Komarov, Vissarion Vissarionovich

Vissarion Komarov was born on October 14, 1838 . He was brought up in the 2nd Cadet Corps , after which in 1857 he was promoted to officer and assigned to serve in the Samogit Grenadier Regiment . In 1861 he graduated from the Imperial Military Academy and, upon being transferred to the General Staff, he was appointed to be a member of the military training department of the headquarters of military educational institutions. In 1863 - 1864, Komarov consistently consisted of special assignments under the Vilnius Governor-Generals MH Muravyov and KP Kaufman . In 1865, Komarov was entrusted with the High Command to compile a collection of information about the Polish rebellion of 1863 , for which he traveled all over the western region. In 1867, Komarov was appointed to serve for special assignments at the headquarters of the Moscow Military District , and in 1870 - the chief of staff of the 37th Infantry Division .

All this time, Komarov took an active part in the periodical press contemporary to him, regularly publishing on the pages of Russian Disabled , Military Collection , Voices and Moscow Gazette . In 1871, Komarov decided to completely surrender to journalistic activities and retired with the rank of colonel. Together with M. G. Chernyaev and R. A. Fadeev, he founded the Russkiy Mir newspaper in St. Petersburg , in which much attention was paid to military issues, and this newspaper became in clear opposition to the military reforms of D. A. Milyutin .

The Slavic movement in the Balkans in 1875 captured Komarov: he went to Serbia , joined the ranks of the Serbian army, with the outbreak of hostilities against Turkey in 1876, he took the post of chief of staff of the Serbian Timoko-Moravian army. For the victory over the Turks near Shumatovitsy, Komarov received the rank of general of the Serbian army, which he left only 7 days before the June battle, taking part in 23 battles of this campaign. During the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. Komarov was a member of the Russian army on the Danube , was at Plevna and in a campaign for the Balkans .

Returning to Russia, Komarov took over the editing of "St. Petersburg Gazette" (in 1877 - 1883 ). Under him, according to journalist V. O. Mikhnevich , the newspaper “had no talent, no thought, no physiognomy, no content, no readers” and was nicknamed “the old woman’s statements” ^[1] . At the same time, from January 1, 1882 , Komarov began to publish his inexpensive daily national newspaper, “Svet,” which he led until the end of his life. In 1886 - 1891, Vissarion Vissarionovich published the magazine "Star" , and in 1889 - 1891 - "Slavic News", in 1902-1906 he was also the publisher of the magazine "Russian Bulletin" . At the same time, Komarov bore the various responsibilities of a public figure in city and zemstvo self-government, and in 1901 he became one of the founders of the first Russian political club, the Russian Assembly .

Vissarion Vissarionovich Komarov died on December 22, 1907. As a patriot, a convinced monarchist, Komarov served a lot to unite the Slavs, strengthen their ties with Russia and enjoyed wide popularity both in Russia and in the foreign Slavic world.

Komarov had three brothers: Alexander , Dmitry and Konstantin .

• Komarovs // Military Encyclopedia : [in 18 vol.] / Ed. V.F. Novitsky [et al.]. - SPb. ; [ M. ]: Type. t-va I. D. Sytin , 1911-1915.
• Komarov V.V. // Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. Anthology of life and work