Latvian parliament approves appointment of new defense chief

Latvian lawmakers on Thursday approved the appointment of Major General Leonids Kalnins, Commander of the National Armed Forces' Joint Headquarters, as Latvia's new Chief of Defense.

At the same time, the parliament relieved Major General Raimonds Graube of his duties as Latvia's defense chief.

Lawmakers reached a unanimous decision to approve the appointment, with 88 votes in favor and no objection or abstentions.

Kalnins is due to take office on Jan. 27, 2017.

Graube announced his early retirement at the end of October, although his current term in office runs out in 2018. When explaining his decision to quit office, Graube said he had been holding the top military office for too long and that the time has come for someone else to take over.

On November 22, Latvian Defense Minister Raimonds Bergmanis named Major General Kalnins as a candidate for Latvia's next chief of defense. On December 1, the candidate was approved by President Raimonds Vejonis.

Kalnins became Commander of the National Armed Forces' Joint Headquarters on August 26, 2016. He started his military career in 1997 in the 51st Battalion of the Latvian National Guard. He was appointed head of the Reconnaissance Training Center in 2003, then served at the Training and Doctrine Command from 2003 to 2005, and as a senior officer at the National Guard's Operative Planning Department from 2005 to 2011, when he was appointed commander of the National Guard.

Kalnins is a graduate of the Baltic Defense College in Estonia and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

Kalnins was deputy commander of the Latvian forces that took part in the U.S.-led operation in Iraq in 2006. Endit