Yuri Khatchaturov

Soviet Army

From 1982 to 1985, he studied at the Kalinin Artillery Military Academy in Leningrad. Afterward he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Missile Forces and Artillery Tank Division of the Belarusian Military District. Khachaturov served as Chief of Staff of the Missile Forces and Artillery 5 Guards Motorized Rifle Division 40th Army in Afghanistan from 1987 to February 1989. For his service in the Soviet war in Afghanistan, he was honored with an Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR, two Soviet Orders of Red Star, and the Afghan Order of Star (2nd degree).

Armenian Army

Khatchaturov laying a wreath with Belarusian Defense Minister Andrei Ravkov.

After serving in Afghanistan, Khachaturov was appointed commander of a separate tank army artillery brigade of the Belarusian Military District in October 1989. After the Fall of the Soviet Union, a special decree of the Ministry of Defence of Belarus for Khachaturov's services had been seconded to the Ministry of Defence of Armenia and he was appointed commander of the Armenian 2nd infantry regiment in April 1992. He took part in the hostilities of the Nagorno-Karabakh War and was actively involved in the protection of the state border.

In September 1992, Khachaturov became Chief of the Border Troops and the Deputy Commander of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia. He was one of the initiators of the formation of the Goris infantry regiment, Tavush Motorised Brigade, and the first and fourth army corps, units and formations. Khachaturov also held the post of commander of the operational areas and the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia.

In 1995, by decree of the President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Khachaturov awarded the rank of Major General. He was promoted to Lieutenant General in 2000 and Colonel General on 15 April 2008. On 21 March 2000, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Defence of Armenia. Khachaturov has been the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia from April 2008 to October 2016.

On 1 May 2012, the president of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Bako Sahakyan awarded Khachaturov the Mesrop Mashtots Medal.^[3]

Arrest

On July 26, 2018, Khachaturov was charged with overthrowing the constitutional order during his actions as commander of the Yerevan garrison on March 1–2, 2008, when opposition speeches led by Levon Ter-Petrossian, who accused the authorities of rigging the results of the presidential elections held in February of that year. A year later, he was released from custody on bail of 10,000 dollars, while Armenia appealed to the CSTO and proposed to relieve Khachaturov from the post of the secretary general of the organization.^[4][5]