page_title: Dmitry Ustinov
section_title: Minister of Defence
hierarchical_section_title: Dmitry Ustinov / Post-war career / Minister of Defence
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Berlin, Honecker empfängt Dmitri Ustinow ADN-ZB/Franke/28.6.84 Berlin: Der Generalsekretär des ZK der SED, Erich Honecker, Vorsitzender des Staatsrates und des Nationalen Verteidigungsrates der DDR, empfing den im Zusammenhang mit der Übung der Stäbe und teilnehmenden Truppen und Flottenkräfte der sowjetischen Streitkräfte in der DDR weilenden Minister für Verteidigung der UdSSR, Marschall der Sowjetunion Dmitri Ustinow (2.v.l.), Mitglied des Politbüros des ZK der KPdSU, zu einem Gespräch. An dem Treffen nahmen weiterhin teil: Armeegeneral Heinz Hoffmann, Mitglied des Politbüros des ZK der SED und Minister für Nationale Verteidigung der DDR; Egon Krenz, Mitglied des Politbüros und Sekretär des ZK der SED (r.) Abgebildete Personen: Honecker, Erich: Staatsratsvorsitzender, Generalsekretär des ZK der SED, DDR (GND 118553399) Krenz, Egon: Vorsitzender der FDJ, Generalsekretär des ZK der SED, Staatsratsvorsitzender, DDR Hoffmann, Heinz: Minister für Nationale Verteidigung, Mitglied des ZK der SED, DDR Ustinow, Dmitri: 1908-1984; Verteidigungsminister, Mitglied des Zentralkomitees (ZK) der KP, Sowjetunion
context_page_description: Dmitriy Fyodorovich Ustinov was a Marshal of the Soviet Union and Soviet politician during the Cold War. He served as a Central Committee secretary in charge of the Soviet military–industrial complex from 1965 to 1976 and as Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union from 1976 until his death in 1984.
  Ustinov was born in the city of Samara to a Russian working-class family in 1908. Upon reaching adulthood, he joined the Communist Party in 1927 before pursuing a career in engineering. After graduating from the Institute of Military Mechanical Engineering in 1934, he became a construction engineer at the Leningrad Artillery Marine Research Institute. By 1937, he transferred to the Bolshevik "Arms" Factory where he ultimately rose to become the director. While serving as People's Commissar of Armaments during World War II, he achieved distinction within the party's ranks by successfully overseeing the evacuation of Leningrad's industries to the Ural Mountains, a feat for which he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labour. At the war's end, he was entrusted with seizing raw materials, scientists and research left over from Germany's missile programme.
context_section_description: In 1976, after Andrei Grechko died on 26 April, Ustinov became the Defence Minister and was promoted to General of the Army on 29 April. On 30 July, he was promoted to the highest military rank in the Soviet Union, Marshal of the Soviet Union, although he had no prior military career. Together, with Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov and the Soviet General Staff, Ustinov embarked on a programme to enhance and modernise the Soviet Union's development of military sciences. In 1979, he confidently asserted that "The armed forces of the USSR are on a high level that ensures the accomplishment of any tasks set by the party and the people".
  The growing influence of the Soviet military gave Ustinov the role of Kremlin kingmaker, for his support was decisive in allowing Yuri Andropov to succeed Brezhnev. Ustinov was also influential in the Chernenko regime, compensating for the latter's serious health problems and inexperience in military affairs.
  In 1979, Hafizullah Amin assassinated the leader of Afghanistan, Nur Muhammad Taraki. In October 1979, the sentiment for Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan grew stronger in the Soviet politburo where Ustinov and Andropov were the strongest proponents for military intervention. Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko also lent his support for an invasion. The introduction of US forces into the Persian Gulf after the 1979 Iran hostage crisis particularly alarmed the Soviet General Staff. Ustinov began to wonder, "If the Americans do all these preparations under our noses, then why should we hunker down, play cautious, and lose Afghanistan?" In November, Ustinov and Andropov began to formulate plans for a Soviet military invasion of Afghanistan. On 12 December 1979, the Politburo approved the Ustinov-Andropov plan to invade Afghanistan. On 24 December 1979, Soviet troops entered Afghanistan.
  In the early 1980s, the development of the Space Shuttle program in the United States caused considerable concern in the Soviet defense industry. While Defence Minister, Ustinov received a report from his analysts that the US Shuttle could be used to deploy space based nuclear missiles over Soviet territory. Russian space programme academic Boris Chertok recounts that Ustinov was so worried about the US Shuttle that he gave the development of the Soviet response program, the Buran Shuttle, top priority.
caption: In 1984 in East Berlin, with Erich Honecker.
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