Marshal of the Russian Federation
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Marshal of the Russian Federation (Russian: Маршал Российской Федерации, Marshal Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the highest military rank of Russia, created in 1991 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It ranks immediately above General of the Army and Admiral of the Fleet (also called Fleet Admiral in some English-language texts), and is considered the successor to the Soviet-era rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union.
Since Soviet and Russian rank systems lack full General but feature both Colonel General and General of the Army, the latter can be considered an equivalent to Field Marshal and U.S. General of the Army. This leaves the Marshal rank as a largely honorary one. The first and (as of November 2006) the only officer who held the rank was the former Minister of Defence Igor Sergeyev, who had been elevated from the General of the Army of the Military Space Troops.
The insignia for Marshal of the Russian Federation is similar to the one for the Marshal of the Soviet Union, with the Soviet crest replaced by the Russian one.
Some U.S. military sources claim there is a corresponding naval rank[citation needed], Admiral of the Fleet of the Russian Federation, but Russian regulations contradict this claim[citation needed]. This assumption is probably based on Soviet rank system, where a similar honorary rank did exist. The Russian navy uses both army and deck rank titles and any Russian Admiral of the Fleet/Fleet Admiral considered for further promotion would probably become a Marshal of the Russian Federation.
