Wiktor Mardusin

Viktor Nikolayevich Mardusin (; born 18 March 1958) is an officer of the Russian Navy. He currently holds the rank of vice-admiral, and has most recently served as deputy commander of the Western Military District.

A native of Bryansk, Mardusin began his service in the Soviet Navy, after attending the P. S. Nakhimov Black Sea Higher Naval School. His early career was spent in the Baltic Fleet, where he served aboard several small missile ships, rising through the ranks and eventually taking command of one of the fleet's elderly destroyers, just prior to her decommissioning. After further studies at the navy's higher educational institutions, Mardusin served as commander of divisions and then brigades of small missile ships, before serving in staff officer positions as commander of a naval base, and as deputy and chief of staff of several of the navy's fleets. During his time as Deputy Commander of the Pacific Fleet, he visited the US naval base at Pearl Harbor and met with US naval officers.

Mardusin then spent two years as commander of the Baltic Fleet, where he had begun his naval service decades earlier. This posting was marked with the deployment of one of his fleet's warships to counter piracy off the coast of Somalia. Stepping down as commander of the Baltic Fleet in 2009, Mardusin became Deputy Chief of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, and in 2013 was appointed deputy commander of the Western Military District. Over his career he has received several awards, including the Order of Military Merit, the Order of Naval Merit, and the Soviet Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" Third Class.

Early service Mardusin was born on 18 March 1958 in Bryansk, then part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, in the Soviet Union. He attended the P. S. Nakhimov Black Sea Higher Naval School, graduating in 1980.

In 1986 Mardusin became senior assistant commander of the Kilden-class destroyer Prozorliviy, and in 1988 he became commander of the destroyer . In 1996 he was appointed chief of staff and first deputy commander of the Baltic Naval Base at Baltiysk, and after a period of study at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, from which Mardusin graduated in 2000, from July 2000 to May 2001 he served as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Baltic Fleet. He met with US admirals Jonathan Greenert, Thomas B. Fargo and Barry McCullough during the visit, which marked the first time Russian ships had visited Pearl Harbor since 1995. On the Neustrashimys return to base in February 2009, Mardusin welcomed her crew, and as per tradition, presented her commander, Captain 2nd Rank Alexei Apanovich, with a roasted piglet.

Mardusin was commander of the Baltic Fleet until 8 September 2009. He had by that time, on 1 September 2009, been appointed Deputy Chief of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. On 4 October 2013 Mardusin was appointed deputy commander of the Western Military District, replacing Lieutenant General Oleg Makarevich, who was appointed Chief of Staff of the Eastern Military District.

Awards Over his career Mardusin had received the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" Third Class, the Order of Military Merit, and the Order of Naval Merit. He is married, with a daughter and a son.