Vasily Savvin

Vasily Nestorovich Savvin (; 30 April 1939 – 24 February 2020) was a Soviet and later Russian military officer who held a number of posts in country's Gendarmerie, reaching the rank of general-polkovnik. His career culminated with the command of the Internal Troops of the Soviet Union, becoming their last commander, and the first commander of their successor organization, the Internal Troops of Russia.

Savvin's career with the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) began when he joined the Internal Troops in 1956, subsequently graduating with honours from the Ministry's military school, and rising through the ranks commanding platoons, companies and then battalions. He was transferred to the far north in 1969, serving at Murmansk in staff roles that took him from chief of staff and then commander of regiments, and then divisions, at first in the Arctic and then in Siberia. He eventually became head of the Internal Affairs Directorate for Siberia, and then the North-West and the Baltic States, before being appointed commander of the MVD's entire internal forces in September 1991. He saw out the dissolution of the Soviet Union in this post, and the reformation of the former Soviet organization as the Internal Troops of Russia in January 1992. He held the position until his retirement in 1993, and subsequently settled in Saint Petersburg, where he died in 2020.

Early life and service Savvin was born into a peasant family on 30 April 1939 in Dobrino, Liskinsky District, in Voronezh Oblast, then part of the Russian SFSR, in the Soviet Union. General of the Army Viktor Zolotov, commander of the National Guard of Russia, the successor organization of the Internal Troops, offered his condolences, saying "Vasily Nesterovich was a courageous, strong-willed man, a real Russian officer who devoted his life to serving the Fatherland and strengthening the national security of the state. He always coped with the tasks with honour, in the most difficult emergency situations he showed a strong-willed character and a willingness to help."

Over his career he had been awarded the Order of the Red Star and the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" Third Class, as well as various medals.