MOSCOW, August 31 (Itar-Tass) — A prominent Soviet commander, Marshall of the Soviet Union and former USSR Defense Minister Sergei Sokolov died at the age of 101 years in Moscow on Friday, head of the staff of the Club of Russian Military Commanders Nikolai Deryabin told Itar-Tass.
He is the only commander, who turned 100 years, from all marshals of the Soviet Union.
From December 22, 1984 to May 30, 1987 Sokolov worked as the defense minister of the Soviet Union. He was dismissed from this post upon the decision of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union after an unauthorized and unhampered flight of West German pilot Mathias Rust, who landed in his airplane on the Red Square in Moscow.
Deryabin recalled that on July 1, 2012, Sergei Sokolov turned 101 years, in this respect he was put on the Book of Russian Records in the nomination of “a long-living marshal” at the initiative of the Club of Military Commanders. The marshal was presented with a relevant certificate over the registration in this book.
“Despite the death of the marshal, the editorial office of the Book of Records in Russia will continue to process the documents for the registration of Sergei Leonidovich Sokolov in the nomination “a long-living marshal” in the Guinness Book of Records. The preliminary positive response from the editorial office of the book of “all world records” has already been received,” Deryabin noted.