Levon Mnatsakanyan (Armenian: Լեւոն Մնացականյան; born 14 September 1965[1]) is a politician, and a former Minister of Defence of Artsakh.
Levon Mnatsakanyan | |
|---|---|
| Լեւոն Մնացականյան | |
| Minister of Defence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic | |
| In office 15 June 2015 – 14 December 2018 | |
| President | Bako Sahakyan |
| Preceded by | Movses Hakobyan |
| Succeeded by | Karen Abrahamyan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 14 September 1965 Stepanakert, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union |
| Children | 3 |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Soviet Union Armenia Artsakh |
| Branch/service |  Artsakh Defense Army |
| Years of service | 1983—85 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Battles/wars | First Nagorno-Karabakh War Second Nagorno-Karabakh War |
On September 29, 2023, Azerbaijan detained Levon Mnatsakanyan from the territory of Artsakh, and since that moment he has been held in Baku as a captivity.[2]
Biography
editHe was born in Stepanakert in 1965 to an Armenian family. Mnatsakanyan began his military service in 1983 when he moved to the Belarusian SSR to work in the Soviet Army's Belarusian Military District. In 1989, he graduated with honors from the Karl Marx Institute of Polytechnic. During the period after the Soviet Union fell apart when Armenia began to build up its military, Mnatsakanyan served in artillery units in the Artsakh Defense Army and the Armed Forces of Armenia. He graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia 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 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.[3] He was dismissed in June 2019 and was made Chief of Artskah Police.[4][5] He is currently married and has three sons.[6][7]
He took part in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020. Near the end of the war, during the Battle of Shusha, Mnatsakanyan commanded the Armenian troops in nearby Shosh.[8]
Mnatsakanyan was detained by Azerbaijani police on 29 September 2023 while attempting to cross the border into the Armenian city of Goris.[9]
Awards
edit- Two Orders of the Combat Cross
- Order of St. Vardan Mamikonyan
- Medals "For Services to the Fatherland"
- Medal of Marshal Baghramyan
- Medal of Andranik Ozanyan
- Medal of Admiral Isakov
References
edit- ^ "Date and Place of Birth September 14, 1965 c.Stepanakert".
- ^ "Azerbaijan Security Forces Arrest Former Artsakh Defense Minister". hetq. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
- ^ "Levon Mnatsakanyan appointed head of Artsakh state service on emergency situations". news.am. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
- ^ "Levon Mnatsakanyan is appointed Chief of Artsakh Police". mediamax.am. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
- ^ "Levon Mnatsakanyan appointed Police Chief of Artsakh". ՌԱԿ ՄԱՄՈՒԼ. 2019-06-11. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
- ^ "Министром обороны Нагорного Карабаха назначен Левон Мнацаканян". Радио Свобода (in Russian). Retrieved 2017-07-20.
- ^ "Karen Abrahamyan is new Artsakh Defense Minister". mediamax.am. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
- ^ "Артур Ванецян опроверг заявления Аргишти Кярамяна" [Artur Vanetsyan denied Argishti Kyaramyan's statements]. ArmenianReport (in Russian). Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
- ^ "Азербайджанские силовики задержали экс-командующего армией Карабаха Мнацаканяна". Коммерсантъ (in Russian). 2023-09-29. Retrieved 2023-09-29.