Sagadat Nurmagambetov

Sagadat Nurmagambetov
Birth nameSagadat Kozhahmetovich Nurmagambetov
Born(1924-05-25)25 May 1924
Kosym, Kazak ASSR, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
(now in Aqmola Region, Kazakhstan)
Died24 September 2013(2013-09-24) (aged 89)
Almaty, Kazakhstan
AllegianceSoviet Union Soviet Union (1942–1991)
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan (1991–1995)
Service / branch Red Army / Soviet Army
Ground Forces of Kazakhstan
Years of service1942–1991
1991–1995
RankArmy general (Ret.)
Battles / wars
AwardsSoviet Union:

Kazakhstan:

Russian Federation:

Ukraine:

Other work

Sagadat Kozhakhmetovich Nurmagambetov (Kazakh: Сағадат Қожахметұлы Нұрмағамбетов, Sağadat Qojahmetūly Nūrmağambetov; Russian: Сагадат Кожахметович Нурмагамбетов; 25 May 1924 – 24 September 2013) was a Soviet and Kazakh general who served as Chairman of Kazakhstan's State Defense Committee in 1991-1992 and Kazakhstan's first Minister of Defense following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, holding the office of Defense Minister from May 1992 to November 1995. He was an adviser to Nursultan Nazarbayev in 1995-1996.

Nurmagambetov began his military career as a machine gun platoon commander in the Red Army in World War II. He was promoted to machine gun company and infantry battalion commander, earning the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union in February 1945. His battalion went on to storm the Reich Chancellery at the Battle of Berlin in April 1945. Nurmagambetov graduated from the Frunze Military Academy after World War II and rose to become one of the highest-ranked Kazakh officers in the peacetime Soviet Army, attaining the rank of colonel general. He retired from the military of Kazakhstan as an army general in 1995. Nurmagambetov was named a Hero of Kazakhstan in 1994, becoming the first Kazakh to receive this honour.