15 Facts About Anatoly Kornukov

General Anatoly Mikhailovich Kornukov was a general in the Russian Air Force and the former fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Defence Forces.

Anatoly Kornukov is remembered for ordering Korean Air Lines Flight 007 to be shot down, resulting in the deaths of all 269 aboard.

Anatoly Kornukov's father was a miner from Donetsk, who took part in the Second World War.

Anatoly Kornukov joined the Soviet Armed Forces in 1959, and sent to study at the Kremenchug Military Aviation School for the initial pilot training.

However, in 1960 it was disbanded, and some of the cadets, including Anatoly Kornukov, were transferred to the Chernigov Military Aviation School of Pilots named after the Lenin Komsomol, which he graduated with honors in 1964.

On 1980, Anatoly Kornukov was appointed as commander of the 40th Fighter Division in Air Defense Forces in the Far East.

Anatoly Kornukov was serving as commander of Dolinsk-Sokol Air Base and subordinate to commander of the Far Eastern Military District Air Defense Forces, General Valeri Kamensky.

Anatoly Kornukov received the command from Kamensky to shoot down the airliner, while it was over the international waters of Okhotsk, having exited Kamchatkan air space.

Anatoly Kornukov gave the order for the shootdown as KAL 007 was about to pass out of the Soviet airspace over Sakhalin Island into International air space:.

Anatoly Kornukov was neither awarded nor punished for the KAL 007 shootdown.

Anatoly Kornukov never shied away from questions on this topic, always emphasizing that his order was based on the norms of international and Soviet law.

Anatoly Kornukov believes that KAL 007 was a provocation from the United States, designed to identify the weaknesses of the Soviet air defense and to worsen Soviet-American relations.

In 1988, Anatoly Kornukov was appointed as first deputy chief of aviation of the Soviet Air Defense Forces.

In January 2002, Anatoly Kornukov resigned as Commander of the Russian Air Force and advised the Russian Federation in matters of missile defense and defense against aerial hijacker terrorist attacks against Russian cities.

Anatoly Kornukov died at the age of 72 on 1 July 2014.