Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev was a Russian general of the infantry and a hereditary nobleman from the Arkhangelsk Governorate.
During the Patriotic War of 1812, Vladimir Obruchev served as an adjutant to Major General Ivan Ivanovich Dibich-Zabalkansky (Hans Karl von Diebitsch). For his military achievements, he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir with a bow. In 1828, while serving as a general in the Second Army, Vladimir Obruchev participated in the Russo-Turkish War. After the war, he was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 1st class. In 1831, for his achievements during the November Uprising, he was promoted to lieutenant general. For his participation in the Battle of Warsaw, he received the Order of St. George, 3rd class.
In 1832, Vladimir Obruchev became the commander of the first infantry division and the following year, the third Grenadier division. In 1842, he was appointed as the commander of the Orenburg corps, the military governor of Orenburg, and manager of civilian affairs.
Vladimir Obruchev arrived in Orenburg on July 3, 1842. There, he made several expeditions. In 1846, he traveled to the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea. In 1847, he ventured deep into the steppes to the Syr Darya River where he established Fort Raim.
On June 4, 1844, at the initiative of Vladimir Obruchev, the Neplyuev Military School in Orenburg was renamed the Cadet Corps. The number of students increased from 80 to 200, with 30 for each Cossack Army and the same number for the Kyrgyz. Cossack students were supported by army funds and the Kyrgyz ones were financed by a special tax. In this status, the Neplyuev Cadet Corps existed until the general transformation of similar institutions into military gymnasiums in the 1860s, when all classes were allowed to attend such schools.
In 1844, the military governor applied for permission to build a church in the village of Velikopetrovskaya.
Under Vladimir Obruchev, the Women’s School for the Daughters of Poor Officials was transformed into the Nikolayevsky Women’s Institute, with a six-year curriculum.
Vladimir Obruchev died in 1866. His name was given to the first steam vessel to appear in the Aral Sea, one of the islands there, and the village of the Second Military Department of the Orenburg Cossack Army.
