Alexander Volfovich Explained

Honorific-Prefix:Lieutenant General
Alexander Volfovich
Office:State Secretary of Security Council of Belarus
President:Alexander Lukashenko
Minister:Viktor Khrenin
Term Start:26 January 2021
Predecessor:Valery Vakulchik
Office1:Chief of the General Staff
President1:Alexander Lukashenko
Term Start1:20 January 2020
Term End1:26 January 2021
Predecessor1:Oleg Belokonev
Successor1:Viktor Gulevich
Birth Date:28 June 1967
Birth Place:Kazan, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Allegiance: (1984–1991)
Belarus (1992–present)
Branch:Soviet Ground Forces
Armed Forces of Belarus
Rank:Lieutenant General
Serviceyears:1984 - Present[1]

Alexander Grigoryevich Volfovich (transcribed from Belarusian: Aliaksandr Ryhoravich Valfovich) (Belarusian: Аляксандр Рыгоравіч Вальфовіч ) is a Belarusian general who is the current Secretary of the State Security Council of the Republic of Belarus. He is also a former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus.[2]

Early life

Alexander Grigorievich Volfovich was born on June 28, 1967, in Kazan into the family of Tatyana Yakovlevna and Grigory Aleksandrovich Volfovich, a retired Soviet Army lieutenant colonel, who hailed from Balta (Odesa Oblast of Ukraine) but lived for a long time in Slutsk. The family lived at Soviet bases in Lankaran (Azerbaijan) and in East Germany, before settling in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic in the early 1980s. In 1984, he graduated from secondary school No.7 in the city of Borisov.[3]

Early career

In 1988, he graduated from the Moscow Higher Military Command School. It was here where he studied with the former Minister of Defense Andrei Ravkov. Over the next 5 years, he served in battalion and regimental level positions in the Soviet Army and the newly formed Armed Forces of Belarus. In 1993, he became the chief of staff of a motorised rifle battalion at the 72nd Guards Joint Training Centre. After graduating from the Command and Staff Department of the Military Academy of Belarus in 1998, he resumed his work in the training centre.

In 2002, Alexander Volfovich took up the post of chief of staff at the 361th Security and Maintenance Base. Between 2005 and 2008, he served in the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff. He studied in Russia for a year in 2008 at their General Staff Military Academy. Upon his return, he became the commander of the 120th Guards Mechanised Brigade of the North Western Operational Command, and later the commander of this command.

High positions within the army

While in his position, he was promoted to his current rank in June 2012.[4] In 2018, by decree of President Alexander Lukashenko, he was appointed to the post of the First Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Belarusian Armed Forces. He served in this position for just two years before being appointed by presidential decree in January 2020 as Chief of the General Staff, First Deputy Minister of Defence of Belarus.[5] [6] [7] [8] He became the Secretary of the Security Council on 26 January 2021.[9] [10] He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant general a month later.[11]

Sanctions

He was put under sanctions by Lithuania over his role in suppressing the 2020 Belarusian protests.[12] In 2022, Volfovich was included in the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List of the US[13] and in the sanctions lists of the European Union,[14] the United Kingdom,[15] New Zealand,[16] Japan,[17] [18] Switzerland, Canada, Australia and Ukraine.[19] [20]

