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Who ordered the shootdown on the Soviet military side is fairly well known and on the political side, the lines leading up to the General Secretary of the Communist Party and head of the Soviet Union Yuri Andropov, can confidently be conjectured by "working up" the Soviet hierarchical system of command.  

Who ordered the shootdown on the Soviet military side is fairly well known and on the political side, the lines leading up to the General Secretary of the Communist Party and head of the Soviet Union Yuri Andropov, can confidently be conjectured by "working up" the Soviet hierarchical system of command.  

'''General Anatoli Kornukov''', the Commander of Sokol Air Base on Sakhalin was the "tactical" commander of the shootdown and subordinate to the "strategic" commander of the shootdown - General [[Valeri Kamensky]] (General Kornukov would later become head of the Russian Air Force). '''General Kamensky''' was the Commander of the Soviet Far East Air Defence forces and would have informed both '''General Ivan Moseivich Tretyak''' <ref>http://www.rescue007.org/rescue.htm</ref> his direct superior and Commander of the Soviet Far East Military District as his direct commander, and informed the Commander-in Chief of Air Defense Forces at the National Command Center in Kalinin. This was '''Gen. Alexandr Koldunov'''. (Maj. Victor Belenko, who served in one of the units that brought 007 down, but who had defected to Japan in his MiG 25 in 1976, says that at the first intrusion of KAL 007 over Kamchatka, Gen. Kamensky would already have informed his superior at the National Command Center at Kalinin and the intruder would have been tracked on the screen there until it had left Soviet territory}. As this was an emergency, the Commander in Chief of Soviet Air Forces (VVS), '''Chief Marshal of Aviation Pavel Kutakhov''' would have been informed.

'''General Anatoli Kornukov''', the Commander of Sokol Air Base on Sakhalin was the "tactical" commander of the shootdown and subordinate to the "strategic" commander of the shootdown - General [[Valeri Kamensky]] (General Kornukov would later become head of the Russian Air Force).  

As the test of the illegal (Salt ll) SS-25 had been planned for that night with the missile coming down on the Klyuchi target range of Kamchatka<ref>http://www.rescue007.org/how_kal_007_was_lost.htm</ref> - where KAL 007 was to traverse in its first intrusion of Soviet territory- the head of the First Directorate of Strategic Concealment (Maskirovka), '''First Deputy Chief of Staff Marshal Sergei Akhromeyev''' would have been present for any decision. Further, '''Chief of the Soviet General Staff and First Deputy Minister of Defense Nikolai Ogarkov''' would have been in on any decision and would have informed his superior and link with the Political echelon, '''Minister of Defense Dmitri Ustinov'''. It is then that '''Yuri Andropov''' would have been in position for decision for shootdown.  

 

 

 

As the test of the illegal (Salt ll) SS-25 had been planned for that night with the missile coming down on the Klyuchi target range of Kamchatka<ref>http://www.rescue007.org/how_kal_007_was_lost.htm</ref> - where KAL 007 was to traverse in its first intrusion of Soviet territory- the head of the First Directorate of Strategic Concealment (Maskirovka), '''First Deputy Chief of Staff Marshal Sergei Akhromeyev''' would have been present for any decision.

 

Further, '''Chief of the Soviet General Staff and First Deputy Minister of Defense Nikolai Ogarkov''' would have been in on any decision and would have informed his superior and link with the Political echelon, '''Minister of Defense Dmitri Ustinov'''.  

 

It is then that '''Yuri Andropov''' would have been in position for decision for shootdown.  

The telecommunications for this linkage up the Military and then Political chain of command would have been effected well within the hours starting at the first intrusion into Soviet controlled airspace - 1551 GMT (Missile detonation was at 18:26:02 GMT).

The telecommunications for this linkage up the Military and then Political chain of command would have been effected well within the hours starting at the first intrusion into Soviet controlled airspace - 1551 GMT (Missile detonation was at 18:26:02 GMT).