Saken Zhasuzakov

Saken Adilkhanuly Zhasuzakov (Kazakh: Сәкен Әділханұлы Жасұзақов, Säken Ädılhanūly Jasūzaqov, [sækʲen ædɘlχɑno̙ɫə ʐɑso̙zɑqəf]; born 27 October 1957) is a Kazakh politician and former Colonel General in the Kazakh Ground Forces. He was Minister of Defense of Kazakhstan from September 2016 until August 2018.^[1]

Saken Zhasuzakov
Сәкен Жасұзақов
Zhasuzakov in 2018
Director of the National Defense University
In office 7 August 2018 – 7 August 2019
President	Nursultan Nazarbayev
Succeeded by	Lut Alchekenov
9th Minister of Defense
In office 13 September 2016 – 7 August 2018
President	Nursultan Nazarbayev
Preceded by	Imangali Tasmagambetov
Succeeded by	Nurlan Ermekbaev
4th Chairman of the Joint Staff Committee
In office 11 March 2010 – 13 September 2016
President	Nursultan Nazarbayev
Preceded by	Mukhtar Altynbayev
Succeeded by	Murat Maikeyev
Personal details
Born	(1957-10-27) 27 October 1957 (age 67) South Kazakhstan Region, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union
Military service
Allegiance	Soviet Union Kazakhstan
Branch/service	Soviet Army  Kazakh Ground Forces
Years of service	1978–2019
Rank	Colonel General
Battles/wars	Soviet–Afghan War

Biography

Zhasuzakov (second from left) attending a ceremony organized by the Council of the CIS Defence Ministers.

He was born in Chaldar, a village in Southern Kazakhstan in 1957.^[2][3] In 1978, Zhasuzakov graduated from the Alma-Ata Higher All-Arms Command School.^[2] From September 1987 to June 1990 he was a pupil of the M. V. Frunze Military Academy.^[2] In July 1994 he moved to Russia to attend the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. In 1996, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Kazakhstan.

In 2003, he became First Deputy Commander of Land Forces, and that same year he became Commander of the Regional Command "East". In April 2009, Zhasuzakov was appointed the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces. From 2013 to 2016, Zhasuzakov was the First Deputy Minister of Defence of Kazakhstan. He was appointed as Minister of Defense of Kazakhstan by Presidential Decree on 13 September 2016.^[4][5]

He was replaced as defense minister on 7 August 2018 by Nurlan Ermekbaev.^[6][7] He currently heads the National Defence University in Astana.^[8] Exactly a year later, he retired from the military.

Awards

USSR

• Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 3rd degree (1989)
• Jubilee Medal "70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"
• Medal "For Impeccable Service" 2nd and 3rd Degree
• Breastplate "Soldiers-Internationalists"

Kazakhstan

• Order of Dunk 1st Degree (2012)
• Order of Dunk 2nd Degree (2001)
• Medal "10 years of Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan"
• Medal "10 Years of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan"
• Medal "10 Years of the Constitution of Kazakhstan"
• Medal "10 years of Astana"
• Medal "20 Years of Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan"
• Medal "20 Years of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan"
• Medal "For Impeccable Service" 2nd and 3rd Degree
• Medal "For Strengthening Military Cooperation"
• Medal "20 Years of Public Prosecutor of the Republic of Kazakhstan"
• Jubilee Medal "20 years of Internal Troops of Kazakhstan"

Foreign

• Medal of Zhukov
• Medal "60th Anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from Nazi invaders"
• Medal "For Distinction in Military Service"
• Jubilee Medal "60 years of Ukraine's liberation from Nazi invaders"

• Medal "50th Anniversary of the Mongolian People's Republic"
• Medal "Military Cooperation"
• Medal "5 years of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Tajikistan"
• Medal "15 Years of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Tajikistan"

See also

• Minister of Defense (Kazakhstan)
• Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan