極東軍管区
As a subordinate to commander of the Far Eastern Military District Air Defense Forces, General Valeri Kamensky, and as commander of Sokol Air Base on Sakhalin Island, Kornukov received the command from Kamensky to shoot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007 carrying 269 people, including U.S. congressman Larry McDonald, while it was over the international waters of Okhotsk, having exited Kamchatkan air space.