Alexander Zelin
Alexander Nikolayevich Selin (Russian Александр Николаевич Зелин, scientific transliteration Aleksandr Nikolaevich Zelin; born May 6, 1953 in Perewalsk, Ukrainian SSR ) is a Russian Colonel General in retirement and since May 2012 Assistant to the Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation.
Military career
In 1976, he joined the military aviation school in Khabarovsk with honors and began his service in the Soviet Air Force as a fighter pilot in the 787th Fighter Regiment in the portfolio of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany ( GSFG ), on the airfield Finow Eberswalde.
In the following years, he served in various positions, including as a squadron commander and commander of the 115th Guards Fighter Regiment in the Uzbek SSR.
In 1988 he graduated from the Military Academy of the Air Force, " J. A. Gagarin " and went through the mid-1990s higher service positions, as the first deputy supreme commander of the 23rd Army Air Forces and Air Defence in Transbaikalia, and the Supreme Commander of the 14th Army Air Force and air defense in the Military District of Siberia.
In 1997 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces and commanded during the Second Chechen War times (from 2001), the 4th Army of Air Forces and Air Defence in the North Caucasus.
Since August 2002, he was Deputy Commander in Chief of the Russian Air Force, responsible for aviation. On 9 May 2007, finally, he was by a decree of the then President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, was appointed commander in chief of the Russian Air Force.
On April 26, 2012 Selin by the then President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, was relieved of his duties as commander in chief of the Russian Air Force, discharged from military service and was appointed on May 6, Assistant to the Defense Minister Serdyukov.
Others
Alexander Selin is Candidate of Military Sciences and Honored military pilot of the Russian Federation. He has completed more than 10 different types of aircraft, including Sukhoi Su -34 and Yakovlev Yak -130, more than 3,000 flight hours. Selin was awarded among others with the Order "Red Star" and " For military merit ".