(Also spelled Rohlin) born in Aralsk, Kazakhstan, he was one of the few Jews to reach the top of the Russian military. In 1970 he completed theTashkent Higher All-Service Command School. He quickly rose through the ranks during and after the Soviet war in Afghanistan. In 1993, he became the head of Russia's 8th Guard Corps from Volgograd.

During the First Chechen War, Rokhlin was credited with reorganizing the Russian forces in Chechnya and finally taking the Chechen capital of Grozny in 1995. Frustrated with the bloodshed, he left the army a few weeks later. He then refused to accept the Hero of the Russian Federation medal for leading the Grozny offensive, saying he saw "nothing glorious" in the war against the citiziens of Chechnya.

He was later elected chairman of state Duma Defense Committee (1995-1998); Rokhlin then founded "Support the Army" movement (1997).

He was shot dead in his bed at his dacha outside Moscow by his wife Tamara, when she learned about his clandestine homosexual activities.