Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Egils Leščinskis (born July 18, 1967) is an active duty Latvian officer who has been serving as the Commanding General of the

Latvian National Guard The Latvian National Guard or NG ( lv, Latvijas Republikas Zemessardze, ZS) is a part of the Latvian National Armed Forces. The National Guard is a basic land component, consisting of volunteers who perform traditional national guard duties such ...

since May 2019.

Early life

Leščinskis was born in 1967 in what was then the

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvian SSR), also known as Soviet Latvia or simply Latvia, was a federated republic within the Soviet Union, and formally one of its 16 (later 15) constituent republics. The Latvian Soviet Socialist Rep ...

. In 1992 he graduated from

Riga Technical University Riga Technical University (RTU) ( lv, Rīgas Tehniskā universitāte) is the oldest technical university in the Baltic countries established on October 14, 1862. It is located in Riga, Latvia and was previously known as 'Riga Polytechnical Instit ...

Military career

As part of the regaining of national independence in Latvia, Egils Leščinskis joined the Latvian armed forces as they were being rebuilt in 1991/92 following the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. He gained experience in international military service at the NATO headquarters in Belgium and as a lecturer at the

Baltic Defence College The Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL) is a multinational military college, established by the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) in 1999. It serves as a centre of strategic and operational research and provides professional ...

. In 2004 he took part in the peace operation in Iraq (Multi-National Force - Iraq). He also attended numerous advanced training courses at military academies abroad. From 2011 to 2015 Leščinskis was the rector of the National Defence Academy of Latvia. In August 2018 he took over the post of Chief of Staff of the

. On May 30, 2019, he replaced Ainārs Ozoliņš as commander of the Latvian National Guard and was appointed brigadier general on November 5, 2019.

Personal life

Leščinskis is married and has two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leščinskis, Egils Living people Latvian generals 1960s births