View source for Nikolay Solovtsov

{{Expand Russian|date=September 2019|topic=bio}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Nikolay Solovtsov
| competition   = 
| image         = Colonel General Nikolay Solovtsov official portrait.jpg
| birth_date    = {{birth date and age|1949|1|1|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Zaysan (town)|Zaysan]], [[East Kazakhstan Oblast]], [[Kazakh SSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| allegiance    = {{plainlist|
*[[Soviet Union]]
*Russia
}}
| branch        = [[Strategic Missile Forces]]
| serviceyears  = 1966–2009
| rank          = [[Colonel general]]
| commands      = {{plainlist|
*[[35th Rocket Division]]
*[[53rd Rocket Army]]
*Strategic Missile Forces
}}
}}
'''Nikolay Yevgenievich Solovtsov''' ({{Langx|ru|Николай Евгеньевич Соловцов}}; born 1 January 1949) is a retired [[Strategic Missile Forces|Russian Strategic Missile Forces]] [[colonel general]].

He joined the [[Soviet Armed Forces]] in 1966. He graduated from the Rostov Higher Military Command Engineering School named after the Chief Marshal of Artillery M. I. Nedelin (1966–1971), the Dzerzhinsky Military Academy (of the SRF)(1974–1977); The academic courses of the same academy (1984), and the [[Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia|Military Academy of the General Staff]] (1991, external). He was promoted to colonel general in 1995.

He commanded the [[35th Rocket Division]] (1984–89), the [[53rd Rocket Army]], and later became Commander, [[Strategic Rocket Forces]] (April 27, 2001 - July–August 2009). He was the first officer to occupy the post as Commander, rather than as [[Commander-in-Chief]], of the SRF. In early 2009 Solovtsov said that 96% of all Russian ICBMs were ready to be launched within a minute's notice.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

Solovtsov was dismissed in July–August 2009. Speculation over why Solovtsov was dismissed included opposition to further cuts in deployed nuclear ballistic missile warheads below the April 2009 figure of 1,500, the fact that he had reached the retirement age of 60, despite that he had recently been extended another year's service, or the failure of the [[Russian Navy]]'s [[RSM-56_Bulava|Bulava]] missile.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

==References==
<references/>
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:Soviet major generals]]
[[Category:Russian colonel generals]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solovtsov, Nikolay}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from East Kazakhstan Region]]