Oleg Ostapenko

Who is Oleg Ostapenko?

Oleg Nikolayevich Ostapenko is a Colonel General in the Russian Military, Deputy Minister of Defence, and former commander of the Aerospace Defence Forces, a position he held from their foundation on 1 December 2011 until his promotion in November 2012. Prior to this he was commander of the Russian Space Forces from 2008, replacing Vladimir Popovkin.

Ostapenko joined the Soviet Strategic Missile Forces in 1979 after graduating from the Felix Dzerzhinsky military academy, specialising in 'Strategic Missiles, Engines, and Production Equipment'. He undertook higher military studies, ending in 1992 and moved into the Ministry of Defence Space Units. He held a number of roles at Titov Main Test and Space Systems Control Centre ending with being Chief of Staff from 2002 to 2004.

In 2004 he was promoted to be First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russian Space Forces and after undertaking a PhD in military sciences he became the commander of Plesetsk Cosmodrome in 2007. A year later on 30 June 2008 he was promoted to be commander of the Russian Space Forces replacing Vladimir Popovkin who became a Deputy Defence Minister. He was commander of the Aerospace Defence Forces from 1 December 2011 to 9 November 2012 and was promoted to the rank of Colonel General on 9 August 2012.