Meelis Kiili (born 20 March 1965) is an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

. From December 2012 to July 2019, he was the commander of the

Estonian Defence League The Estonian Defence League ( et, Eesti Kaitseliit) is the name of the unified paramilitary armed forces of the Republic of Estonia. The Defence League is a paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, ...

Military career

Estonian Armed Forces

Meelis Kiili joined the

Estonia Defence Forces The Estonian Defence Forces ( et, Eesti Kaitsevägi) are the unified military forces of the Republic of Estonia. The Estonian Defence Forces consist of the Estonian Land Forces, the Estonian Navy, the Estonian Air Force, and the paramilitary Es ...

at its reconstruction in the 1990s. From 2005 to 2006 he was the Chief of Staff of the Army, and from 2006 to 2007 he was the deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. From 2008 to 2010 he was a

military attaché A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...

in the United States and Canada. In 2009, he was promoted to Colonel, and in October 2010 he was promoted to Brigadier General.

Paramilitary organisations

Two months after his promotion to the rank of Brigadier General, Kiili was appointed to the commandant of 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 ...

. After retiring from this position in December 2012, he became the Commander of the

until July 2019.

Personal life

Born on 20 March 1965, Kiili is married with two daughters. Before his military career he studied at the

Estonian University of Life Sciences The Estonian University of Life Sciences ( Estonian: ''Eesti Maaülikool'', EMÜ) located in Tartu, Estonia, is the former Estonian Agricultural University, which was established in 1951 and renamed and restructured in November 2005. Eesti Maa� ...

, from 1984 to 1991. In May 2015, Kiili was added to the Russian list of sanctioned individuals, blocking him from entering Russia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiili, Meelis 1965 births Living people Estonian major generals