Norat Ter-Grigoryants
Biography
Norat Ter-Grigoryants was born on July 16, 1936, in the town of Ordzhonikidze. His parents, originally from Kars and Taron (Western Armenia), had relocated to Ordzhonikidze in the 1920s. His father was a teacher, and his mother was a homemaker. Ter-Grigoryants completed his secondary education in Ordzhonikidze.
In October 1955, he was conscripted into the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union. Over the course of three years of service, he rose from conscript to senior sergeant and served as commander of a vehicle division.
In 1957, holding the rank of senior sergeant, he was admitted to the Ulyanovsk Guards Higher Tank Command School, from which he graduated with distinction in 1960. While at the school, he served as the sergeant major of the cadet company. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Armed Forces of the USSR. His military career began in the North Caucasus Military District, in Novocherkassk, where he was assigned as commander of a separate reconnaissance platoon within a tank regiment. He went on to command various tank units, including a platoon, a tank company, and a tank battalion.
From 1967 to 1970, Ter-Grigoryants attended the advanced officer training courses known as “Shot.” In 1970, he was admitted to the Military Academy of Armored Forces, graduating with honors in 1973. He was then assigned to the Southern Group of Forces in the People's Republic of Hungary, where he served successively as commander of an armored regiment, chief of staff of a motorized rifle division, and later as commander of the 93rd Guards Motorized Rifle Division.
In 1978, holding the rank of Major General, Norat Ter-Grigoryants was admitted to the Military Academy of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces. He graduated with honors in 1980 and was subsequently assigned to the Turkestan Military District, serving as First Deputy Chief of Staff in Tashkent. That same year, he was deployed to the Soviet contingent in Afghanistan. Each month, Ter-Grigoryants flew to Moscow on a special flight to brief the senior leadership of the Ministry of Defense—personally reporting to Defense Minister Dmitry Ustinov—on the military situation in and around Afghanistan, as well as on planned operations of the 40th Army in coordination with the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
Afghan War
Starting in 1980, Ter-Grigoryants headed the operational group of the Turkestan Military District stationed in Kabul, Afghanistan, at the epicenter of military operations. From mid-1981 until the end of 1983, he served as Chief of Staff of the 40th Army. After three years of active military service in wartime conditions, he was recalled to the Soviet Union and returned to Moscow.
In late 1983, he was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Land Forces of the Soviet Union and was awarded the rank of Lieutenant General.
First Karabakh War
By the end of 1991, while serving as Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Land Forces and Head of the Organizational and Mobilization Department, Ter-Grigoryants was invited by the President of Armenia to assist in establishing the country's armed forces. Following his retirement from the Soviet Armed Forces, he relocated to Armenia, where he developed the foundational concept for the creation of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia and undertook its implementation in close collaboration with fellow officers.
On August 10, 1992, by decree of the President of Armenia, Norat Ter-Grigoryants was appointed Commander of the Armed Forces of Armenia, and later served as Chief of the General Staff – First Deputy Minister of Defense. In 1993, he briefly held the position of Acting Minister of Defense. After four years of military service in Armenia, Lieutenant General Ter-Grigoryants returned to Moscow in 1995, where he represented the interests of the Armenian Armed Forces at the CIS Headquarters of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
By January 2008, Ter-Grigoryants served as Chairman of the Council of War and Military Veterans of the General Command of the Land Forces.
Over the years, he was honored with numerous awards, including the Order of Saint Vardan Mamikonyan (2016), the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Star, and the 2nd and 3rd class Orders “For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR.” He also received the Silver Cross of the Union of Armenians of Russia and 12 additional medals.
