Malyarenko was born on 2 February 1951 in Birobidzhan, the son of a worker at the Dalselmash plant, Vasily Petrovich Malyarenko, and of a seller, Polina Iosifovna. After attending secondary school, in 1962 he entered the Ussuriysk Suvorov military school, and from 1969 to 1974 he studied at the Military Academy of Chemical Defense in Saratov. In 1986 he participated in the liquidation efforts of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. He retired from the Army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.