Konstantinas Kleščinskis (, ; 1879–1927) was a military officer who served in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

and

Lithuanian Armed Forces The Lithuanian Armed Forces () are the military of Lithuania. The Lithuanian Armed Forces consist of the Lithuanian Land Forces, the Lithuanian Navy, the Lithuanian Air Force and the Lithuanian Special Operations Force. In wartime, the Li ...

. A graduate of the

Nicholas General Staff Academy The General Staff Academy () was a Russian military academy, established in 1832 in St.Petersburg. It was first known as the Imperial Military Academy (Императорская военная академия), then in 1855 it was renamed Nich ...

, he fought in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

and

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He was taken prisoner by the Germans after the fall of Novogeorgievsk in August 1915. After his release, he briefly served in the Polish Army before joining the Lithuanian Army in May 1919. He fought in the

Lithuanian–Soviet War The Lithuanian–Soviet War or Lithuanian–Bolshevik War () was fought between newly independent Lithuania and the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic in the aftermath of World War I. It was part of the larger Soviet westward offensiv ...

and was the

Chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces (militaries), the head of the military staff. List * Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia) * Chief of General Staff (Afghanistan) * Chief of the General Staff (Albania) * C ...

of the Lithuanian Army from August 1920 to April 1921. After retirement from active duty, he was recruited by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

to spy for the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. He was found guilty of espionage and executed by Lithuania on 1 June 1927.

Biography

Russian Imperial Army

Kleščinskis was born in Elisabethpol (now

Ganja, Azerbaijan Ganja (; ) is Azerbaijan's List of cities in Azerbaijan, third largest city, with a population of around 335,600.Azərbaycan Respublikası. — 2. Azərbaycan Respublikasının iqtisadi və inzibati rayonları. — 2.4. Azərbaycan Respublikas� ...

) into a family of Lithuanian roots. He studied at the

St. Petersburg University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

but quit after one semester and joined the

in August 1899. In 1901, he graduated from the in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and was assigned to the

Volhynian Life Guards Regiment The Volinsky Lifeguard Regiment (), more correctly translated as the Volhynian Life-Guards Regiment, was a Imperial Guard (Russia), Russian Imperial Guard infantry regiment. Created out of a single battalion of Finnish Guard Regiment in 1817, th ...

and later to the 34th Siberian Rifle Regiment. He fought in the

. From 1906 to 1910, he studied at the

. He was promoted to captain in 1909. After graduation, he served in the Finnish Life Guards Regiment until October 1912 when he was assigned to the headquarters of the Amur Military District. For a year, he served in the Vladivostok Fortress. During World War I, he served in the headquarters of the

4th Siberian Army Corps The 4th Siberian Army Corps was an Army corps in the Imperial Russian Army. In 1915, she took part in the Narew Offensive. Composition 1905: * 2nd Siberian Rifle Division * 3rd Siberian Rifle Division 1914: * 9th Siberian Rifle Division *10th Sib ...

and 34th Army Corps. In August 1915, he became Chief of Staff of the 114th Infantry Division but a few days later was captured with the division by the Germans after the fall of Novogeorgievsk.

Polish Army

Kleščinskis joined the

Polish General Staff Polish General Staff, formally known as the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces ( Polish: ''Sztab Generalny Wojska Polskiego'') is the highest professional body within the Polish Armed Forces. Organizationally, it is an integral part of the M ...

in December 1918. However, he was dissatisfied with the offered post and decided to join the anti-communist Northwestern Army commanded by

Nikolai Yudenich Nikolai Nikolayevich Yudenich ( Russian: Николай Николаевич Юденич; – 5 October 1933) was a commander of the Russian Imperial Army during World War I. He was a leader of the anti-communist White movement in northweste ...

Lithuanian Army

In May 1919, on his way to

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, he stopped in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

where

Antanas Merkys Antanas Merkys (; 1 February 1887 – 5 March 1955) was the last Prime Minister of independent Lithuania, serving from November 1939 to June 1940. When the Soviet Union presented an ultimatum to Lithuania demanding that it accept a Soviet g ...

