Pavel Pavlovich Kozlovsky (, ), also translated as Paul Kozlowski, is a retired

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian military leader and

independent politician An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or Bureaucracy, bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicia ...

. A

colonel-general Colonel general is a military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, and was a rank above full , but be ...

in the Army of Belarus following the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

in December 1991, he was appointed the second

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

after the

, serving from 1992 to 1994. In this role he was succeeded by

Anatoly Kostenko Lieutenant-General Anatoly Ivanovich Kostenko ( Belarusian: Анатоль Іванавіч Касценка; born on 27 January 1940) was the Minister of Defence of Belarus from 28 July 1994 – 6 June 1995. He was preceded by Paul Kozlowski a ...

. He unsuccessfully sought to challenge the incumbent

President of Belarus The president of the Republic of Belarus is the head of state of Belarus. The office was created in 1994 with the passing of the Constitution of Belarus by the Supreme Council of Belarus, Supreme Council. This replaced the office of Supreme_Counc ...

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (also transliterated as Alyaksandr Ryhoravich Lukashenka; born 30 August 1954) is a Belarusian politician who has been the first and only president of Belarus since the office's establishment in 1994, making hi ...

in a campaign for the presidency in 2001, but failed to gather the sufficient number of signatures to stand in the election.

Early career

He was born on 9 March 1942 in the village of Volkovnya into a peasant family. His father was a

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

soldier who was killed in 1945 during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After graduating high school in 1961, Kozlovsky entered the

Tashkent Higher All-Arms Command School The Tashkent Higher All-Arms Command School () was a military academy of the Ministry of Defense of Uzbekistan. It was previously known as the Tashkent Higher Combined Arms Command School named after Vladimir Lenin (). It was one of the oldest m ...

, which he graduated in 1965. He served in the following positions: company commander, regimental chief of staff, regimental commander, an divisional commander. During his

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

service, he was stationed in the

Transcaucasian Military District The Transcaucasian Military District, a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces, traces its history to May 1921 and the incorporation of First Republic of Armenia, Armenia, Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, Azerbaijan, and Democratic Republic ...

, specifically serving in the

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Georgia, the Georgian SSR, or simply Georgia, was one of the republics of the Soviet Union from its second occupation (by the Red Army) in 1921 to its independence in 1991. Cotermin ...

and the

Armenian SSR The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ArSSR), also known as Soviet Armenia, or simply Armenia, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union, located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Soviet Armenia bordered the Soviet republics ...

. He later graduated from the

Frunze Military Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (), was a military academy of the Soviet and later the Russian Armed Forces ...

and the General Staff Academy. In 1987, he was sent to the Belarusian Military District, holding the position of deputy commander. In March 1989, he was appointed commander of the 28th Combined Arms Army, before returning in July 1991 to Minsk to serve as Chief of Staff of the Belarusian Military District. At this point, he received the ranks of

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

and Lieutenant colonel ahead of schedule. His last military rank in the

Soviet Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also known as the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union, the Red Army (1918–1946) and the Soviet Army (1946–1991), were the armed forces of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republi ...

was

Lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Post-independence military service

On April 22, 1992, he was approved as the Minister of Defense of Belarus. During his tenure, he distinguished himself by firing officers from the army who were members of the Belarusian Military Association. Many consider him to be the founder of the modern Belarusian army, which previously inherited Soviet era technologies and traditions. On 8 September 1992, he presided over the first oath taking ceremony that held on Independence Square, held on the 478th anniversary of the Lithuanian-Polish victory at the

Battle of Orsha The Battle of Orsha (, ), was fought on 8 September 1514, between the allied forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, under the command of Lithuanian Grand Hetman Konstanty Ostrogski; and the army of the ...

, which was established as a Day of Belarusian Military Glory. Under his control, disarmament of the army, causing Belarus to become the first nuclear-free state in the post-Soviet space. At the end of July 1994, after

came to power, Kozlovsky resigned along with the entire government of

Vyacheslav Kebich Vyacheslav Frantsevich Kebich (10 June 1936 – 9 December 2020) was a Belarusian politician and the first Prime Minister of Belarus from 1991 to 1994. Early life and education Kebich was born on 10 June 1936, in the village of Konyushevshchi ...

. On September 5 of the same year, by presidential decree, he was demoted to

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

for abuse of office (which was not established by the investigation).

Later life

Later, Kozlovsky began to focus on social and political activities, creating the International Fund for the Rehabilitation of the Health of Former Servicemen. From 1995–2001, he was a member of the United Civil Party, now he is

non-partisan Nonpartisanship, also known as nonpartisanism, is a lack of affiliation with a political party and a lack of political bias. While an ''Oxford English Dictionary'' definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., ...

. He often criticizes the military policy of the

Belarusian government The politics of Belarus takes place in a framework of a presidential republic with a bicameral parliament. The President of Belarus is the head of state. Executive power is nominally exercised by the government, at its top sits a ceremonial pr ...

, often saying that the "prestige of the army within our society has dropped". He tried to register his candidacy for the 2001 presidential election, but only collected 85,000 signatures out of 100,000 required. He then supported the candidacy of

Vladimir Goncharik Vladimir (, , pre-1918 orthography: ) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin, widespread throughout all Slavic nations in different forms and spellings. The earliest record of a person with the name is Vladimir of Bulgaria (). Etymology ...

. In the

2010 elections This is a list of elections that were held in 2010. * 2010 United Nations Security Council election * 2010 national electoral calendar * 2010 local electoral calendar Africa * 2010 Burkinabé presidential election * 2010 Burundian Senate election * ...

, he was a confidant of presidential candidate

Andrei Sannikov Andrei Olegovich Sannikov (or Andrei Sannikau, , , born 8 March 1954) is a Belarusian politician and activist. In the early 1990s, he headed the Belarusian delegation on Nuclear and Conventional Weapons Armament Negotiations, also serving as a Be ...

. In 2020, he criticized the government for holding the

2020 Minsk Victory Day Parade The annual Victory Day Parade (; ) on Victors Avenue in Minsk (the capital of Belarus) is a traditional military parade of the Armed Forces of Belarus that takes place every 5 years on 9 May in honor of the jubilee anniversary of the end of the ...

Victors Avenue Victors Avenue (, ) is a public avenue in Minsk, Belarus. History Until 1980, it was called the Park Highway. For a long time, the northwest center of Minsk along the right bank of the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach tributary of the river Berezin ...

in the middle of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Belarus The COVID-19 pandemic in Belarus was a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have spread to Belaru ...

, saying in an interview to

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that "There would have been no coronavirus parade during my time as minister" as well as "This action (parade) can be easily postponed to July 3 - to unite

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

and

victory The term victory (from ) originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes a strategic vi ...

Family

His wife Natalya Grigorievna is an economist. They have three children: Elena, Andrey, and Pavel. He also has four grandchildren. He was the youngest of five children, with his brothers and sisters currently working in

. His mother died in 1977.

External links

''"Kto est kto v respublike Belarus"''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kozlovsky, Pavel 1942 births Living people Belarusian generals 20th-century Belarusian politicians Government ministers of Belarus People from Pruzhany district Soviet lieutenant generals Frunze Military Academy alumni Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union alumni Recipients of the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", 3rd class Tashkent Higher All-Arms Command School alumni