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Viktor Khrenin

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In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Gennadievich and the family name is Khrenin.
Lieutenant General
Viktor Khrenin
Khrenin in 2022
Minister of Defence
Incumbent
Assumed office
20 January 2020
PresidentAlexander Lukashenko
Prime MinisterSyarhey Rumas
Roman Golovchenko
Preceded byAndrei Ravkov
Commander of the Western Operational Command
In office
23 June 2015 – 20 January 2020
PresidentAlexander Lukashenko
Personal details
Born (1971-08-01) 1 August 1971 (age 53)
Navahrudak, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union
SpouseNatalia
Children1
Military service
Allegiance Soviet Union (to 1991)
 Belarus
Branch/service Belarusian Ground Forces
Years of service1988–present
RankLieutenant general[1]

Viktor Gennadievich Khrenin[a] (born 1 August 1971) is a Belarusian senior military officer and the current minister of defense since 2020.[2][3]

Life and career

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He was born on 1 August 1971 in Navahrudak, a town in the Grodno Region. His father, Gennady Khrenin, was a Soviet Army Colonel in Reserve from the Penza Oblast. He graduated in 1988 from the Minsk Suvorov Military School. After graduating from the Omsk-based Frunze Higher Combined Arms Command School in 1992, he served as a platoon commander and later a battalion commander in the 6th Guards Kiev-Berlin Mechanised Brigade. After graduating from the Military Academy of Belarus in 2005, Khrenin served as a senior officer in the operational department of the headquarters of the Western Operational Command. After leaving this post, he took a number of leadership positions that climaxed when he became the commander of the 11th Guards Berlin-Carpathian Mechanized Brigade. In 2014, he graduated from the faculty of the General Staff of the Belarusian Military Academy with honours and a gold medal. On 23 June 2015, by decree of President Alexander Lukashenko he was appointed to the post of commander of the troops of the Western Operational Command.

Defence minister

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Khrenin (far right) with Rajnath Singh and Nurlan Yermekbayev.

After 5 years in this role, he was appointed in January 2020, by President Lukashenko, to the post of the Defence Minister of Belarus, succeeding Lieutenant General Andrei Ravkov, who himself was made the State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus.[4] Upon his appointment, he underlined his consistency with military priorities while admitting that he "will have to study and learn a lot".[5]

On the 80th birthday of Anatoly Kostenko, Khrenin personally congratulated the former defence minister in the building of the military department.[6][7][8]

During the 2020 Belarusian protests, he compared those marching and protesting under the historical tricolor of the short-lived Belarusian People's Republic to Nazi collaborators during World War II, saying in a statement that "We cannot calmly watch how, under the flags under which the fascists organized the massacres of Belarusians, Russians, Jews, [and] representatives of other nationalities, actions are being organized today in these sacred places".[9] His statement was considered to be unusually politicized and emotionally charged even for an agency like the defense ministry.[10] Khrenin also declared to the military leadership that a military conflict may be unfolding that will require their assistance.[11]

Sanctions

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In June 2021, the EU put sanctions on Khrenin.[12] He was also sanctioned by the United Kingdom,[13] Switzerland,[14][15] Canada,[16] and the United States.[17]

On 25 March 2022, Khrenin was sanctioned by Australia due to having "played a role of significant strategic importance to Russia by allowing Russia to launch attacks from Belarus" in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[18] Also in 2022, he was blacklisted by Japan,[19] New Zealand[20] and Ukraine[21] on similar grounds.

Personal life

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  • Wife - Natalya Mikhailovna Khrenina, the head of the physiotherapy department of the 1134th Military Clinical Medical Center of the Armed Forces.[22]
  • Daughter - Marina, a lawyer and a graduate of the Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno.

