MEMORY ETERNAL! Major-General Alexander Valentinovich Kirilin

2023-07-01 MEMORY ETERNAL! Major-General Alexander Valentinovich Kirilin, Chairman of the Knights’ Council of the Imperial Military Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (1953-2025).

The Chancellery of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. The Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, is deeply saddened to note the death on June 30, 2025, of Major-General Alexander Valentinovich Kirilin, Actual State Councilor of the Russian Federation 2nd class; Assistant to the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation; Dean of the Faculty of History, Special Historical Disciplines, and Military Memorial Activities of the Russian State Social University (RSSU); Candidate (PhD) of Historical Sciences; member of the Imperial Orders of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, 1st Class, St. Anna 1st Class, St. Vladimir 2nd Class, the White Eagle, and St. Alexander Nevsky; Chairman of the Knights’ Council of the Imperial Military Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker; member of the Council of the Military Nobility of Russia; and member of the Knights’ Council of the Imperial Order of St. Vladimir. He was 72 years old.

Alexander Valentinovich Kirilin was born on July 4, 1953, in Moscow. He graduated from the Kiev Higher Technical Armor Institute (1974), the Frunze Military Academy (1982), and the Military Academy of the General Staff (1994). He held command and staff positions in the Moscow Military District, the Soviet Forces in Germany Command, and the Central Asian, Turkestan and Far Eastern Military Districts. He also served as the First Deputy Commander of the 5th Combined Forces Army of the Far Eastern Military District.

In 1998, he was appointed the Commander of the Military Memorial Center of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (from 2008, the Department of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for the Perpetuation of the Memory of Those who Gave Their Lives Defending the Fatherland). Beginning in 2012, he headed the Department of Affairs of the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation.

He was a member of the Central Council of the Russian Military Historical Society, of the Presidium of the International Skobelev Committee, a full member of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, a member of the Heraldic Council of the Patriarchal Awards Commission, of the Board of the Russian Society of Historians and Archivists, the Presidium of the Association of Historians of the Second World War, the Union of Journalists of the Russian Federation, and a number of other civic organizations. He was known to be one of the most authoritative Russian specialists in the field of military history and phaleristics. He was the recipient of many national, Church, institutional, regional, and foreign awards.

Major-General Kirilin was present at the very beginning of the revival of the Imperial Military Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in 2001. He headed its Knights’ Council from the moment of its establishment on December 20, 2001, to the present. He took an ongoing part in the activities of the Russian Imperial House of Romanoff, providing organizational support and advice on the reintegration of the Imperial Family into the public life of modern Russia, arranging official visits to Russia, and hosting and organizing scholarly, patriotic, and memorial events attended and supported by the Imperial House. For all the members of the Chancellery of the Imperial House, Major-General Kirilin was not only a colleague in their public and scholarly service to the dynasty, he was a true friend.

The Russian Imperial House recognized and valued enormously the service of Major-General Kirilin to the nation. In addition to the Imperial Orders of St. Nicholas 1st Class, St. Anna 1st Class, St. Vladimir 2nd Class, the White Eagle, and St. Alexander Nevsky, the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. The Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, had awarded Alexander Valentinovich Kirilin the Imperial Monogram 1st Class (in gold), the Imperial Portrait Award, the Imperial Hereditary Medals “Anniversary of the National Triumph, 1613-2013,” and “The 400th Anniversary of the House of Romanov Commemorative Medal,” as well as a number of other Imperial Medals.

Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, her son and heir, Tsesarevich and Grand Duke George of Russia, and his spouse, Princess Victoria Romanovna, extend their deepest condolences to his wife, Alla Victorovna, his sons, and to all his family, friends, and colleagues.

Grant, O Lord, eternal rest and salvation to the soul of Thy servant Alexander in Thy Kingdom. Memory Eternal!