Military Academy of the Republic of Belarus (Belarusian: Ваенная акадэмія Рэспублікі Беларусь, romanized: Vajennaja akademija Respubliki Bielaruś, Russian: Военная академия Республики Беларусь, ВАРБ) is higher military educational institution in the national education system of the Republic of Belarus and the leading institution in the education system of training, retraining and advanced training of military personnel. It is located on Independence Avenue in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. It has 10 departments that train officers of 38 specialties for all arms of service.
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Brief history and description
Military Academy of the Republic of Belarus was established in accordance with the Presidential Decree No.192 on 17 May 1995 on the basis of two schools: the Minsk Higher Military Engineering School and the Minsk Higher Military Command School. The latter is the successor of the Minsk Higher Military-Political School, which was established on 10 May 1980, carrying out the training of more than 1,900 officers during its existence. From 1980 to 1991, the school gave military training to 900 people from 21 foreign countries. In May 1953, Gomel Higher Military Technical School was established, being the precursor to the Minsk engineering school. After Belarus gained its independence following the Dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the political school was transformed into the command school which later be merged. On 8 September 1992, they were the first to take the military oath of allegiance, with their ceremony being held on Independence Square in the presence of defense minister Pavel Kozlovskii. In 1995, it was also given the status of a government institution of secondary military education.
The academy has lecture halls, classrooms, specialized classrooms, laboratories equipped with computers and automation. The teaching staff includes about 700 teachers, including 20 doctors and 250 candidates of science, 25 professors and 200 associate professors. A lot of its cadets come from the Minsk Suvorov Military School, which is a boarding school that trains students from the age of twelve for future civil/military service. Since the Military Academy was established in 1995, it has trained over 1,500 people, mostly coming from Venezuela, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, and China.
Areas of study and faculties
The following are areas of study at the academy:
Sensors and Signal Processing
Information and Communications (Signals)
Medicine
Air Pollution and Environmental Control
Monitoring and Instrumentation
Fluid Mechanics and Gas Dynamics
Optics
Physics
Avionics
Leadership skills
The academy also operates the following faculties (departments):
Aviation College
General Faculty
College of Internal Troops
Faculty of Military Intelligence
College of Air Defense
Faculty of Missile Forces, Artillery and Missile-Artillery Armament
Faculty of Communications and Automated Control Systems
Support Units
Educational Support Battalion
The Educational Support Battalion of the Educational Support Center of the Military Academy (Батальён забеспячэння вучэбнага працэсу Ваеннай акадэміі, BZVP) is a unit of the academy located at the Belaya Luzha training ground near Borisov. The BZVP's task is to provide practical training for cadets of the Military Academy.
Chiefs
Major General Viktor Lisovsky (-15 July 2021)
Major General Gennady Lepeshko (15 July 2021 – 29 March 2024)
Major General Andrei Gorbatenko (since 29 April 2024)
Notable alumni
Andrei Ravkov – Class of 1999, Minister of Defence of Belarus
Oleg Belokonev – Class of 1999, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus
Murat Maikeyev – Class of 2014, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2016–2019)
Alexander Fetisov – Class of 1988, Head of the City Orkrug of Samara
Begench Gundogdyev – Class of 2012, Minister of Defense of Turkmenistan (since 2018)