, Minister of Defence of Lithuania, offered him a position in the Lithuanian Army which sorely lacked experienced officers. At the time, he was the only officer who had graduated from a staff college or had experience serving in a

general staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

. He joined the army as an instructor and fought in the

. In November 1919, he joined the Lithuanian General Staff and had several roles (deputy to the

, acting Chief of the General Staff, quartermaster general) before serving as the Chief of the General Staff from 23 August 1920 to 13 April 1921. In February 1920, he participated in suppressing the Kaunas garrison mutiny. During 1920, he was a member of the Lithuanian delegation negotiating the

Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty The Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty, also known as the Moscow Peace Treaty, was signed between Lithuania and Soviet Russia on July 12, 1920. In exchange for Lithuania's neutrality and permission to move its troops in the territory that was rec ...

. From July 1921, he was the commander of the 2nd Infantry Division. At the same time, he taught

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

and tactics at courses of Kaunas Military Hospital and Higher Officers' Courses. On 6 January 1922, he was promoted to lieutenant general.

Retirement and espionage

Kleščinskis retired from active duty on 8 August 1923. During a party he made some comments against the government of President

Aleksandras Stulginskis Aleksandras Stulginskis (26 February 1885 – 22 September 1969) was the second President of Lithuania (1920–1926). Stulginskis was also acting President of Lithuania for a few hours later in 1926, following a military coup that was le ...

and that this government will be soon overthrown by a dictator. He received Lithuanian citizenship, of land near Kaunas, and a pension. He worked as a director of a cement plant in

Šiauliai Šiauliai ( ; ) is a city in northern Lithuania, the List of cities in Lithuania, country's fourth largest city and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, sixth largest city in the Baltic States, with a population of 112 581 in 202 ...

and established a company that planned to import wine from France to Russia. In 1924, while visiting Moscow, he was recruited by the Soviets and became an agent of the

(codename Ivanov 12). He was promised a monthly sum of 500

Lithuanian litas The Lithuanian litas (ISO 4217, ISO currency code LTL, symbolized as Lt; plural ''litai'' (nominative) or ''litų'' (genitive) was the currency of Lithuania, until 1 January 2015, when it was replaced by the euro. It was divided into 100 Cent ...

and help to his family members who lived in Russia. His wife died in 1925 leaving their 10-year-old son in care of Kleščinskis' mother and aunt who lived in poverty. On 11 May 1927, Kleščinskis asked to rejoin the Lithuanian Army but was refused. Lithuanian counterintelligence, commanded by Jonas Budrys, followed Kleščinskis and caught him red handed while transferring reports on the Lithuanian Army to a diplomatic representative of the Soviet Union. The representative was not arrested fearing diplomatic complications with the Soviets and was sent back to Moscow. Kleščinskis was arrested on 19 May 1927 and imprisoned in the Sixth Fort of

Kaunas Fortress Kaunas Fortress (, , ) is the remains of a fortress complex in Kaunas, Lithuania. It was constructed and renovated between 1882 and 1915 to protect the Russian Empire's western borders, and was designated a "first-class" fortress in 1887. During W ...

. On 31 May, he was found guilty, stripped of military ranks and pensions, and sentenced to death by a military court. The sentence was carried out by a firing squad the next day. His burial location is not known but believed to be near the Sixth Fort.

Awards

* Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd class (1905) * Order of St. Anna, 4th class (1905) and 3rd class (1916) *

Order of St. Vladimir The Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir () was an Imperial Russian order established on by Empress Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptizer of the Kievan Rus'. Grades The order had four ...

, 4th class (1915) * Cross of Vytis, 1st degree (1919)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klescinskis, Konstantinas 1879 births 1927 deaths Lithuanian generals 20th-century executions by Lithuania 20th-century executions of Lithuanian people Russian military personnel of the Russo-Japanese War Lithuanian military personnel in the Imperial Russian Army of World War I Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Vytis Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 3rd class Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 4th class People executed for spying for the Soviet Union People executed by Lithuania by firing squad Executed military leaders