New Belarusian General Staff Head Calls To 'Cut Corridor Into Lithuania'

Here's what we know about him.

On May 23, Aliaksandr Lukashenka appointed a new chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces - First Deputy Minister of Defence. Major-General Pavel Muraveika, who previously served as First Deputy State Secretary of the Security Council, became the new chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, reports the dictator's press service.

Muraveika is known for calling to "cut a corridor to Lithuania".

"Lithuania has actually banned us from moving our goods across the border. According to all norms of international law, such a step refers to economic aggression. From the point of view of banal logic, we have all grounds to cut through a corridor vital for us by force of arms.

And in other conditions no one in the world would have condemned us, I daresay. However, not in the current conditions, when the country is under unprecedented pressure from the West," said Muraveika, then deputy head of the Security Council.

Muraveika was born in Marjina Horka. In 1992, he graduated from the Minsk Higher Military-Political General Military School. Then he entered the Minsk Military Academy, which he graduated from in 2001. He also studied at the Russian General Staff Academy and graduated from it in 2008 with a gold medal.

On June 20, 2013, he was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces - Head of the Main Operational Directorate of the Ministry of Defence.

On February 10, 2022, he was appointed First Deputy State Secretary of the Security Council.