Stepan Sukhorenko

Stepan Nikolaevich Sukhorenko (also transliterated as Stsiapan Sukharenka; Belarusian: Сцяпа́н Мікала́евіч Сухарэ́нка; born 27 January 1957) is a Belarusian politician and security official. He previously served as Chairman of State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus (KGB) from 2005 to 2007 and as Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus to Armenia from 2008 to 2015.

Born in Zdudichi, Sukhorenko first worked as a foreman then deputy head of the workshop of the Minsk Plant of the Минскстройматериалы (Minsk Construction Materials). In 1984 he entered the KGB of the BSSR, continuing to work there until the fall of the Soviet Union when he joined the Belarusian KGB. In 2000 he became First Deputy Chairman of the KGB, before becoming chairman in 2005.

His time as chairman was heavily overshadowed by the 2006 Belarusian presidential election and subsequent Jeans Revolution. Over the course of calls for protests, he stated that the Belarusian opposition had trained militants in Georgia, and that they planned to do a false flag and take over in a coup. He became known for a conference in which he showed evidence of a Georgian militant, who said they were planning to poison the water supply with dead rats, which became a meme and famous. After being dismissed in 2007, he became the Ambassador to Armenia in 2008. His time there was marked by a response to Azerbaijan's and Armenia's worsening relations, where he attempted to be neutral. Since then, his activity has been unknown.