23 Facts About Valery Sablin

Captain 3rd Rank Valery Mikhailovich Sablin was a Soviet Navy officer and a member of the Communist Party.

Valery Sablin's mutiny failed and he was executed for treason nine months later.

Valery Mikhailovich Sablin was born on 1 January 1939 in Leningrad as the son of Mikhail Petrovich Sablin, who was a Naval officer.

On November 2nd of 1961, Valery Sablin was transferred to a new duty station as the commander of the artillery fire control group on the newest Kotlin-class destroyer Svedushchiy.

Valery Sablin was never afraid to openly express his opinions.

Valery Sablin continued to serve in the Northern Fleet as an assistant commander until 1969, when he entered the Lenin Military-Political Academy and studied there.

Valery Sablin then graduated with honors in 1973 with his name engraved on a marble plaque among the names of other top graduates of the academy.

However, while Valery Sablin was on post-academic leave, the political officer Captain-Lieutenant Podraikin from an Burevestnik-class missile frigate Storozhevoy was dismissed from the ship for drunkenness.

The officers had a lot of work, and Valery Sablin did not yet have the opportunity to implement his plan to use the warship as a "tribune" from which a signal could be given by radio to begin changes in the country.

Valery Sablin encouraged the rest of the crew to support him.

Valery Sablin's plans were disrupted by the ship's electrical engineer, Senior Lieutenant Firsov, who managed to leave the ship unnoticed at 2:55 AM Firsov, who voted in favor of the mutiny, only used the vote to slip away and alert the port garrison about the situation on the ship, thereby depriving Valery Sablin of the time advantage.

Valery Sablin immediately led the ship out of the port and directed it toward the exit from the Gulf of Riga under the cover of the darkness.

Valery Sablin's plan was to take the ship from the Gulf of Riga north into the Gulf of Finland and to Leningrad, through the Neva River, mooring by the decommissioned cruiser Aurora, where he would protest by radio and television to the public against the rampant corruption of the Brezhnev era.

Valery Sablin planned to say what he thought many were saying privately: that the revolution and motherland were in danger; that the ruling authorities were up to their necks in corruption, demagoguery, graft, and lies, leading the country into an abyss; that the ideals of Communism had been discarded; and that there was a pressing need to revive Leninist principles of justice.

Valery Sablin was a strong believer in Leninist values and considered the Soviet system to have essentially "sold out".

Several attempts to force the ship to surrender by the pursuing vessels were made, but Valery Sablin reluctantly refused their orders.

Valery Sablin was charged with treason, court-martialled in June 1976 and found guilty, being sentenced to death by firing squad.

Valery Sablin was allowed to meet his wife and son for the last time on 18 July 1976, and his father two days later on 20 July.

Valery Sablin's father died a few weeks later, never finding out the fate of his son.

The document left out the cause and place of death, but stated that Valery Sablin had died on 3 August 1976.

Valery Sablin was presumably executed in Lefortovo Prison, but his remains were never returned to his family and his final resting place remains unknown.

Valery Sablin was cleared of the charge of treason, but was instead found guilty of charges related to insubordination and actions exceeding his authority.

Valery Sablin steered this course, which could give the mistaken impression that the Storozhevoy was heading to Sweden or even NATO-member Denmark instead of Leningrad.