Devi Chankotadze

Devi Chankotadze
General Devi Chankotadze
Born	September 1, 1961 (1961-09-01) (age 50)
Allegiance	Georgia
Service/branch	Georgian Army
Rank	Major General
Commands held	Georgian Armed Forces

Devi Chankotadze (Georgian: დევი ჭანკოტაძე, (born September 1, 1961) is a Georgian Major General (1999), who has served as the Chief of Joint Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces since March 5, 2009.

Chankotadze has been trained at the Soviet Tbilisi Artillery School (1978–1982) and the Chinese PLA National Defense University (2001).^[1]

Chankotadze served in the Soviet military since 1982 before joining the National Guard of Georgia in 1990. During the 1990s, he commanded various artillery units in the military of a newly independent Georgia and also fought in the civil wars of the early 1990s. He then served as a deputy Chief of General Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces from 2000 to 2004 and then as a military envoy at the CIS military cooperation staff and a defense attaché until being dismissed from the Georgian military in October 2005. He resumed service in October 2007 in the capacity of the commander of an artillery brigade, a position he held during the August 2008 war with Russia.^[1] After the war, in November 2008, Chankotadze was appointed a Deputy Chief of Joint Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces in a major army reshuffle initiated to address the shortcomings during the August conflict.^[2] The Russian daily Kommersant quoted the Ministry of Defense of Georgia (MoD), describing Chankotadze as “the one to have best distinguished himself during the hostilities.”^[3]

On March 5, 2009, Chankotadze became the Chief of Joint Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces.^[4]

Chankotadze has been awarded with Vakhtang Gorgasali Order (3rd Rank, 1995), Badge for Devotion (1st Rank, 2002), Medal for Meritorious Service in the MoD (1st Rank, 2008)^[1] and St. George’s Victory Order (2009).^[5]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Devi Chankotadze. Ministry of Defense of Georgia. March 5, 2009
2. ^ New Army Chief of Staff Appointed. Civil Georgia. November 4, 2008
3. ^ Purge in Georgia’s army. Kommersant. September 5, 2008
4. ^ Army Chief of Staff Replaced. Civil Georgia. March 5, 2009
5. ^ Generals Were Invested with the St. George’s Victory Orders. Ministry of Defence of Georgia. April 20, 2009

Military offices
Preceded by Vladimer Chachibaia	Chief of Joint Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces 2009 –	Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Chankotadze, Devi
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 1, 1961
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death