Levon Mnatsakanyan (

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

:Լեւոն Մնացականյան; born 14 September 1965) is a politician, and a former Minister of Defence of Artsakh.

Biography

He was born in

Stepanakert / az, Xankəndi, italic=no , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = File:StepanakertCollage.jpg , imagesize = 300px , image_caption = From top left: Holy Mother ...

in 1965 to an Armenian family. Mnatsakanyan began his military service in 1983 when he moved to the

Belarusian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор� ...

to work in the

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 ...

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� ...

. In 1989, he graduated with honors from the Karl Marx Institute of Polytechnic. During the period after the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

fell apart when Armenia began to build up its military, Mnatsakanyan served in artillery units in the

Artsakh Defense Army The Artsakh Defence Army ( hy, Արցախի Հանրապետության պաշտպանության բանակ, Artsakhi Hanrapetut’yan pashtpanut’yan banak) is the defence force of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Est ...

and the

Armed Forces of Armenia The Armed Forces of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի զինված ուժեր, Hayastani zinvats uzher), sometimes referred to as the Armenian Army ( hy, Հայկական Բանակ, Haykakan Banak), is the national military of Armenia. It consist ...

. He graduated from the

Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia The Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (russian: Военная академия Генерального штаба Вооруженных Сил Российской Федерации) is the s ...

in 2005, which resulted in him returning to Artsakh later that year to become the deputy commander of the defense army. He was appointed by President

Bako Sahakyan Bako Sahaki Sahakyan ( hy, Բակո Սահակի Սահակյան; born 30 August 1960) is an Artsakhi politician who served as the third president of the ''de facto''-independent Republic of Artsakh from 2007 to 2020. He is the longest-serving p ...

in 2015 as defense minister, a position he served in for just over 3 years before he was replaced in December 2018. He was then appointed to the post of Director of the State Service of Emergency Situations. He was dismissed in June 2019 and was made Chief of Artskah Police. He is currently married and has three sons. He took part in the

Second Nagorno-Karabakh War The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories. It was a major escalation of an unresolved conflict over the region, involving Azerbai ...

in 2020. Near the end of the war, during the Battle of Shusha, Mnatsakanyan commanded the Armenian troops in nearby Shushakend.

Awards

* Two Orders of the Combat Cross * Order of St. Vardan Mamikonyan * Medals "For Services to the Fatherland" *

Medal of Marshal Baghramyan A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

* Medal of Andranik Ozanyan * Medal of Admiral Isakov

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mnatsakanyan, Levon 1965 births Living people Artsakh military personnel Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia alumni Defence ministers of the Republic of Artsakh Armenian military personnel of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war