Vitaly Mikhaili Balasanyan (Armenian: Վիտալի Միխայիլի Բալասանյան, born 5 March 1959) is an Artsakhi politician and retired general.

In 1997, Balasanyan became the first commander of the newly established Martakert mountain-rifle division and in 1999 promoted to deputy minister of defense of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh in charge of veterans' affairs.

Balasanyan retired from the military in 2005 and was elected to the National Assembly of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh as a candidate for the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun.

After the start of 2016 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes he helped coordinate Armenian defense in Askeran direction, where he was previously a commander, rising to social media prominence after a series of interviews.

[4] On 2 December 2020, in the aftermath of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, President Harutyunyan appointed Balasanyan to the office of Secretary of the National Security Council.

[8] Since taking the post of Secretary of the Security Council, he has occasionally been referred to in the Armenian press as the de facto leader of Artsakh.

[15] In 1992, Balasanyan reportedly oversaw military operations, including the occupation of Askeran, and allegedly participated in the interrogation of Azerbaijani prisoners of war.

One notable case involves Natig Gasimov, an Azerbaijani soldier and National Hero of Azerbaijan, who was captured after resisting Armenian forces for several days at a church in the village of Kramort or Pirlar.

While Balasanyan denied personal involvement and claimed to have no memory of Gasimov, former Armenian officers and witnesses identified him in photographs from the scene.