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Leonty Pavlovich Shevtsov (Леонтий Павлович Шевцов; born 14 March 1946) is a retired Russian colonel general. He served in a number of senior positions, including as the Commander-in-Chief of the Internal Troops of Russia from 1997 to 1998 and as a Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs from 1997 to 1999.

After becoming an officer in the Soviet Army he commanded units at every level from a platoon to a field army. During the early 1990s, he was the commander of the 1st Guards Tank Army, the deputy chief of the Main Operations Directorate at the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and the chief of staff of the Joint Group of Federal Forces in Chechnya. Shevtsov became the Deputy for Russian Forces at the NATO military headquarters from 1995 to 1997, when Russia deployed one brigade for the NATO peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, so that the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, a U.S. general, could have operational control over the Russian brigade through him. Shevtsov was later the head of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the late 1990s after returning to Russia.

Early life and education
Leonty Shevtsov was born on 14 March 1946 in the village of Stepnoye, Timiryazev District, in the North Kazakhstan Region of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.

Shevtsov joined the Soviet Army in 1964. His military education includes graduating from the Tashkent Higher Combined Arms Command School in 1968, the Frunze Military Academy in 1977, and the General Staff Academy in 1990.

Military career
He was first stationed with the Western Group of Forces in Germany before being sent to serve in Siberia. After attending the Frunze Military Academy he spent his service in the Soviet Far East until 1988. During those years he commanded units from the platoon to the division level. Shevtsov then attended the General Staff Academy and after graduating he was sent to the Western Group of Forces in Germany. He commanded the 1st Guards Tank Army from 1992 to 1993, during which time he oversaw its relocation from Germany to Smolensk, Russia.

In March 1993 Shevtsov became the Deputy Chief of the Main Operations Directorate, General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. When Lieutenant General Anatoly Kvashnin was appointed to lead the Joint Group of Federal Forces in Chechnya in December 1994, he chose to have Shevtsov as his chief of staff. Shevtsov and the General Staff only had a couple of weeks to plan for the operation. During the early phase of the First Chechen War he was responsible for planning and implementing the military operations there and took part in the battles of Grozny, Argun, Gudermes, and Shali. Shevtsov remained in the role of chief of staff in Chechnya until April 1995, and in June 1995 he was also succeeded as the Deputy Chief of the Main Operations Directorate by Lieutenant General Yuri Baluyevsky.

In late 1995, when the Dayton Agreement was negotiated to end the Bosnian War, the U.S. wanted Russia to participate in the deployment of a peacekeeping force to separate the warring factions and ensure the implementation of the agreement. Three months of negotiations took place to determine the political framework under which Russian troops would be operating, which involved talks between U.S. Defense Secretary William J. Perry and Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev. At the ministerial level, a decision was made to send Russian General Staff officers to NATO on 8 October 1995, and Colonel General Shevtsov was chosen to lead the Russian Ministry of Defense Operational Group to be sent there. The exact solution was worked out by him and U.S. Army General George Joulwan, the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR).

He and a delegation of five Russian officers arrived at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium, on 15 October 1995. As part of their arrangement to integrate the Russian force into the NATO mission command structure, a new position was created at SHAPE called the Deputy to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe for Russian Forces. They worked out the details for the Russian participation in the NATO peacekeeping mission and established the framework for it at the operational and strategic level. That included a permanent group of officers to represent the Russian General Staff at SHAPE and maintain contact between them, led by the Deputy to SACEUR for Russian Forces. Shevtsov was the first Deputy and the head of the Russian Ministry of Defense Operational Group.

He was awarded the Legion of Merit by the U.S. for his service there.

Later life
In March 2021, after Ukrainian forces shelled positions of the Donetsk People's Republic, Shevtsov claimed that Ukraine was getting ready for an attack on Donbass along the example of the "Croatian" scenario, referring to Croatia's Operation Storm against Serbian Krajina in 1995.

Awards

 * Domestic


 * Foreign
 * 🇺🇸 United States: Legion of Merit