Alexei Sorokin

Alexei Ivanovich Sorokin (Russian Алексе́й Ива́нович Соро́кин) born 1922 is a retired Soviet Admiral of the Fleet and former member of the Council of Peoples Deputies.

Sorokin was born one of five children. His father a veteran invalid of the Russian Civil War died in 1933 and his brother Seraphim was killed in the battle for Moscow in 1941. Sorokin joined the Red Army in 1941 and served as a mortar operator. He was promoted to lieutenant, commanding a mortar battery and fought during the liberation of Belarussian and with the Baltic Front.

After the war Sorokin served as a political officer and studied at the Lenin Political Military Academy between 1948 and 1952. After graduating Sorokin was posted to the Navy and served as a political officer on the Destroyers Redkiy and Vdumchevy of the Soviet Pacific Fleet. In 1954 he became political officer aboard the cruiser Kalinin. In 1956 he became political officer of the Pacific fleet destroyer squadron and in 1959 he became base political officer at Sovetskaya Gavan

Sorokin became chief political officer of the Northern Fleet in 1974 and was promoted to vice admiral n 1975. He became chief political officer of the Soviet Navy in 1980 and deputy chief political officer of the Soviet armed forces in 1981. He was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet in 1988 and retred in 1992

Sorokin served as a Peoples Deputy in the Soviet Parliament in 1989-91. In retirement he lives in Moscow and is president of the International Union of CIS War Veterans (Pensioners) Associations.

Honours and awards

 * Order of Lenin
 * Order of October Revolution
 * Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class, twice, and 2nd class
 * Order of the Red Banner of Labour
 * Order of the Red Star, twice
 * Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR, 3rd class
 * Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary since the Birth of Vladimir Il'ich Lenin"
 * Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"