Igor Konashenkov

Major General Igor Yevgenyevich Konashenkov (И́горь Евге́ньевич Конаше́нков) (born 15 May 1966) is the chief spokesman for the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.

Early life
Igor Konashenkov was born on 15 May 1966 in Kishinev in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Career
Konashenkov graduated with distinction from the engineering department of Zhitomir Higher Military School of Radioelectronics of Air Defence in 1988. In 1998 he graduated from the Air Defence Military Academy. In 2006 he graduated from the higher courses of the General Staff Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

He has served in the Space Missile Defence Forces, in the directorate of the main command of the Territorial Air Defence Forces.

Military spokesman
From 1998, Konashenkov was the senior officer, chief of group, and deputy chief of the Department for Cooperation with Russian and Foreign Media of the Russian Federation Ministry of Defence Press Service.

In 2003 he became chief of the press service and assistant commander of the North Caucasian Military District for public and media affairs. In 2005 he became chief of the press service of the army and assistant commander-in-chief of the army for public and media affairs.

In 2009 he was appointed deputy chief of the Department of Media Affairs and Information of the Russian Federation Ministry of Defence and in August 2011 he became chief of the Department of Media Affairs and Information of the Russian Federation Ministry of Defence by decree of the president of the Russian Federation. He is Russia's chief military spokesman.

He has headed units for informational support of the Russian military in the North Caucasus and the Collective Force for Peacekeeping in the Georgia-Abkhazia conflict zone.

Honours
Konashenkov has received the Order of Courage, Order of Military Merit, Order of Friendship, and 14 other medals.

Konashenkov is a member of the presidium of the Union of Journalists in Moscow who awarded him a diploma for services to openness in the press in 2016.