Awards

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  • Order "For Service to the Motherland" III degree
  • Medal "For impeccable service" I degree (2018)[23]
  • Medal "For impeccable service" II degree
  • Medal "For impeccable service" III degree
  • Jubilee Medal "50 years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"
  • Jubilee Medal "60 years of the liberation of the Republic of Belarus from the Nazi invaders"
  • Jubilee Medal "60 years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"
  • Medal "65 years of the liberation of the Republic of Belarus from the Nazi invaders"
  • Jubilee Medal "65 years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"
  • Jubilee Medal "70 years of the liberation of the Republic of Belarus from the Nazi invaders"

Notes

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  1. ^ Belarusian: Віктар Генадзевіч Хрэнін, romanized: Viktar Hienadzievič Chrenin; Russian: Виктор Геннадьевич Хренин, romanized: Viktor Gennad'yevich Khrenin

References

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  1. ^ "Belarusian Minister of Defense was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General". Мн Сву. 3 November 2020. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  2. ^ "Lukashenka Reshuffles Top Military Leadership, Appoints New Defense Minister". www.rferl.org. Archived from the original on 2022-02-23. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
  3. ^ "New leadership of military-political bloc of our country appointed today". Белтелерадиокомпания. Archived from the original on 2022-02-23. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  4. ^ "Victor Khrenin — Military information portal of the Ministry of Defence of Republic of Belarus". www.mil.by. Archived from the original on 2022-02-23. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
  5. ^ "Belarus' new defense minister, chief of General Staff introduced to Defense Ministry team". January 21, 2020. Archived from the original on 2023-02-10.
  6. ^ "Анатолий Иванович, а помните?.. — Во славу родины". vsr.mil.by. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  7. ^ "Полвека в строю — Во славу родины". vsr.mil.by. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  8. ^ "Юбилей генерал-полковника Анатолия Костенко". Archived from the original on 2020-08-25. Retrieved 2020-09-07 – via www.youtube.com.
  9. ^ "Belarusian Defense Minister Misleadingly Associates National Flag with Nazi Collaborators". POLYGRAPH.info. 24 August 2020. Archived from the original on 25 August 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  10. ^ "Belarus protests: defense minister warns of army use, Lukashenko shows resolve in propaganda video". www.unian.info. Archived from the original on 2022-01-11. Retrieved 2021-06-02.
  11. ^ "Belarus' defence minister tells military elite: "It is necessary to fight. And if necessary with weapons" as Lukashenko's counteroffensive gathers momentum". www.intellinews.com. August 20, 2020. Archived from the original on September 1, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  12. ^ "EU slaps sanctions on Lukashenko family members, Belarus defense minister, businessmen". TASS. 21 June 2021. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  13. ^ "CONSOLIDATED LIST OF FINANCIAL SANCTIONS TARGETS IN THE UK" (PDF). Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation HM Treasury. 2021-06-25. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-06-26. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  14. ^ Shields, Michael; Liffey, Kevin (2021-07-07). Liffey, Kevin (ed.). "Swiss widen sanctions list against Belarus". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2021-07-07. Retrieved 2021-07-10.
  15. ^ "Sanctions program: Belarus: Verordnung vom 11. Dezember 2020 über Massnahmen gegenüber Belarus (SR 946.231.116.9), Anhang 1 Origin: EU Sanctions: Art. 2 Abs. 1 (Finanzsanktionen) und Art. 3 Abs. 1 (Ein- und Durchreiseverbot)" (PDF). Staatssekretariat für Wirtschaft. 2021-07-07. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-07-07. Retrieved 2021-07-10.
  16. ^ "Consolidated Canadian Autonomous Sanctions List". Global Affairs Canada. 2015-10-19. Archived from the original on 2021-05-17. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  17. ^ Office of Foreign Assets Control. "Notice of OFAC Sanctions Actions." published 2 March 2022. 87 FR 11810
  18. ^ "Australia places additional sanctions on Russia and Belarus". Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Media release). 25 March 2022. Archived from the original on 25 March 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  19. ^ "Japan to freeze assets of 4 more Russian banks to align with EU". Kyodo News. 3 March 2022. Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  20. ^ "Implementation of travel bans on individuals associated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine". Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (New Zealand). 7 March 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-04-15. Retrieved 2022-04-15.
  21. ^ "KHRENIN Viktor Gennadievich". National Agency for Prevention of Corruption. Archived from the original on 2024-03-22. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
  22. ^ "Врачи медицинского центра". 1134.by. Archived from the original on 2020-08-05. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  23. ^ "Указ Прэзідэнта Рэспублікі Беларусь ад 20 лютага 2018 года №75 «Аб узнагароджанні»" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-02-07. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
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