Marat Kulakhmetov

Marat Minyurovich Kulakhmetov (Марат Минюрович Кулахметов; born 1959 in Penza) is a Major General of the Russian Army and commander of the Combined Peacekeeping Forces in South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Georgia. The Georgian side accuses him of supporting the South Ossetian separatists and has raised the question of substituting the Russian-led peacekeeping operation with an Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe force.

Kulakhmetov was born in Penza to Tatar parents. He graduated from Frunze Military Academy in Moscow in 1991.