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Valentin Varennikov in August 1994 after he was acquitted by the Russian Supreme Court. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev

Valentin Ivanovich Varennikov (Russian: Валентин Иванович Варенников)(born December 15, 1923) is a Soviet/Russian general and politician.

Valentin Varennikov was born in a poor Cossack family in Krasnodar.

He became a junior officer of the Red Army and fought in the Battle of Stalingrad as well as in the successful campaigns to retake Ukraine and Belarus from the German army. Varennikov finished the Great Patriotic War in the Battle of Berlin as one of the commanders of the Soviet soldiers who captured the Reichstag.

Varennikov stayed in East Germany as an officer of the Soviet troops, stationed there until 1950.

In 1954 he graduated from the Frunze Military Academy in Moscow and was appointed as commander of northern military district in charge of the Soviet ground troops in the Polar region.

In 1969 Varennikov took charge of the Third Shock Army, and in 1979 became deputy head of the Soviet General Staff.

During the last few years of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, Varennikov was the personal representative in Kabul of the Soviet Defence Minister, and held negotiations with the United Nations Mission members who oversaw the pullout from the country of Soviet troops between 1988 and 1989.

In 1989 General Varennikov was named commander-in-chief of land forces and deputy minister of defence.

In 1991 during the August coup attempt he joined forces opposing former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. After the coup failure General Varennikov was arrested, tried and prosecuted together with other coup plotters and was acquitted by the Russian Supreme Court in 1994. He was the only member of the group of accused plotters who refused to accept an amnesty.

In 1995 Varennikov, as a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, was elected deputy of the State Duma. In the Duma Varennikov presided over the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

In 2003 he joined the Rodina block as one of its leaders.

Valentin Varennikov has a Hero of the Soviet Union title and is a full Cavalier of the Order of Glory as well as numerous other Soviet, Russian and foreign medals and decorations.

He is married, has two sons and currently lives in Moscow.

• CNN interview with Gen. Valentin Varennikov - A CNN Perspective Series, Episode 20: Soldiers of God.
• Valentin Varennikov personal site - in Russian.