13 May 1946 in Kegeyli, Karakalpak Autonomous SSR, Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. He was an ethnic Russian. He entered the Soviet Army in 1963, and in 1967 he graduated from the Tashkent Higher Combined Arms Command School to be commissioned as an officer. Baranov served in reconnaissance, and commanded units from the platoon to battalion level. In 1977 he became a distinguished graduate of the Frunze Military Academy. After that he served with the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, where he worked in staff and command positions at the regimental and division level. Baranov was the commander of the 24th Motor Rifle Division from 1984 to 1987 and then the first deputy commander of the 8th Tank Army. In 1991 he graduated from the Soviet General Staff Academy and was made the chief of staff and first deputy commander of the 22nd Combined Arms Army.{{Cite web |last=Bocharov |first=Anton |title=Баранов Александр Иванович |language=ru |work=Warheroes.ru |url=https://warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=4392}}

File:General Baranov.JPG, 2003]]

In December 1994 Baranov was made the commander of the 2nd Guards Army, and in December 1996 he became the chief of staff and first deputy commander of the Volga Military District. In September 1999 he was transferred to the same position in the North Caucasus Military District and was one of the main Russian commanders during the Second Chechen War. Between March and May 2000 he was the acting commander of the Joint Group of Forces in the North Caucasus. On 5 May 2000, he was made a Hero of the Russian Federation for his service in the conflict. In the same month that the Volga and Ural Military Districts were combined, July 2001, Baranov was assigned as the chief of staff of the new Volga–Ural Military District. In July 2004 he was made the commander of the North Caucasus Military District. In that role he oversaw the operations against the insurgency in the North Caucasus and the formation of mountain units, before retiring from the military in May 2008.

In July 2006, the European Court of Human Rights found the government of Russia guilty of the failure to protect from ill-treatment and a violation of the "right to life" of an alleged Chechen rebel fighter, Khadzhi-Murat Yandiev. Key evidence in the case, according to court documents, was video footage filmed by a reporter for NTV and CNN television showing an army officer, later identified as Aleksandr Baranov, ordering soldiers to "finish off" and "shoot" Yandiev after an argument between the two. Yandiev was then separated from the other prisoners and has not been seen since.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

Baranov, who was questioned twice over the matter, denied he sent Yandiev to his death. He argued that his "intervention" had been meant to calm Yandiev down, and that the soldiers were not his direct subordinates and therefore could not have taken orders from him.{{cite web |title=Russia loses its first case in Strasbourg over disappearances in Chechnya |url=https://khpg.org/en/1154030618 |website=Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group |access-date=18 March 2025 |date=27 June 2006}}

In retirement, he lived in Samara, Samara Oblast, and remained active in veterans' and patriotic organizations.

Baranov died in Samara, Russia, on 12 March 2025, at the age of 78.{{cite news |date=12 March 2025 |title=В Самаре ушел из жизни почетный гражданин и Герой России Александр Баранов |trans-title=Honorary citizen and Hero of Russia Aleksandr Baranov passed away in Samara |url=https://volga.news/article/744338.html |access-date=13 March 2025 |website=volga.news |language=ru}}

Baranov was awarded the following.

• Hero of the Russian Federation (5 May 2000)
• Order of the Red Star
• Order of Military Merit
• Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", 3rd class
• Honoured Military Specialist of the Russian Federation (25 July 2006)
• Honorary citizen of the Samara Oblast (4 May 2016)

• List of Heroes of the Russian Federation
• Second Chechen War

{{reflist}}

• {{Commons category-inline}}
• [http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/07/28/002.html European Court Sides With Chechen Mother] Moscow Times
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070314162359/http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/07/27/chechensuit.shtml European Court Orders Russia to Compensate Chechen Mother for Loss of Son]}}
• {{YouTube|oZW1uwMma5w|Video Footage of the event from CNN}}

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{{s-mil}}

{{s-bef|before= Anatoly Lipanov}}

{{s-ttl|title=Commander of the 24th Motor Rifle Division |years=1984–1987}}

{{s-aft|after= Nikolai Lyskin}}

{{s-bef|before= Vladimir Popov}}

{{s-ttl|title=Commander of the 2nd Guards Tank Army |years=1994–1996}}

{{s-aft|after= Nikolai Makarov}}

{{s-bef|before= Georgy Shpak}}

{{s-ttl|title=Chief of Staff and First Deputy Commander of the Volga Military District |years=1996–1999}}

{{s-aft|after= Vladimir Chilindin}}

{{s-bef|before= Boris Dyukov}}

{{s-ttl|title=Chief of Staff and First Deputy Commander of the North Caucasus Military District |years=1999–2000}}

{{s-aft|after= Vladimir Bulgakov}}

{{s-bef|before= Viktor Kazantsev}}

{{s-ttl|title=Commander of the Joint Group of Forces in the North Caucasus
{{small|Acting}} |years=2000}}

{{s-aft|after= Gennady Troshev}}

{{s-non|reason=Position established}}

{{s-ttl|title=Commander of the Volga–Ural Military District |years=2001–2004}}

{{s-aft|after= Vladimir Boldyrev}}

{{s-bef|before= Vladimir Boldyrev}}

{{s-ttl|title=Commander of the North Caucasus Military District |years=2004–2008}}

{{s-aft|after= Sergey Makarov}}

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{{Army Generals (Russia)}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Baranov, Aleksandr}}

Category:1946 births

Category:2025 deaths

Category:People from Karakalpakstan

Category:Frunze Military Academy alumni

Category:Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union alumni

Category:Tashkent Higher All-Arms Command School alumni

Category:Heroes of the Russian Federation

Category:Recipients of the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", 3rd class

Category:Recipients of the Order of Military Merit (Russia)

Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Star

Category:Generals of the army (Russia)

Category:People of the Chechen wars

Category:Soviet major generals