Lev Rokhlin

Who was Lev Rokhlin?

Lev Yakovlevich Rokhlin was a career officer in the Soviet and Russian armies. Rokhlin have reached the top of the Russian military, quickly rose through the ranks during and after the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

In March 1987 Rokhlin was appointed commander of the 152nd Motor Rifle Division, 4th Army, in Kutaisi. The 152nd was a cadre division.

In November 1988 Rokhlin became the commander of the 75th Motor Rifle Division of the 7th Guards Army in Nakhchivan. In early 1990 the division was transferred to the Soviet Border Troops of the KGB, and Rokhlin was promoted to major-general in February of the same year.

In 1993, he became the head of Russia's 8th Guard Corps at Volgograd, at the rank of lieutenant general, as the only Jew to reach such a rank in Russia since World War II.

During the First Chechen War, Rokhlin was credited with reorganizing the Russian forces in Chechnya and finally taking the Chechen capital of Grozny in 1995. Frustrated with the bloodshed, he left the army a few weeks later. He then refused to accept the state's highest medal and title of Hero of the Russian Federation for leading the Grozny offensive, saying he saw "nothing glorious" in it.