Samvel Babayan

Samvel Andraniki Babayan (Armenian: Սամվել Անդրանիկի Բաբայան; born 5 March 1965) is an Armenian military officer and politician. He was one of the founders and main commanders of the Artsakh Defence Army during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and became a war hero among Armenians for the military victories achieved under his command. Following the war, he served as the Defense Minister of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from 1994 to 2000. During this period, Babayan "became not only the military leader but the most powerful man in Karabakh overall, controlling its government and economy" until his arrest and imprisonment in 2000 on charges of attempting to assassinate Arkadi Ghukasyan, President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Babayan was released from prison early in 2004. He served as Secretary of the Security Council of Artsakh from May 2020 until November 2020, when he resigned after Armenia's defeat in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.