Ihor_Smeshko

Ihor Smeshko

Ihor Smeshko

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Colonel General Ihor Petrovych Smeshko (Ukrainian: Ігор Петрович Смешко, born 17 August 1955) served as the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) from 2003 to 2005, where he supported the opposition during the Orange Revolution.[1] In 2010, he entered politics with the Strength and Honor party, which he formed with several former security and intelligence officials.[2] He was chairman of the Intelligence Committee under the President of Ukraine (from October 7, 2014, to March 12, 2015).[3]

Quick Facts Head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Preceded by ...

Smeshko was registered as a candidate in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election.[4] In the election he took 6th place with 6.04% of the vote.[5]

Biography

Born in 1955 in Khrystynivka, Cherkasy Region, Smeshko has made a career as a professional soldier-scholar. He holds a doctorate in Military Cybernetics and served as professor of information systems and systems analysis, publishing over 100 papers. In 1992, he became secretary of the Science Advisory Council of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. That same year he was reassigned as Defense Attache to the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington D.C. where he spent 4 years.[6] While there he negotiated a memorandum of military cooperation with the United States during that time. In 1995, Smeshko was awarded a general's star and recalled to Ukraine to lead the president's committee on intelligence, which he did for 3 years. In 1997, Smeshko was appointed Chief Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine where he uncovered "massive fraud" in weapons end-user certificate production indicative of arms trafficking at the SBU, then headed by Leonid Derkach. Smeshko implemented stricter controls, particularly for the Kolchuga air defense system.[7]

In 2000, facing political attacks organized by the SBU, Smeshko resigned from his post as head of the Military Intelligence Directorate and assumed the post of Defense Attache to Switzerland,[6] a demotion. In this position, he negotiated a memorandum of military cooperation with Switzerland. In 2002, Smeshko completed a master's degree in Military Administration and a Law Degree from Shevchenko University in Kyiv. In late 2002, Leonid Kuchma asked Smeshko to return to Ukraine to assist him in handling accusations made by the U.S. State Department that Ukraine had sold the Kolchuga system to Iraq. Later that year, Derkach was fired and Smeshko was appointed head of the SBU. He immediately set into action with a plan to preserve documents, replace top management and reorganize the agency with new pay scales and a mission focused away from KGB style secret political police.[1][7]

Smeshko was instrumental in the prevention of military action against the civil protests in late 2004. He demanded General Popkov stop his efforts to crack down on the protesters, as the General was mustering 10,000 troops to do so. The SBU and the military intelligence directorate worked to block the fraudulent ascension of Viktor Yanukovich, supporting Viktor Yushchenko.[1] In 2005, Yushchenko fired Smeshko from the SBU.[7]

In 2014 President Petro Poroshenko appointed Smeshko as his adviser.[6] Subsequently, he led the Intelligence Committee under the President.[6]

Smeshko was a candidate in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election.[4] In the election he took 6th place with 6.04% of the vote.[5]

Smeshko was number one on the party list of the political party Strength and Honor in the July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[8] But in the election the party won 3.82%, not enough to clear the 5% election threshold and thus no parliamentary seats.[9] The party also failed to win a constituency seat.[10]

Smeshko was a candidate for Mayor of Kyiv for the party Strength and Honor in the 2020 Kyiv local election.[11][12] He finished 7th place with 22.418 votes.[13]

Besides his native Ukrainian, Smeshko speaks fluent English, German and French.[7]

Controversies

Yushchenko poisoning

A parliamentary commission investigating in October 2004 confirmed that Smeshko dined with Viktor Yushchenko on the night of September 5, 2004, where he may have been poisoned. Yushchenko claims to have fallen ill about 3 hours after the dinner and sought medical treatment the following day.[7][14][15] Smeshko denies the allegations, citing the existence of several other theories regarding the poisoning, and claims that the allegations were made by Kuchma supporters from within the security services, including former SBU chief Derkach.[7]

Awards and honorary titles

  • Medal "For Military Service of Ukraine" (November 23, 1998)[16]
  • State Prize of Ukraine in the field of science and technology (2004)[17]
  • Honorary Master of the Joint Intelligence Institute at the National Defense Academy of Ukraine

References

  1. [1]
    C. J. Chivers, BACK CHANNELS: A Crackdown Averted; How Top Spies in Ukraine Changed the Nation's Path, , New York Times, January 17, 2005
  2. [2]
    John Marone, Ihor Smeshko, ex-spy chief, enters politics, , Kyiv Post, April 28, 2010
  3. [3]
    "Being a Chairman".
  4. [4]
    (in Ukrainian) Zelensky told when he presented his key five team, Ukrayinska Pravda (19 March 2019)
  5. [5]
    "Power and Honor party: A fresh rating for the 2019 parliamentary elections". RBC Ukraine (in Ukrainian). 10 June 2019.
  6. [6]
    (in Ukrainian) Ex-head of the SBU decided to go to the presidency, Ukrayinska Pravda (13 January 2019)
  7. [7]
    George Woloshyn, Ihor Smeshko: The man in the iron mask, , Kyiv Post, Jan. 15, 2010
  8. [8]
    "Leader of Strength and Honor party Smeshko names first ten leaders on list of candidates in parliamentary election".
  9. [9]
    CEC counts 100 percent of vote in Ukraine's parliamentary elections, Ukrinform (26 July 2019)
  10. [10]
    CEC counts 100 percent of vote in Ukraine's parliamentary elections, Ukrinform (26 July 2019)
    (in Russian) Results of the extraordinary elections of the People's Deputies of Ukraine 2019, Ukrayinska Pravda (21 July 2019)
  11. [11]
    (in Ukrainian) The former head of the SBU went to the mayor of Kyiv, Ukrayinska Pravda (28 September 2020)
  12. [12]
    Rada appoints next elections to local self-govt bodies for Oct 25, Interfax-Ukraine (15 July 2020)
  13. [13]
    На виборах мера Києва переміг Кличко: хто пройшов до Київміськради [Klitschko won the Kyiv mayoral election: who went to the Kyiv City Council]. 24 Kanal (in Ukrainian). 6 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  14. [14]
    Susanna Loof, Doctors say Yushchenko was poisoned,, Associated Press, StAugustine.com, December 12, 2004
  15. [15]
    Emma Ross, Yushchenko's dioxin poison level 6,000 times higher than normal, , Associated Press, StAugustine.com, December 16, 2004
  16. [16]
    "Про нагородження відзнаками Президента України військовослужбовців Збройних Сил України". zakon.rada.gov.ua. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
  17. [17]
    "Смешко Iгор Петрович". logos-ukraine.com.ua. Retrieved 2021-03-09.

See also

See also: Security Service of Ukraine
See also: Orange Revolution
See also: Ukraine–United States relations
See also: Chief Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine
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