President Ilves: Even one man is a soldier at the battlefield

TALLINN – Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves thanked Ants Laaneots, who on Monday [Dec. 5] ended his five-year term in office as Commander-in-chief of Estonian Defense Forces, for his contribution of several decades into strengthening Estonia’s defense ability, National Broadcasting reports.

“Today and here we can state how accurate the saying is that even one man is a soldier at the battlefield. This has been proven by General Ants Laaneots, one of the restorers of the Estonian Defense Forces and an officer who has upheld the job of the Defense Forces chief in a dignified manner for the past five years,” Ilves said at the ceremony where the Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Forces post was transferred to Riho Terras.

Terras was previously the chief of headquarters of the Defense Forces, meaning that now the search for the new headquarters chief was launched. The candidate will be submitted to Riigikogu State Defense Committee and the government in the coming weeks.