Anatoly Kornukov

General Anatoly Mikhailovich Kornukov (Анатолий Михайлович Корнуков; 10 January 1942 – 1 July 2014) was a general in the Russian Air Force and the former fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Defence Forces.

Kornukov was born in the city of Kadiivka in Ukrainian SSR in 1942.

His father was a miner from Donetsk, who took part in the Second World War.

After college, he was assigned to the 54th Guards Kerch Red Banner Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Soviet Air Defence Forces, where he served as a pilot and deputy commander of a fighter squadron.

He 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 Kornukov, were transferred to the Chernigov Military Aviation School of Pilots named after the Lenin Komsomol, which he graduated with honors in 1964.

In 1970, he was transferred to the 47th Fighter Aviation Regiment in the Soviet Far East as deputy commander of an aviation squadron for political affairs.

From 1971, he commanded a fighter aviation squadron.

On 1972, he was appointed as deputy commander and from 1974 to 1976, he served as commander of the 777th Fighter Aviation Regiment in Sakhalin Island.

During his period of service with the Soviet Air Defense Forces, Kornukov made over 150 missions which included reconnaissance, interception of air targets, prevention and suppression of violations of the Soviet airspace.

From 1976, he was appointed as deputy commander of the Air Defense Corps in the Far East.

Kornukov, who had retained his position even when, in 1976, a pilot under his command, Victor Belenko, had defected to Japan with his MiG-25—the most advanced Soviet fighter of the time—also survived the KAL 007 incident, eventually attaining the highest appointment possible in his field of service.

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

Asked how he felt about the victims on board KAL 007, Kornukov said the downing left him with some "unpleasant feelings" but suggested that casualties were simply the price that had to be paid.

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

He 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.

On Hero of the Day, a Russian television interview show, Kornukov commented:

"'I will always be convinced that I gave the right order. Sometimes, in strategic operations, we had to sacrifice battalions to save the army. In the given situation, I am quite sure that this was a pre-planned action that pursued quite obvious goals.'"

On 1978, he was appointed as deputy chief of aviation of the 11th Air Defense Army in the Far East.

In 1980, he graduated in absentia from the Military Academy of Air Defense named after Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov.

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

The regiments of the division were stationed in Sovetskaya Gavan, Sakhalin and Kuril Islands.

On 1 September 1983, while en route from New York City to Seoul, South Korea with stopover in Anchorage, Alaska, Korean Air Lines Flight 007, a Boeing 747-230B carrying 246 passengers and 23 crew, went astray and entered Soviet airspace, first over Kamchatka.

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.

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.

"Kamensky: '...simply destroy [it] even if it is over neutral waters? Are the orders to destroy it over neutral waters? Oh, well.'"

Though Kamensky had ordered KAL 007 to be shot down while over international waters, he insisted that it first be verified as not civilian.

Kornukov insisted that there was no need.

"Kamensky: 'We must find out, maybe it is some civilian craft or God knows who."

"Kornukov: What civilian? [It] has flown over Kamchatka! It [came] from the ocean without identification. I am giving the order to attack if it crosses the State border.'"

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:

"Oh (obscenities) How long [does it take him] to go to attack position, he is already getting out into neutral waters. Engage after burner immediately. Bring in the MiG 23 as well. while you are wasting time, it will fly right out."

The aircraft was shot down by a Su-15 interceptor flown by pilot Major Gennady Osipovich.

The Korean airliner eventually crashed in the sea near Moneron Island west of Sakhalin in the Sea of Japan.

All 269 passengers and crew aboard were killed.

From 1985, he was assigned as the commander of the 71st Fighter Aviation Corps, stationed with the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany.

The corps consisted of two divisions and six separate air defense regiments.

In 1988, he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces named after K. E. Voroshilov.

From 1998 until 2002, he served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force.

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