He is best known as one of the founders and commander of a large special operations force known as the Liberation Army (Armenian: Ազատագրական Բանակ).

In 1959 he graduated from Yerevan School after A. Mravyan, and in 1960 he was admitted into the Physics Department of Moscow State University.

He was especially instrumental in the defense of Vardenis, organizing the first offensive against Azerbaijani military outposts in Nyuvadi and preventing the Soviet army from entering Yerevan after clashes between Armenian militias and Soviet forces at Sovetashen and Yerevan railway station.

In June 1991, together with Hovsep Hovsepyan he co-founded and commanded the Liberation Army special operations force, whose declared goal was to preserve the self-determination and defense of the local Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

He was posthumously awarded with the Order of the Combat Cross of the First Degree and, in 2019, the title Hero of Artsakh.