He was born April 21, 1949, in
Moscow. A son of an officer, his father, (1922–1985), retired with the rank of Colonel General from the post of First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the
Soviet Armed Forces. His mother, poetess Elena Dmitrievna Nikolayeva (née Elena Derenikovna Apresyan). In 1966, he entered the faculty of semiconductor and vacuum tube engineering of the
Moscow Institute of Electronics and Mathematics, but after the first year he decided to become an officer. He was conscripted to the
Soviet Armed Forces in 1967. Graduated from the
Moscow RSFSR Supreme Soviet Higher Military Command School (1971), the
Frunze Military Academy (1976), the (1978), and the
Voroshilov Military Academy of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces (1988). Until 1972, he served as a motorized rifle platoon commander in the
Moscow Military District. From 1972 - motorized rifle company commander, from 1976 - motorized rifle battalion commander in the
Southern Group of Forces in the
Hungarian People's Republic. Since 1977 he served as chief of staff of a motorized rifle regiment, since 1980 he served as commander of a motorized rifle regiment, since 1982 he served as chief of staff of a training motorized rifle division, since 1984 he served as commander of a training motorized rifle division in the
Urals Military District. Since 1988 as chief of staff and deputy commander of the 6th combined arms army in the
Leningrad Military District. Since July 1991 he served as commander of the
1st Guards Army in the
Kiev Military District. He had a remarkably successful military career, receiving three military ranks ("captain", "lieutenant colonel", "colonel") ahead of schedule, which is an extremely rare occurrence in the officer corps. Since February 1992 he served as commander of the 11th Guards Army in the (former
Baltic Military District). From June 1992 he served as First Deputy Chief of the
Main Operations Directorate of the
General Staff of the
Russian Armed Forces. From December 23, 1992, he served as First Deputy
Chief of the
General Staff of the
Russian Armed Forces. In July 1993, after the of Russian border guards at the 12th outpost on the
Tajik-Afghan border, Russian President Boris Yeltsin dismissed the leadership of the Russian Border Troops. Colonel General Nikolayev was soon appointed Commander of the and Deputy . In December 1993, his position was renamed, and he became Commander-in-Chief of the . In December 1994, the Federal Border Service of the Russian Federation was created, and Nikolayev was then appointed its first director. He enjoyed high authority in the troops and in society. The
military rank of
General of the Army was awarded by the
decree of the
president of Russia dated November 17, 1995. In 1994–1997, he was simultaneously a member of the
Security Council of Russia. In December 1997, another conflict arose between Russia and
Georgia over the location of the checkpoint of the
Russian border outpost "Verkhniy Lars". By order of Nikolayev, the checkpoint of this outpost was moved closer to the Georgian checkpoint to prevent the smuggling of vodka from Georgia (after passing the Georgian checkpoint, cars with smuggled
vodka turned off the highway and went deep into Russian territory along country roads). The relocation of the Russian checkpoint cut off this route for them. Immediately, powerful pressure arose on the Russian leadership from the leadership of Georgia and
South Ossetia with the demand to return the Russian checkpoint to its previous location. Russian president Yeltsin demanded that the checkpoint be returned to its previous location. Nikolayev refused to carry out this order, went to the scene of the conflict, where he proved the error of such a decision in front of journalists from a number of
TV channels. He was criticized by president Yeltsin ("Nikolayev! How is that possible, General?"). As a result, in the same December 1997, he submitted a report on his resignation from the post of Director of the Federal Border Service of the Russian Federation, which was granted. In June 1998, he was discharged from military service. The checkpoint was returned to its previous location, and with the beginning of
military operations in the Chechen Republic in 1999, it was quietly returned to where it should be, according to the opinion of Nikolayev. While in reserve, he became actively involved in
politics. In April 1998, he won the by-election to the
2nd State Duma in the
Orekhovo-Borisovsky electoral district of Moscow. One of the founders of the movement in 1998, chairman of this movement. In August 1998, together with this movement, he joined the
People's Patriotic Union of Russia. In the
1999 parliamentary election to the
3rd State Duma, he was again elected as a deputy from the Orekhovo-Borisovsky single-mandate electoral district of Moscow from the electoral bloc "Bloc of General Andrei Nikolayev, Academician Svyatoslav Fyodorov". In the State Duma of the third convocation, he was a member of the "People's Deputy" group, chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee. In the December 2003 parliamentary election he ran for the State Duma of the fourth convocation but was not elected. In April 2004, he was appointed assistant to the
prime minister of Russia Mikhail Fradkov on military-technical cooperation issues, and worked in this position until September 2007 (he was relieved of his duties due to the termination of Mikhail Fradkov's tenure. In January 2005, he was awarded the qualification rank of
2nc class Active State Councillor of the Russian Federation. Since October 23, 2008 he served as Advisor to the General Director of JSC Concern
RTI Systems. He lives in Moscow, married and has two sons. He is the author of a series of journalistic books and memoirs, over 200 publications. Vice-president of the Military Leaders' Club, Honorary Member of the
Academy of Military Sciences. ==Awards==