Nikolai Vasilyevich Ogarkov (Russian: Николай Васильевич Огарков; 30 October 1917 – 23 January 1994) was a prominent Soviet military personality.

He became widely known in the West when he became the Soviet military's spokesman following the shootdown of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 near Moneron Island in September 1983.

In July, he returned to his division, but three months later, in connection with its disbandment, Lieutenant Colonel Ogarkov was appointed assistant chief of staff of the Engineering Troops of the 27th Army of the Carpathian Military District.

There, after an excellent performance of a number of assignments, he attracted the attention of the commander of the district Rodion Malinovsky, who contributed to his successful career growth.

After graduating from the academy in 1959, Ogarkov commanded the 20th Guards Motor Rifle Division of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, at the East German city of Grimma from 1959 to 1961.

[9] Ogarkov was known as an active opponent of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, for which he had heated disputes with a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU and Minister of Defence Dmitry Ustinov.

As chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces, Ogarkov was not afraid to argue with Ustinov on a number of other issues such as military and weapons development.

[9] 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 was shot down over Moneron Island by the Soviet Air Force, after the airliner deviated from its original planned route and flew through Soviet prohibited airspace, killing all on board.

[10][11] Ogarkov was a strong advocate of reconstructing the huge, unwieldy Soviet military machine into a smaller, more compact strike force based around advanced technology.

Aside from Ogarkov's belief that fundamental changes needed to be made to the Soviet socioeconomic status quo, he also ran afoul of army officers who believed in a more traditional World War II style of warfare.

[12] Former secretary of the Security Council of Russia Andrey A. Kokoshin recalled that Ogarkov was among the pioneers of considering the issues of the modern revolution in military affairs.

Ogarkov was fired by the Politburo on 6 September 1984 in both his capacity of Chief of the General Staff and First Deputy Minister of Defense, and was replaced by Sergey Akhromeyev.

[1] The political analyst Ilya Zemtsov has argued that Ogarkov's removal was the result of Grigory Romanov's failed ambitions to succeed Konstantin Chernenko as General Secretary.

At the same time, from 1990 to August 1991, he headed the All-Union Council of Veterans of War, Labor, Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies.

Following the dissolution of Soviet Union, in January 1992, he was appointed advisor to the newly formed Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and at the same time, as an adviser to the Chief of the General Staff of the Joint Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Kokoshin noted that consultations with Ogarkov were very important for working out optimal decisions on the first state arms program of the Russian Federation.

[18] In establishing one of the animating ideas for his novel, Breakpoint, Richard Clarke includes a discussion of technological advantage in revolution in military affairs using the precedent of the end of the Cold War.