Printer Friendly Version H. E. AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY AND PLENIPOTENTIRARY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA TO RUSSIAN FEDERATION MR. MIROSLAV LAZANSKI @ 4 January 2010 08:42 AM

BIOGRAPHY

Miroslav Lazanski was born on September 18, 1950 in Karlovac. He graduated high school “Jovan Dučić” in Trebinje and received his degree in law at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. He served in the 41th infantry division of the Yugoslav People’s Army in Bitola in 1977 where he was awarded a Medal for military virtues. He has also been decorated with the Medal of Honour of Republika Srpska.

Miroslav Lazanski started his career in journalism in Zagreb weekly newspaper “Polet” and then continued to write for “Vjesnik”, “Danas” and “Start”. Even then, he was a military and political commentator for the publisher “Vjesnik”. While still in Zagreb, he wrote for “Politika Ekspres” and “NIN”. In March 1991 he joined “Politika”, then transferred to “Večernje novosti” in 1996 and returned to “Politika” in 2001.

Mr Lazanski also had his own column in Greek daily newspaper “Kathimerini“ and in Japanese “Diamond Weekly“. He reported from numerous war zones, such as Beirut, the Iran-Iraq War (1982-1988), Afghanistan (1985-1989), the Operation Desert Storm (1991), the Chechen wars (1996, 1999), Zaire (1997), Iraq (2003), Yemen (2010), Libya (2011), three times from Syria, also Somalia, Crimea…

Miroslav Lazanski interviewed two NATO Supreme Allied Commanders, General Bernard Rodgers (1982) and General John Galvin (1990), as well as three Marshals of the Soviet Union: Sergey Akhromeyev (1982); Viktor Kulikov, the Supreme Commander of the Unified Armed Forces of the Warsaw Treaty Organization (1986); Dmitry Yazov, Soviet Minister of Defence (1988); Vladimir Chernavin, Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy (1988); Vladimir Kryuchkov, KGB Chairman and General of the Army (1989); Stanislav Petrov, Head of the USSR Chemical Forces (1989); General Nikolay Chervov (1995); General Boris Gromov (1989); Igor Rodionov, Russian Minister of Defence (1997).

He also interviewed Bennie Davis, Commander-in-Chief of Strategic Air Command in 1983; General Scott, Superintendent of the US Military Academy “West Point” (1983); Huntington Hardisty, US Navy Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the US Pacific Command (1983); his deputy Thomas Kinnebrew (1983); Paul Speer, Head of the NATO Atlantic Command (1983); General Crosbie Saint, Superintendent of the US Military Academy (Forth Leavenworth) (1983), General James Abrahamson, Director of Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), commonly known as “Star Wars”.

Mr Lazanski also interviewed Johan Jørgen Holst, Defense Minister of Norway (1982); General Ferenc Kárpáti, Defense Minister of Hungary (1988); General Vasile Milea, Romanian Defence Minister (1988); General Ilie Ceaușescu, Head of political administration of the Romanian Army (1989); Nicolae Ceaușescu, President of Romania (1989); General Ștefan Gușă, Chief of the General Staff of the Romanian Armed Forces (1989); General Dobri Dzhurov, Bulgarian Minister of Defence (1988); General Shahnawaz Tanai, Defense Minister of Afghanistan (1988); Mohammad Najibullah, President of Afghanistan (1989); General Nashimoto, Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff (1994); Major General Helmut Willmann, Commander of the Eurocorps (1995); Admiral Guido Venturoni, Chief of the Defence Staff of Italy (1996); Joe Modise, Defense Minister of South African Republic and Georg Meiring, Chief of the South African National Defence Force (1997); General Gennady Troshev, Commander of Russian Forces in North Caucasus (1999); William J. Lennox Jr., Superintendent of the US Military Academy at West Point (2002); Anton Grizold, Slovenian Minister of Defence (2003); Admiral Giampaolo di Paola, Italian Army's Chief of Staff (2004); Vladimir Chizhov, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russian Federation (2004); Sergey Ignatchenko, Deputy Head of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (2004); Shintaro Ishihara, Governor of Tokyo (2004); Keiichi Inamine, Governor of Okinawa (2004); General Leonid Maltsev, Defence Minister of Belarus (2005); Chen Bingde, Chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army (2008).

Moreover, Miroslav Lazanski made interviews with Gregory L. Wayt, Commander of the Ohio National Guard (2008); Nikolai Tsonev, Bulgarian Minister of Defence (2009); General Zlatan Stoykov, Chief of the Defence Staff of Bulgarian Army (2009); General Mohammed Nasser Ahmed, Defence Minister of Yemen (2010); General of the Army Serhiy Kirichenko, Chief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (2009); General of the Army Nikolay Makarov, Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces (2010); Norbert Darabos, Austrian Minister of National Defence (2011); General Leonid Ivashov (2012), Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation (2014); Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus (2014); Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria (2015).

Miroslav Lazanski has also authored 8 books, 2 documentary films and 10 TV series. He is married to Tamara, with whom he has a son Aleksandar.