Pavel Pavlovich Kozlovsky ( be, Павел Паўлавіч Казлоўскі, russian: Павел Павлович Козловский), also translated as Paul Kozlowski, is a retired

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

ian military leader and

independent politician An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

. A

colonel-general Colonel general is a three- or four-star military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, and was a ra ...

in the Army of Belarus following the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

in December 1991, he was appointed the second

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...

after the

, serving from 1992 to 1994. In this role he was succeeded by

Anatoly Kostenko Lieutenant-General Anatoly Ivanovich Kostenko ( Belarusian: Анатоль Іванавіч Касценка; born on 27 January 1940) was the Minister of Defence of Belarus from 28 July 1994 – 6 June 1995. He was preceded by Paul Kozlowski and ...

. He unsuccessfully sought to challenge the incumbent

President of Belarus The president of the Republic of Belarus ( be, Прэзідэнт Рэспублікі Беларусь; russian: Президент Республики Беларусь) is the head of state and head of government of Belarus. The office was cre ...

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian language, Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian language, Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лука� ...

in a campaign for the presidency in 2001, but failed to gather the sufficient number of signatures to stand in the election.

Early career

He was born on 9 March 1942 in the village of Volkovnya into a peasant family. His father was a

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

soldier who was killed in 1945 during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After graduating high school in 1961, Kozlovsky entered the

Tashkent Higher All-Arms Command School The Tashkent Higher All-Arms Command School () was a military academy of the Ministry of Defense of Uzbekistan. It was previously known as the Tashkent Higher Combined Arms Command School named after Vladimir Lenin (). It was one of the oldest mi ...

, which he graduated in 1965. He served in the following positions: company commander, regimental chief of staff, regimental commander, an divisional commander. During his

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

service, he was stationed in the

Transcaucasian Military District The Transcaucasian Military District, a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces, traces its history to May 1921 and the incorporation of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia into the Soviet Union. It was disbanded by being redesignated as a Grou ...

, specifically serving in the

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

and the

Armenian SSR The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

. He later graduated from the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (russian: Военная академия имени М. В. Фрунзе), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (rus ...

and the General Staff Academy. In 1987, he was sent to the

Belarusian Military District , image = Soviet Union Belorussian Military District.svg , image_size = 300px , caption = The territory of the Byelorussian Military District in 1991. , dates = 28 November 1918 – 6 May 1992 , country = (1918–1920) (1920–1991) (1922� ...

, holding the position of deputy commander. In March 1989, he was appointed commander of the 28th Combined Arms Army, before returning in July 1991 to Minsk to serve as Chief of Staff of the Belarusian Military District. At this point, he received the ranks of

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

and

Lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

ahead of schedule. His last military rank in the

Soviet Armed Forces 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 ...

was

Lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Post-independence military service

On April 22, 1992, he was approved as the Minister of Defense of Belarus. During his tenure, he distinguished himself by firing officers from the army who were members of the Belarusian Military Association. Many consider him to be the founder of the modern Belarusian army, which previously inherited Soviet era technologies and traditions. On 8 September 1992, he presided over the first oath taking ceremony that held on Independence Square, held on the 478th anniversary of the Lithuanian-Polish victory at the

Battle of Orsha The Battle of Orsha ( be, Бітва пад Оршай, translit=Bitva pad Oršaj, lt, Oršos mūšis, pl, bitwa pod Orszą, uk, Битва під Оршею), was a battle fought on 8 September 1514, between the allied forces of the Grand Du ...

, which was established as a Day of Belarusian Military Glory. Under his control, disarmament of the army, causing Belarus to become the first nuclear-free state in the

post-Soviet space The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

. At the end of July 1994, after

came to power, Kozlovsky resigned along with the entire government of

Vyacheslav Kebich Vyacheslav Frantsevich Kebich ( be, Вячаслаў Францавіч Кебіч, Vjačaslaŭ Francavič Kjebič , russian: Вячесла́в Фра́нцевич Ке́бич; 10 June 1936 – 9 December 2020) was a Belarusian politician and ...

. On September 5 of the same year, by presidential decree, he was demoted to

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

for abuse of office (which was not established by the investigation).

Later life

Later, Kozlovsky began to focus on social and political activities, creating the International Fund for the Rehabilitation of the Health of Former Servicemen. From 1995–2001, he was a member of the

United Civil Party The United Civic Party (UCP; be, Аб'яднаная грамадзянская партыя; АГП, Abjadnanaja hramadzianskaja partyja; AHP; russian: Объединённая гражданская партия; ОГП, Obyedinonnaya grazhdans ...

, now he is

non-partisan Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party. While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers sp ...

. He often criticizes the military policy of the

Belarusian government The Government of the Republic of Belarus ( be, Урад Рэспублікі Беларусь), which consists of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus (), is the executive branch of state power in Belarus, and is appointed by the ...

, often saying that the "prestige of the army within our society has dropped". He tried to register his candidacy for the 2001 presidential election, but only collected 85,000 signatures out of 100,000 required. He then supported the candidacy of

Vladimir Goncharik Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukra ...

. In the 2010 elections, he was a confidant of presidential candidate

Andrei Sannikov Andrei Olegovich Sannikov (or Andrei Sannikau, be, Андрэй Алегавіч Саннікаў, russian: Андрей Олегович Санников, born 8 March 1954) is a Belarusian politician and activist. In the early 1990s, he headed ...

. In 2020, he criticized the government for holding the

2020 Minsk Victory Day Parade The annual Victory Day Parade ( be, Парад Перамогі; russian: Парад Победы) on Victors Avenue in Minsk (the capital of Belarus) is a traditional military parade of the Armed Forces of Belarus that takes place every 5 years ...

Victors Avenue Victors Avenue ( be, Праспект Пераможцаў, russian: Проспект Победителей) is a public avenue in Minsk, Belarus. History Until 1980, it was called the Park Highway. For a long time, the northwest center of Mins ...

in the middle of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Belarus The COVID-19 pandemic in Belarus is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have spread to Belarus, when the first case ...

, saying in an interview to

Radio Svaboda Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

that "There would have been no coronavirus parade during my time as minister" as well as "This action (parade) can be easily postponed to July 3 - to unite

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

and

victory The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal Duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitu ...

Family

His wife Natalya Grigorievna is an economist. They have three children: Elena, Andrey, and Pavel. He also has four grandchildren. He was the youngest of five children, with his brothers and sisters currently working in

. His mother died in 1977.

External links

''"Kto est kto v respublike Belarus"''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kozlovsky, Pavel 1942 births Living people Belarusian generals Belarusian politicians Government ministers of Belarus People from Pruzhany District Soviet lieutenant generals Frunze Military Academy alumni Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union alumni Recipients of the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", 3rd class Tashkent Higher All-Arms Command School alumni