13 Facts About Ants Laaneots

Ants Laaneots was born on 16 January 1948 and is an Estonian politician and former military officer.

Ants Laaneots was previously the Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces and a veteran officer in the Soviet Army.

Ants Laaneots was appointed the Commander-in-Chief on 5 December 2006 and was promoted to general in 2011.

Ants Laaneots was born on 16 January 1948 in Kilingi-Nomme, Estonia.

From 1978 to 1981, Ants Laaneots studied in the Malinovsky Military Academy of Armored Forces in Moscow for an armored brigade commander's course, and to qualify on the newly introduced T-80 Tank.

Ants Laaneots was one of the founding-officers of the Estonian Army, defecting from the Soviet Army after the August 1991 attempted coup in Moscow.

Ants Laaneots was crucial in transforming the doctrine and tactics of the Estonian Defence Forces from a Soviet mode to a NATO and western mode.

In 1997 Ants Laaneots was appointed to the position of Inspector General of the Defence Forces.

Ants Laaneots was appointed the Commander of the Defence Forces on 5 December 2006.

Ants Laaneots stepped down as Commander of the Defence Forces on 5 December 2011 after his 5-year term ended.

In 2016, after NATO soldiers in Estonia were targeted with racist insults by locals, Ants Laaneots stated that Russians directed the vitriol in order to compromise the relationship between Estonia and the US.

Ants Laaneots is an active member of the Estonian National Defence League and the Rotary Club.

Ants Laaneots is married to a Ukrainian-Moldovan woman named Natalia and has a son and a daughter.