Pyotr Ryhoravič Chavus (born 7 January 1939) is a Soviet-Belarusian retired lieutenant general and politician the first Defence Minister of Belarus, serving from December 1991 to April 1992. He was succeeded by Pavel Pavlovich Kozlovsky. At the end of 1991, during a business trip in Minsk he accepted the offer to lead the newly created Ministry of Defence of Belarus. From May 1992, he served as the Deputy Minister of Defence. From 1994 to 1995, he was an adviser to the Belarusian government.