Sergey Vladimirovich Potapenko (

Belarusian Belarusian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belarus * Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent * A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus * Belarusian language * Belarusian culture * Belarusian cuisine * Byelor ...

: Сяргей Уладзіміравіч Патапенка, ''Siargiej Uladzimiravič Patapienka'') is a Belarusian military leader and the current Chairman of the Belarusian Trade Union of Workers of State and Other Institutions.

Biography

He was born on 14 March 1961 in Rzhavka, a section of the Minsk region of the

Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

, which is modern-day

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 ...

. In 1978, he graduated from the

Minsk Suvorov Military School The Minsk Suvorov Military School (MnSVU) is one of the Suvorov Military Schools in Belarus and in other former Soviet Republics for military cadets. The MnSVU is a state specialised educational institution that focuses on military subjects an ...

. In 1982, he graduated from the Ulyanovsk Guards Higher Tank Command School. He served as a commander of a tank platoon. He graduated from the Malinovsky Military Armoured Forces Academy in 1992. He worked for the 72nd Guards Joint Training Centre on several staff positions and rose through the ranks from being a senior officer of the training division to the head of the training centre. In 2008, Potapenko was appointed deputy commander of the North-Western Operational Command. He also commanded the Western Operational Command from 2010 to 2015. From June 2015, he served as the head of the Main Combat Training Directorate of the Belarusian Armed Forces. On 12 January 2016, Potapenko was appointed Deputy Minister of Defence by order of a presidential decree. He was put under sanctions by

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

over his role in suppressing the 2020 Belarusian protests. He was put in the reserves in March 2021.

References

Living people Belarusian generals 1961 births {{Europe-mil-bio-stub