Levon Mnatsakanyan Explained

Office:Minister of Defence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic
Term Start:15 June 2015
Term End:14 December 2018
Predecessor:Movses Hakobyan
Successor:Karen Abrahamyan
President:Bako Sahakyan
Birth Date:1965 9, df=yes
Birth Place:Stepanakert, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union
Children:3
Allegiance:
Armenia
Branch: Artsakh Defense Army
Serviceyears:1983—85
Rank:Lieutenant General
Battles:First Nagorno-Karabakh War
Second Nagorno-Karabakh War

Levon Mnatsakanyan (Armenian: Լեւոն Մնացականյան; born 14 September 1965[1]) is a politician, and a former Minister of Defence of Artsakh.

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

He 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

References

  1. Web site: Date and Place of Birth September 14, 1965 c.Stepanakert.
  2. Web site: Azerbaijan Security Forces Arrest Former Artsakh Defense Minister . hetq . 2024-07-26.
  3. Web site: Levon Mnatsakanyan appointed head of Artsakh state service on emergency situations. 2020-08-31. news.am. en.
  4. Web site: Levon Mnatsakanyan is appointed Chief of Artsakh Police. 2020-08-31. mediamax.am. en.
  5. Web site: 2019-06-11. Levon Mnatsakanyan appointed Police Chief of Artsakh. 2020-08-31. ՌԱԿ ՄԱՄՈՒԼ. en-US.
  6. News: Министром обороны Нагорного Карабаха назначен Левон Мнацаканян. Радио Свобода. 2017-07-20. ru.
  7. Web site: Karen Abrahamyan is new Artsakh Defense Minister. 2020-08-31. mediamax.am. en.
  8. Web site: Артур Ванецян опроверг заявления Аргишти Кярамяна . Artur Vanetsyan denied Argishti Kyaramyan's statements . https://archive.today/20210120050039/https://armenianreport.com/ru/pubs/270494/ . 20 January 2021 . 21 January 2021 . ArmenianReport . ru . live .
  9. Web site: 2023-09-29 . Азербайджанские силовики задержали экс-командующего армией Карабаха Мнацаканяна . 2023-09-29 . Коммерсантъ . ru.