This article presents the heads of the military departments of the Russian Provisional Government (Russian Republic), the Russian SFSR, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation.
| Ministers of War and Navy of the Russian Provisional Government [1] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portrait | Name | Time in office | Prime Minister | |
| | Alexander Guchkov | 16 March 1917 | 13 May 1917 | Georgy Lvov |
| | Alexander Kerensky | 18 May 1917 | 14 September 1917 | |
| Alexander Kerensky | ||||
| | Colonel → Major general Alexander Verkhovsky | 14 September 1917 | 7 November 1917 | |
| Minister of the Navy of the Russian Provisional Government [1] | ||||
| | Counter admiral Dmitry Verderevsky | 14 September 1917 | 7 November 1917 | Alexander Kerensky |
| Portrait | Name | Time in office | Prime Minister | Head of state | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minister of War and Navy of the Provisional All-Russian Government | |||||
| | Vice admiral Alexander Kolchak | 4 November 1918 | 18 November 1918 | Pyotr Vologodsky | Nikolai Avksentiev |
| Ministers of War of the Russian State | |||||
| Lieutenant general Nikolai Stepanov | 18 November 1918 | 23 May 1919 | Pyotr Vologodsky | Alexander Kolchak |
| | Major general Dmitry Lebedev | 23 May 1919 | 10 August 1919 | ||
| | Lieutenant general Mikhail Diterikhs | 10 August 1919 | 27 August 1919 | ||
| | Lieutenant general Alexei von Budberg | 27 August 1919 | 5 October 1919 | ||
| | General of the Artillery Mikhail Khanzhin | 5 October 1919 | 4 January 1920 | ||
| Viktor Pepelyayev | |||||
| Minister of the Navy of the Russian State | |||||
| | Captain 1st rank → Counter admiral Mikhail Smirnov | 18 November 1918 | 4 January 1920 | Pyotr Vologodsky Viktor Pepelyayev | Alexander Kolchak |
| People's Commissars for Military and Naval Affairs of the RSFSR | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Portrait | Name | Time in office | |
| | Nikolai Podvoisky | 23 November 1917 | 13 March 1918 |
| | Leon Trotsky | 13 March 1918 | 12 November 1923 |
| Portrait | Name | Time in office | |
|---|---|---|---|
| People's Commissars for Military and Naval Affairs of the USSR [2] | |||
| | Leon Trotsky | 12 November 1923 | 26 January 1925 |
| | Mikhail Frunze | 26 January 1925 | 31 October 1925 |
| | Kliment Voroshilov | 6 November 1925 | 20 June 1934 |
| People's Commissars of Defense of the USSR [3] | |||
| | Marshal of the Soviet Union Kliment Voroshilov | 20 June 1934 | 7 May 1940 |
| | Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Timoshenko | 7 May 1940 | 19 July 1941 |
| | Marshal of the Soviet Union → Generalissimo Joseph Stalin | 19 July 1941 | 25 February 1946 |
| People's Commissars of the Navy of the USSR | |||
| | Army Commissar of 1st rank Pyotr Smirnov | 30 December 1937 | 30 June 1938 |
| | Komandarm 1st rank Mikhail Frinovsky | 8 September 1938 | 20 March 1939 |
| | Admiral → Admiral of the fleet Nikolai Kuznetsov | 28 April 1939 | 25 February 1946 |
| People's Commissar of the Armed Forces of the USSR | |||
| | Generalissimo Joseph Stalin | 25 February 1946 | 15 March 1946 |
| Ministers of the Armed Forces of the USSR | |||
| | Generalissimo Joseph Stalin | 15 March 1946 | 3 March 1947 |
| | Marshal of the Soviet Union Nikolay Bulganin | 3 March 1947 | 24 March 1949 |
| | Marshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Vasilevsky | 24 March 1949 | 25 February 1950 |
| Minister of War of the USSR | |||
| | Marshal of the Soviet Union Alexander Vasilevsky | 25 February 1950 | 15 March 1953 |
| Ministers of Navy of the USSR | |||
| | Admiral Ivan Yumashev | 25 February 1950 | 20 July 1951 |
| | Vice admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov | 20 July 1951 | 15 March 1953 |
| Ministers of Defense of the USSR | |||
| | Marshal of the Soviet Union Nikolay Bulganin | 15 March 1953 | 9 February 1955 |
| | Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov | 9 February 1955 | 26 October 1957 |
| | Marshal of the Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky | 26 October 1957 | 31 March 1967 |
| | Marshal of the Soviet Union Andrey Grechko | 12 April 1967 | 26 April 1976 |
| | Army general → Marshal of the Soviet Union Dmitry Ustinov | 29 April 1976 | 20 December 1984 |
| | Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergey Sokolov | 22 December 1984 | 30 May 1987 |
| | Army general → Marshal of the Soviet Union Dmitry Yazov | 30 May 1987 | 29 August 1991 |
| | Marshal of Aviation Yevgeny Shaposhnikov [4] | 29 August 1991 | 14 February 1992 |
| Portrait | Name | Time in office | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minister of Defense of the Russian SFSR | |||
| Colonel general → Army general Konstantin Kobets | 20 August 1991 | 9 September 1991 |
| Ministers of Defense of Russia [5] | |||
| | Boris Yeltsin (acting) | 16 March 1992 | 18 May 1992 |
| | Army general Pavel Grachev | 18 May 1992 | 18 June 1996 |
| | Army general Mikhail Kolesnikov (acting) | 18 June 1996 | 17 July 1996 |
| | Colonel general → Army general Igor Rodionov | 17 July 1996 | 23 May 1997 |
| | Army general → Marshal of the Russian Federation Igor Sergeyev | 23 May 1997 | 28 March 2001 |
| | Colonel general Sergei Ivanov | 28 March 2001 | 15 February 2007 |
| | Anatoly Serdyukov | 15 February 2007 | 6 November 2012 |
| | Army general Sergei Shoigu | 6 November 2012 | 12 May 2024 |
| | Andrey Belousov | 14 May 2024 | incumbent |