MOSCOW, May 6 (AVN) - President-elect Vladimir Putin has appointed Lieutenant-General Viktor Aksyonov head of aviation and deputy commander of the Russian Air Force, a spokesman for the Air Force Staff told the Military News Agency on Saturday.
Aksyonov was born in the town of Belgorod-Dnestrovsky in the southern Ukrainian Odessa region on October 10, 1953. He graduated from the Stavropol Higher Aviation College of Air Defence Pilots and Navigators in 1975, the Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1987, and the General Staff Academy in 1997.
Prior to his current appointment, Aksyonov occupied various posts in the Air Force and Air Defence. He has mastered nine types of planes, spent about 3,000 hours in the air and earned the title of the Distinguished Pilot of Russia.
Aksyonov is married and has two children.