He also had senior posts with Russian peacekeeping forces deployed abroad in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Syria, and commanded the 98th Guards Airborne Division from 1996 to 2009.

Lentsov was born on 20 December 1956 in Kholmskaya, Krasnodar Krai, in the Soviet Union.

His military education includes graduating from the Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne Command School in 1978, from the Frunze Military Academy in 1989, and from the General Staff Academy in 2008.

[2] On 25 April 2023, he was appointed commander of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno-Karabakh.

[4] This biographical article related to the Russian military is a stub.