Gundars Ābols

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Gundars Ābols (born July 9, 1964 in Riga ) is a former brigadier general of the Latvian armed forces . He later became politically active and in 2017 was appointed to the board of a subsidiary of the Latvian state railway .

Life

Gundars Ābols was born in the capital of what was then the Latvian SSR . After finishing school, he studied at what is now the Latvian Agricultural University from 1982 to 1987 .

In addition to his mother tongue, he is also proficient in English, French and Russian.

Military career

As part of the detachment of Latvia from the Soviet Union, Ābols joined the newly emerging National Guard ( Latvian Zemessardze ). In the next few years he took on various tasks there (including as a battalion commander). In 1996/97 he attended a training course at a French military academy. From August 1997 to November 20, 2000, he served as Chief of Staff at the Armed Forces Headquarters. On December 12, 2001, he took over the post of representative of the Latvian Armed Forces at NATO . In March 2002 he also took over the duties of military representative to the EU . During his tenure, which lasted until 2005, Latvia joined both NATO and the EU in 2004.

In 2007, with the rank of brigadier general, he took over the post of commander of the Baltic Defense Academy . He served there until 2010 when he was replaced by Meelis Kiili . On February 13, 2012, Ābols went into temporary retirement.

Later activities

After leaving the military, Ābols began to get involved in politics. He was one of the founding members of the Jaunā konservatīvā partija , but left after a falling out in 2019.

He also worked for the Latvian State Railways , whose logistics division he heads (as of 2019).

Web links

  • Biography of Gundars Ābols on the NATO website

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 2014. gada 4th octobra 12th Saeimas vēlēšanu deputātu kandidātu saraksti on http://sv2014.cvk.lv , accessed on November 10, 2016 (Latvian)
  2. ↑ a b "LDz Ritošā sastāva serviss" valdes locekļa amatā iecelts Gundars Ābols on https://www.ldz.lv , accessed on August 20, 2017 (Latvian)
  3. ↑ History of the Baltic Defense College , history overview at http://www.baltdefcol.org , accessed on November 10, 2016 (English)
  4. ↑ Brigādes ģenerālis Gundars Ābols atvaļinās no dienesta bruņotajos spēko , online report at http://www.sargs.lv from February 13, 2012, accessed on November 10, 2016 (Latvian)
  5. ↑ a b Founding member of New Conservatives quits in response to railways row , online report on https://eng.lsm.lv from May 23, 2019, accessed on May 24, 2019 (English)
personal data
SURNAME Ābols, Gundars
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Latvian Brigadier General
DATE OF BIRTH July 9, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Riga