Yuri Bukreyev

Yuri Dmitrievich Bukreyev (Юрий Дмитриевич Букреев; born 19 May 1941) is a retired Soviet and Russian colonel general who served as the Head of the Main Directorate of the Russian Ground Forces from 1998 to 2001.

Early life
Bukreyev was born in the village of Vtoraya Alekseyevka in Kursk Oblast, Russian SFSR. The German invasion of the Soviet Union began shortly after that and his family fled the occupation by moving to the Voronezh Oblast. In 1946, the family moved to Alma-Ata, where he graduated from high school.

Military career
Bukreyev entered the Soviet Army in 1960 and began serving as a private in a training tank regiment of the Turkestan Military District. He graduated from the Tashkent Tank Institute and from the Malinovsky Military Armored Forces Academy.

From 1973 he served in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany: deputy commander and commander of a tank regiment, chief of staff of a motor rifle division.

Since 1980 - commander of the Pavlograd motor rifle division in the Kiev Military District (Konotop) - probably the 47th MRD.

He graduated from the Voroshilov General Staff Academy in Moscow in 1985 with a gold medal.

Since March 1989 - Chief of Staff - First Deputy Commander of the Turkestan Military District. Since October 1991 - Chief of the Main Staff of the Ground Forces - First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Ground Forces.

After the disbandment of the Main Command of the Ground Forces in January 1998, he was appointed acting head of the newly formed Main Directorate of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. On 9 May 1998 he was appointed the Head of the Main Directorate of the Ground Forces and the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces for the Ground Forces.

Bukreyev retired from military service in 2001.

Civilian career
Since leaving the military he has been involved in several organizations that assist veterans and served as an advisor to the Russian government on veterans' affairs. He is the chairman of the National Association of Reserve Officers of the Armed Forces ("Megapir").