Arto Räty

Arto Tuomas Räty (born 25 October 1955 in Parikkala, Finland) is a Finnish retired military officer with the rank of lieutenant general.

[1] During his career, Räty served e.g. in Brussels during 1994–1997 as the military attaché and as a liaison officer with NATO, and in the KFOR operation in Kosovo in 2000, as the head of the Finnish battalion.

[1] In 2006, Räty was in a committee recommended that Finland purchase Airbus A330 MRTT jets that could be used both by Finnair and the Finnish Defence Forces.

[2] The climax of Räty's career was his posting as the chief of staff of the Ministry of Defence during 2011–2015.

He sought a second five-year-term in this office, and was according to many the favourite among five candidates, and even tipped to become the next Commander-in-chief of the Finnish Armed Forces, but the Finnish Defence minister Jussi Niinistö nominated instead Major General of the Corps of Engineers Jukka Juusti for this post.