Valeriy Hubulov

Who is Valeriy Hubulov?

Valeriy Nikolaevich Hubulov was a South Ossetian politician, who was minister of defense and acting prime minister in 1996. He was assassinated in 1998 while in Russia.

Hubulov was born in Tskhinvali in 1966. He was trained as a high school teacher at Tskhinvali University, specializing in physics and mathematics. He graduated in 1990. From 1984 till 1986, Hubulov served in the Soviet Army. In 1991 he was elected the First Secretary of the South Ossetian Komsomol and as a member of the Central Committee of Soviet Komsomol.

Hubulov was an active participant in the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War, leading and coordinating various resistance groups against the Georgian invasion. After the war, he participated in the signing of the Sochi agreement. He also fought in the War in Abkhazia, leading a South Ossetian unit fighting on the Abkhazian side, for which he was awarded the Order of Leon by president Vladislav Ardzinba.

In 1993, Hubulov initiated the founding of the South Ossetian ministry of defense, of which he became the first minister. At the same time, he was also made deputy PM in the cabinet of Gerasim Khugayev.