Personal life

His son Maxim (born 1990) is an officer in the Belarusian Armed Forces.[21] Until recently, Maxim commanded a mechanized battalion at the 6th Guards Kiev-Berlin Mechanised Brigade, which is stationed in Grodno. His brother Dmitry Volfovich is a military commissar in Vitebsk, being a veteran of the First Chechen War as part of the Russian Federal Counterintelligence Service. During the war he was captured by forces of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, being released in December 1994.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Выпускник борисовской школы может стать начальником генштаба ВС РБ . EX-PRESS.BY . 14 February 2020 . ru . 7 October 2019 . 24 February 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220224160853/https://ex-press.by/rubrics/novosti-borisova/2019/10/07/vypusknik-borisovskoj-shkoly-mozhet-stat-nachalnikom-genshtaba-vs-rb . dead .
  2. Web site: Archived copy . 2020-02-04 . 2020-02-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200204055954/https://m.eng.belta.by/society/view/belarus-new-defense-minister-chief-of-general-staff-introduced-to-defense-ministry-team-127444-2020/ . dead .
  3. Web site: Кто такой Александр Вольфович, новый госсекретарь Совета безопасности?. 2021-04-02. Наша Ніва. ru.
  4. Web site: Лукашенко раздал генеральские звания / Белорусские новости, 22 июня 2012.
  5. Web site: Alexander Volfovich — Military information portal of the Ministry of Defence of Republic of Belarus . www.mil.by . 14 February 2020 . 23 February 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220223120924/https://www.mil.by/en/forces/squad/persons/199/ . dead .
  6. Web site: Им гордится коллектив / Минобороны РБ . 2020-02-04 . 2022-01-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220125183102/https://www.mil.by/ru/news/88404/ . dead .
  7. Web site: Lukashenka Reshuffles Top Military Leadership, Appoints New Defense Minister . www.rferl.org . 14 February 2020.
  8. Web site: New leadership of military-political bloc of our country appointed today.
  9. Web site: Новым госсеком Совбеза Белоруссии назначен Александр Вольфович.
  10. Web site: Кто такой Александр Вольфович, новый госсекретарь Совета безопасности?.
  11. Web site: Логовик. Виктория. 2021-03-04. Вольфовичу присвоено звание генерал-лейтенанта. 2021-03-06. «Минск-Новости». ru. 2022-02-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20220223142606/https://minsknews.by/volfovichu-prisvoeno-zvanie-general-lejtenanta/. dead.
  12. Web site: XIII-3303 Резолюция о санкциях в отношении белорусских должностных лиц, ответственных или принимавших участ.... 2021-05-26. e-seimas.lrs.lt.
  13. Web site: U.S. Treasury Targets Belarusian Support for Russian Invasion of Ukraine . 2022-04-20 . . 2022-02-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220225202247/https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0607 . live .
  14. Web site: L_2022052EN.01000101.xml. EUR-Lex. 2023-01-02.
  15. Web site: Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets in the UK. Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation HM Treasury. 2022-05-04. 2022-04-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20220428211557/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1071300/Russia.pdf. live.
  16. Web site: Implementation of travel bans on individuals associated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (New Zealand). 7 March 2022. 2022-04-15. 2022-04-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20220415175934/https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/media-and-resources/implementation-of-travel-bans-on-individuals-associated-with-the-russian-invasion-of-ukraine/. live.
  17. Web site: Japan imposes additional sanctions on Russia, Belarus and the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics . 2022-05-04 . 2022-04-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220422032249/https://sanctionsnews.bakermckenzie.com/japan-imposes-additional-sanctions-on-russia-belarus-and-the-so-called-donetsk-and-luhansk-peoples-republics/ . live .
  18. Web site: ja . 資産凍結等の措置の対象となるベラルーシ共和国の個人及び団体 . 2022-05-04 . 2022-03-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220306073046/https://www.mof.go.jp/policy/international_policy/gaitame_kawase/gaitame/economic_sanctions/ukraine_list_belarus_20220303.pdf . live .
  19. Web site: VOLFOVICH / VOLFOVYCH Aleksandr Grigorievich. National Agency on Corruption Prevention.
  20. Web site: CONSOLIDATED LIST OF FINANCIAL SANCTIONS TARGETS IN THE UK . 16 April 2023.
  21. Web site: Им гордится коллектив — Военный информационный портал Министерства обороны Республики Беларусь. 2021-04-02. www.mil.by. 2022-01-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20220125183102/https://www.mil.by/ru/news/88404/. dead.