Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

Oleg Alexeyevich Belokonev ( Belarusian: Алег Аляксеевіч Белаконеў, Aleh Belakoneu,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: Олег Алексеевич Белоконев; born May 15, 1965) is a Belarusian general who was the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus from 2014 to 2019. He notably oversaw the Zapad 2017 exercise with

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

during his tenure as Chief of the General Staff.

Biography

Oleg Belokonev and Valery Gerasimov (2014)

He was born on May 15, 1965, in a rural village in the Primorsky Krai region of the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic. He is of Russian origin. He first began his service in the

Armed Forces of the USSR The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and th ...

in the early 1980s. He graduated with honors in 1987 from the Omsk Higher All-Arms Command School and was immediately sent to serve in the armed forces thereafter. Belokonev then began to rise to the position of platoon commander and eventually commander of a motorized rifle battalion. In 1999 Belokonev graduated with a gold medal from the

Military Academy of Belarus Military Academy of the Republic of Belarus ( be, Ваенная акадэмія Рэспублікі Беларусь, ) is higher military educational institution in the national education system of the Republic of Belarus and the leading insti ...

before going back into active duty service in the

Armed Forces of Belarus The Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus (, ) consist of the Ground Forces and the Air Force and Air Defence Forces, all under the command of the Republic of Belarus Ministry of Defence. Being a landlocked country, Belarus has no navy. In 20 ...

. In the early 2000s, Belokonev primarily served in the area of operations of the Grodno Military Commandant of the

Western Operational Command Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

. In August 2010, he was appointed commander of Belarusian Special Forces. Just 5 months later, on the eve of Armed Forces Day, Colonel Belokonev was promoted to the rank of Major General. On January 11, 2014, he was appointed by President

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лукашенко, Aleksandr Grigoryevich Luk ...

, to the position of Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, also concurrently serving as First Deputy

Minister of Defence of Belarus The Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Belarus (russian: Министерство обороны Республики Беларусь; be, Мiнiстэрства абароны Рэспублікі Беларусь) is the government organi ...

. He is a recipient of the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of Belarus" having been awarded the order in 2014. He was dismissed in December 2019. In 2019, Belokonev became member of the lower chamber of the Parliament of Belarus following a

rigged election Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

. As member of parliament, Belokonev is Chairperson of the Standing Commission on National Security.

Call for murdering Belarusian opposition

On 1 October 2021, at the funeral of a KGB officer killed during the raid of the home of programmer Andrei Zeltser, himself killed by the KGB during the incident, Belokonev publicly called for murdering members of the opposition to revenge hypothetical killings of state security officials:

Sanctions

In December 2022, Andreichenko was added to the Canadian sanctions list.

Personal life

Belokonev is married with two daughters.Official biography
on the website of the

House of Representatives (Belarus) The House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus (; ) is the lower house of the parliament of Belarus, while the upper house is the Council of the Republic. It was established after the Constitution of Belarus ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belokonev, Oleg 1965 births Living people People from Khasansky District Belarusian generals Soviet military personnel Immigrants to Belarus Chiefs of defence Members of the House of Representatives of Belarus