Viktor Nazarenko

Viktor Nazarenko
Viktor Nazarenko
Born	5 March 1956 (age 68); Minsk, Belarus
Allegiance	Ukraine
Service/branch	SBGS
Years of service	1977 – present
Rank	Lieutenant general
Commands held	Chief of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine
Battles/wars	Soviet war in Afghanistan; War in Donbass

Viktor Nazarenko (Belarusian: Віктар Назаранка; 5 March 1956, Minsk) is a Ukrainian military leader, Soviet veteran of the Afghan war (1979–89), doctor of military sciences.

Since October 2014 Nazarenko is the head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.^[1]

Biography

Born in Minsk, in 1977 Nazarenko graduated the Higher Military-Political college in Lviv (today Sahaidachny Academy of Ground Forces) and then served in the Lviv Border Guard detachment of the Western Border Guard District. In 1983–86 he was studying at the Frunze Military Academy (today Combined Arms Academy), after graduation of which Nazarenko served for the Middle-Asian Border Guard District that at time was involved in the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

After the war and fall of the Soviet Union, he returned to his native Lviv Border Guard detachment where in 1992–94 Nazarenko served functions as a chief of staff. In 1994–95 he was a chief of the separate border checkpoint "Prykarpattia". Since 1995 Nazarenko served as a staff officer for the Northwestern and then Southern regional administrations of the Border Guard Troops.

In 2000–04 Nazarenko was a chief of the Azov-Black Sea Regional Administration (initially Crimean) of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and headed the operation to prevent the Russian intrusion to the Tuzla island in 2003.

On 23 October 2014 President Petro Poroshenko appointed Nazarenko head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.^[1]