Former Defense Forces Commander in Chief to Run for Local Office
Retired general Ants Laaneots, 65, who led the nation's Defense Forces between 2006 and 2011. will run for Tartu City Council as part of the Reform Party list.
“I have given a large part of my life to creating and developing the Estonian national defense system. Protection of the state is guaranteed by the Defense Forces and Defense League. Now, in retirement, I would like to use my life experience to help local life move forward and I am ready for new challenges,” Laaneots said in a Reform Party press release on Tuesday.
Laaneots also ran for local office in Tartu, his adopted hometown, in 1996. He is not a member of the Reform Party.
Son of a "forest brother" - a member of the anti-Soviet resistance movement - Laaneots was an officer in the Soviet armed forces from 1970 to 1991, after which he served in a number of high level positions in the Estonian Defense Forces.