Changes

In the years gone by since the shootdown, the vicissitudes of Soviet and Russian Federation political systems have left their mark on the lives of the Soviet participants—some as expected, and some with startling surprise!

In the years gone by since the shootdown, the vicissitudes of Soviet and Russian Federation political systems have left their mark on the lives of the Soviet participants—some as expected, and some with startling surprise!

[[File:Su-15 Flagon.jpg|200px|thunbnail|right|Sukhoi Su-15 interceptor]]

[[File:Su-15 Flagon.jpg|200px|thumbnail|right|Sukhoi Su-15 interceptor]]

'''Major Gennadie Osipovich''', the pilot of the [[Sukhoi Su-15]] interceptor which shot down KAL 007, retired and still a confirmed Communist, lives on a small farm in the Caucasus and raises strawberries. He receives a small pension equivalent to $150 a month, and occasionally speaks in front of local groups about the shootdown. He says of himself, “I am a lucky man!”

'''Major Gennadie Osipovich''', the pilot of the [[Sukhoi Su-15]] interceptor which shot down [[Korean Airlines Flight 007|KAL 007]], retired and still a confirmed Communist, lives on a small farm in the Caucasus and raises strawberries. He receives a small pension equivalent to $150 a month, and occasionally speaks in front of local groups about the shootdown. He says of himself, “I am a lucky man!”

'''Air Force Marshall Petr Semenovich Kirsanov''' was demoted for his responsibility in the Soviet defense flap over Kamchatka (KAL 007 was allowed to pass over Kamchatka and over the Sea of Okhotsk before it was shot down over Sakhalin).  

'''Air Force Marshall Petr Semenovich Kirsanov''' was demoted for his responsibility in the Soviet defense flap over [[Kamchatka]] (KAL 007 was allowed to pass over Kamchatka and over the Sea of Okhotsk before it was shot down over Sakhalin).  

'''General Romanenko, KGB Coast Guard Commander of Sakhalin and the Kuriles''', who also had headed the Soviet delegation at Nevelsk, Sakhalin which handed over to US and Japanese officials some of the personal effects of the KAL 007 passengers, (see [http://www.rescue007.org/faq.htm#12] was demoted, exiled, and/or executed—most probably for his oversights related to passenger and black box disposition. The following facts support this hypothesis:

'''General Romanenko, KGB Coast Guard Commander of Sakhalin and the Kuriles''', who also had headed the Soviet delegation at Nevelsk, Sakhalin which handed over to US and Japanese officials some of the personal effects of the KAL 007 passengers, (see [http://www.rescue007.org/faq.htm#12]) was demoted, exiled, and/or executed—most probably for his oversights related to passenger and black box disposition. The following facts support this hypothesis:

1. Informants of the Israeli Research Centre for Prisons, Psych-Prisons, and Forced Labor Concentration Camps of the USSR report that Romanenko’s name no longer appears in KGB computers. Once in a name is never deleted. Transfers, promotions, demotions, and deaths are entered but names are never deleted.

1. Informants of the Israeli Research Centre for Prisons, Psych-Prisons, and Forced Labor Concentration Camps of the USSR report that Romanenko’s name no longer appears in KGB computers. Once in a name is never deleted. Transfers, promotions, demotions, and deaths are entered but names are never deleted.

'''Marshall Valentin I. Varennikov''', who had arrived at Sakhalin Island within 24 hours of the shootdown in order to head the Secret State Commission and its cover-up, rose to become Deputy Defense Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces before his imprisonment (and subsequent release) for the part he played in the August 1991 coup attempt against Gorbachev. In 1994, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation declared him not guilty. On December 17, 1995, he was elected deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Convocation. In January of 1996, he became Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma Veteran’s Affairs.

'''Marshall Valentin I. Varennikov''', who had arrived at Sakhalin Island within 24 hours of the shootdown in order to head the Secret State Commission and its cover-up, rose to become Deputy Defense Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces before his imprisonment (and subsequent release) for the part he played in the August 1991 coup attempt against Gorbachev. In 1994, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation declared him not guilty. On December 17, 1995, he was elected deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Convocation. In January 1996, he became Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma Veteran’s Affairs.

[[Image:Tretyak.jpg|General Ivan Moseivich Tretyak|right|thumb|150px]]

[[Image:Tretyak.jpg|General Ivan Moseivich Tretyak|right|thumb|150px]]

'''Valery Vladimirovich Ryzhkov''', on-duty commander of Radio-Technical Battalion 1845, which had tracked KAL 007’s flight to what he believed to be a safe water landing, and who was so bitter about being passed over for promotion while others in his unit had received promotions (see [http://www.rescue007.org/faq.htm#9], was finally granted that promotion and made commander of the command post of Radio-Technical Battalion 2213 in Mariinskoe Settlement on the Amur river of the Soviet Primorsky (Maritime) opposite Sakhalin.

'''Valery Vladimirovich Ryzhkov''', on-duty commander of Radio-Technical Battalion 1845, which had tracked KAL 007’s flight to what he believed to be a safe water landing, and who was so bitter about being passed over for promotion while others in his unit had received promotions (see [http://www.rescue007.org/faq.htm#9]), was finally granted that promotion and made commander of the command post of Radio-Technical Battalion 2213 in Mariinskoe Settlement on the Amur river of the Soviet Primorsky (Maritime) opposite Sakhalin.

Of the many international newspapers that recorded Kornukov’s new position, few, if any, noted the fact, so clearly evident in the Russian communiqué’s appended to the 1993 ICAO report, that Kornukov was but the low general on the totem pole, while those above him who had given Kornukov the order for the shoot down, some, by abdication to his will, were all, apparently, exonerated. These were, in ascending order of their ranks at the time, General Valeri Kamenski—Commander of the Far East Military District Air Force, General Strogov—Deputy Commander of the Far East Military District, General Ivan Moiseevich Tretyak—Commander of the Far East Military District, and General Vladimir L. Govrov—Commander of the Far East Theater of Operations.

Of the many international newspapers that recorded Kornukov’s new position, few, if any, noted the fact, so clearly evident in the Russian communiqué’s appended to the 1993 ICAO report, that Kornukov was but the low general on the totem pole, while those above him who had given Kornukov the order for the shoot down, some, by abdication to his will, were all, apparently, exonerated. These were, in ascending order of their ranks at the time, General Valeri Kamenski—Commander of the Far East Military District Air Force, General Strogov—Deputy Commander of the Far East Military District, General Ivan Moiseevich Tretyak—Commander of the Far East Military District, and General Vladimir L. Govrov—Commander of the Far East Theater of Operations.

==See Also==

==See also==

[[Korean Airlines Flight 007]]

[[Korean Airlines Flight 007]]