Chief of the General Staff (Russia)

The Chief of the General Staff is the head and highest ranking officer of the Russian Armed Forces and is the senior-most uniformed military officer. He is appointed by the President of Russia, who is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. The position dates to the period of the Russian Empire. The current Chief of the General Staff is Army General Valery Gerasimov.

Chief of the General Staff Начальник Генерального штаба
Flag of the Chief of the General Staff
Incumbent Army General Valery Gerasimov since 9 November 2012
Russian Armed Forces
Type	Chief of staff
Member of	General Staff
Reports to	Minister of Defence of Russia
Seat	General Staff Building, Znamenka 14/1, Moscow
Appointer	President of Russia
Term length	No fixed length
Formation	9 August 1812 (historical) 10 June 1992 (current)
First holder	General-Adjutant Pavel Gavrilovich Gagarin
Deputy	Colonel General Nikolai Bogdanovsky
Website	www.mil.ru

List of chiefs of the general staff

† denotes people who died in office.

Imperial Russian Army (1812–1917)

Director of the Inspection Department of the Ministry of War

No.	Portrait	Director of the Inspection Department of the Ministry of War	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Gagarin, PavelGeneral-Adjutant Pavel Gavrilovich Gagarin (1777–1850)	9 August 1812	13 December 1814	2 years, 126 days
2		Kleinmikhel, AndreyLieutenant General Andrey Kleinmikhel (1757–1815)	13 December 1814	25 June 1815	194 days

Chief of the Main Staff

No.	Portrait	Chief of the Main Staff	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Geyden, FyodorLieutenant General Fyodor Geyden (1821–1900)	1 January 1866	22 May 1881	15 years, 141 days
2		Obruchev, NikolaiLieutenant General General of the Infantry Nikolai Obruchev (1830–1904)	10 June 1881	31 December 1897	16 years, 204 days
3		Sakharov, ViktorLieutenant General Viktor Sakharov (1848–1905)	20 January 1898	11 March 1904	6 years, 51 days
4		Frolov, PyotrLieutenant General Pyotr Frolov (1852–?)	11 March 1904	28 June 1905	1 year, 109 days

Chief of the General Directorate of the General Staff

No.	Portrait	Chief of the General Directorate of the General Staff	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Palitsin, FedorGeneral of the Cavalry Fedor Palitsin (1851–1923)	28 June 1905	2 December 1908	157 days
2		Sukhomlinov, VladimirGeneral of the Cavalry Vladimir Sukhomlinov (1848–1926)	2 December 1908	11 March 1909	99 days
3		Myshlayevsky, AleksanderGeneral of the Infantry Aleksander Myshlayevsky (1856–1920)	11 March 1909	September 1909	5 months
4		Gerngross, EvgenyLieutenant General Evgeny Gerngross (1855–1912)	September 1909	22 February 1911	1 year, 5 months
5		Zhilinskiy, YakovGeneral of the Cavalry Yakov Zhilinsky (1853–1918)	22 February 1911	4 March 1914	3 years, 10 days
6		Yanushkevich, NikolaiMajor General Nikolai Yanushkevich (1868–1918)	5 March 1914	1 August 1914	149 days
7		Belyaev, MikhailMajor General Mikhail Belyaev (1863–1918)	1 August 1914	10 August 1916	2 years, 9 days
8		Averyanov, PyotrLieutenant General Pyotr Averyanov (1867–1937)	10 August 1916	15 May 1917	278 days
9		Romanovsky, IvanLieutenant General Ivan Romanovsky (1877–1920)	18 July 1917	26 September 1917	134 days
10		Marushevsky, VladimirMajor General Vladimir Marouchevsky (1874–1952)	26 September 1917	23 November 1917	58 days

Council of People's Commissars on War and Navy Affairs (1917–1918)

No.	Portrait	Chief of the General Staff	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Potapov, NikolayMajor General Nikolay Potapov (1871–1946)	23 November 1917	8 May 1918	166 days

Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (1918–1921) No. Portrait Chief of the All-Russian Main Staff Took office Left office Time in office 1 Stogov, NikolaiLieutenant General Nikolai Stogov (1873–1959) 8 May 1918 2 August 1919 1 year, 86 days 2 Svechin, Alexander AndreyevichMajor General Alexander Andreyevich Svechin (1878–1938) 2 August 1919 22 October 1919 81 days 3 Rattel, NikolayMajor General Nikolay Rattel (1875–1939) 22 October 1919 10 February 1921 1 year, 111 days No. Portrait Chief of the Field Staff Took office Left office Time in office 1 Rattel, NikolayMajor General Nikolay Rattel (1875–1939) 6 September 1918 21 October 1918 45 days 2 Kostyayev, FyodorMajor General Fyodor Kostyayev (1878–1925) 21 October 1918 18 June 1919 240 days 3 Bonch-Bruyevich, Mikhail DmitriyevichMajor General Mikhail Dmitriyevich Bonch-Bruyevich (1870–1956) 18 June 1919 22 July 1919 34 days 4 Lebedev, PavelMajor General Pavel Lebedev (1872–1933) 22 July 1919 10 February 1921 1 year, 203 days Red Army (1921–1946) Chief of the Staff No. Portrait Chief of the Staff Took office Left office Time in office 1 Lebedev, PavelMajor General Pavel Lebedev (1872–1933) 10 February 1921 April 1924 3 years, 1 month 2 Frunze, MikhailMajor General Mikhail Frunze (1885–1925) April 1924 January 1925 9 months 3 Kamenev, SergeiKomandarm 1st rank Sergei Kamenev (1881–1936) January 1925 November 1925 10 months 4 Tukhachevsky, MikhailMarshal of the Soviet Union Mikhail Tukhachevsky (1893–1937) November 1925 May 1928 2 years, 6 months 5 Shaposhnikov, BorisKomandarm 1st rank Boris Shaposhnikov (1882–1945) May 1928 April 1931 2 years, 11 months 6 Triandafillov, VladimirGeneral Vladimir Triandafillov (1894–1931) [lower-alpha 1] May 1931 12 July 1931 † 2 months 7 Yegorov, AlexanderMarshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Yegorov (1883–1939) July 1931 September 1935 4 years, 2 months Chief of the General Staff No. Portrait Chief of the General Staff Took office Left office Time in office 1 Yegorov, AlexanderMarshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Yegorov (1883–1939) September 1935 10 May 1937 1 year, 8 months 2 Shaposhnikov, BorisMarshal of the Soviet Union Boris Shaposhnikov (1882–1945) 10 May 1937 August 1940 3 years, 2 months 3 Shaposhnikov, BorisArmy General Kirill Meretskov (1897–1968) August 1940 January 1941 5 months 4 Zhukov, GeorgyArmy General Georgy Zhukov (1896–1974) February 1941 29 July 1941 5 months (2) Shaposhnikov, BorisMarshal of the Soviet Union Boris Shaposhnikov (1882–1945) 29 July 1941 11 May 1942 286 days 5 Vasilevsky, AleksandrMarshal of the Soviet Union Aleksandr Vasilevsky (1895–1977) 26 June 1942 February 1945 2 years, 7 months 6 Antonov, AlekseiArmy General Aleksei Antonov (1896–1962) February 1945 22 March 1946 1 year, 1 month Soviet Armed Forces (1946–1991) No. Portrait Chief of the General Staff Took office Left office Time in office 1 Vasilevsky, AleksandrMarshal of the Soviet Union Aleksandr Vasilevsky (1895–1977) 22 March 1946 November 1948 2 years, 7 months 2 Shtemenko, SergeiArmy General Sergei Shtemenko (1907–1976) November 1948 June 1952 3 years, 7 months 3 Sokolovsky, VasilyMarshal of the Soviet Union Vasily Sokolovsky (1897–1968) June 1952 April 1960 7 years, 10 months 4 Zakharov, MatveiMarshal of the Soviet Union Matvei Zakharov (1898–1972) April 1960 March 1963 2 years, 11 months 5 Biryuzov, SergeyMarshal of the Soviet Union Sergey Biryuzov (1904–1964) [lower-alpha 1] March 1963 19 October 1964 † 1 year, 7 months (4) Zakharov, MatveiMarshal of the Soviet Union Matvei Zakharov (1898–1972) November 1964 September 1971 6 years, 9 months 6 Kulikov, ViktorMarshal of the Soviet Union Viktor Kulikov (1921–2013) September 1971 7 January 1977 5 years, 4 months 7 Ogarkov, NikolaiMarshal of the Soviet Union Nikolai Ogarkov (1917–1994) [1] 7 January 1977 6 September 1984 7 years, 238 days 8 Akhromeyev, SergeyMarshal of the Soviet Union Sergey Akhromeyev (1923–1991) [1] 6 September 1984 2 November 1988 4 years, 62 days 9 Moiseev, MikhailColonel General Army General Mikhail Moiseev (born 1939) December 1988 23 August 1991 2 years, 8 months 10 Lobov, VladimirArmy General Vladimir Lobov (born 1935) 25 August 1991 25 December 1991 122 days Russian Armed Forces (1992–present) No. Portrait Chief of the General Staff Took office Left office Time in office 1 Dubynin, ViktorArmy General Viktor Dubynin (1943–1992) 10 June 1992 22 November 1992 † 165 days 2 Kolesnikov, MikhailArmy General Mikhail Kolesnikov (1939–2007) 22 November 1992 18 October 1996 3 years, 331 days 3 Samsonov, ViktorArmy General Viktor Samsonov (born 1941) 18 October 1996 22 May 1997 216 days 4 Kvashnin, AnatolyArmy General Anatoly Kvashnin (born 1946) 22 May 1997 19 July 2004 7 years, 58 days 5 Baluyevsky, YuriArmy General Yuri Baluyevsky (born 1947) 19 July 2004 3 June 2008 3 years, 320 days 6 Makarov, NikolaiArmy General Nikolai Makarov (born 1949) 3 June 2008 9 November 2012 4 years, 159 days 7 Gerasimov, ValeryArmy General Valery Gerasimov (born 1955) 9 November 2012 Incumbent 7 years, 280 days Notes Died in a plane crash. See also Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces References Garthoff, Raymond L. (1994). The Great Transition: American-Soviet Relations and the End of the Cold War. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution. p. 186. ISBN 0-8157-3060-8. The decision was taken at the regular Politburo meeting [on 6 September] and appeared to have been sudden Further reading V.I. Feskov, K.A. Kalashnikov, V.I. Golikov, The Soviet Army in the Years of the Cold War 1945–91, Tomsk University Publishing House, Tomsk, 2004 (for Soviet era list of CGSs). External links Official Russian Ministry of Defense website