Ivan Herasymov

General of the Army Ivan Aleksandrovich Gerasimov (; ; August 8, 1921 – June 4, 2008) was a Soviet general, Ukrainian politician and deputy in the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada). He was a member of the Communist Party of Ukraine. Gerasymov was the oldest sitting member of the Verkhovna Rada at the time of his death on June 4, 2008, at the age of 86. and in 1986 arrived at the site of the Chernobyl disaster to head Soviet Ministry of Defence efforts there, in succession to General Vladimir Pikalov.

Post military career General Gerasymov (third from right, standing in front row) at the 2004 Ukrainian Liberation Day Parade in Kyiv. From 1990 until his retirement from the army in 1992 he was the Chief Inspector of the Main Inspectorate of the Ministry of Defense. On 3 July 2004, he led the Ukrainian delegation of veterans at the Minsk Independence Day Parade in honor of the Minsk Offensive's diamond jubilee. On 27 October, he inspected the military parade on Maidan Nezalezhnosti in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Liberation of Ukraine along with Oleksandr Kuzmuk.

Political activity He was a member of the Communist Party of Ukraine and from 2002 to 2008, he was a people's Deputy of Ukraine. He held the position of head of the subcommittee on legislative support for social protection of war and labor veterans, other elderly citizens of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Pensioners, Veterans and Disabled Persons.

Death He died on 4 June 2008 in Kyiv and is buried in Moscow. On 9 May 2010, in honor of the 65th anniversary of the end of the World War II, a memorial plaque was installed in his honor at the building of the Ministry of Defense in Kyiv.

Military ranks

Major General of Tank Troops (22 February 1963) Lieutenant General of Tank Troops (21 February 1969) Colonel General (11 April 1973) General of the Army (28 October 1977)

Awards

USSR 2 Orders of Lenin 2 Orders of the Red Star – February 17, 1943 Medal "For Courage" – March 30, 1942 Order of the October Revolution Three Orders of the Red Banner Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class (1985) Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 3rd degree (30 April 1975)

Ukraine

Hero of Ukraine (October 27, 1999) Full Cavalier of the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky 1st degree (May 5, 1999) 2nd degree (March 27, 1997) III degree (May 7, 1995) Honorary Badge of Distinction of the President of Ukraine (October 6, 1994)

Awards of foreign countries

Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland, 1973) Scharnhorst Order (GDR) Order "For Military Merit" (MPR, 1971) Medal "30 Years of the Bulgarian People's Army" (PRB, 1974) Medal "40 Years of Victory over Hitler's Fascism" (PRB, 1985) Medal "For Strengthening Friendship in Arms" in gold (Czechoslovakia, 1970) Medal "50 Years of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia" (Czechoslovakia, 1971) Medal "Friendship" (Mongolian People's Republic, 1968) Medal "50 Years of the Mongolian People's Army" (MPR, 1971) Medal "30 Years of Victory over Militarist Japan" (MPR, 1976) Medal "20th Anniversary of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba" (Cuba, 1976) Medal "30th Anniversary of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba" (Cuba, 1986)