Recently, a Ukrainian politician, former head of the country's Security Service and chief military intelligence officer announced his desire to run in the presidential elections in Ukraine in March 2019. On his pages in social networks, he said that he had begun preparing documents for registration with the CEC and expressed confidence in his own victory.
Education
Igor was born on August 17, 1955 in the Cherkasy region. His childhood years were spent in the small town of Khristinovka. The graduate of the school passed military service in the ranks of the Soviet army and decided to devote himself to the cause of defending the Motherland. The young man entered the Kiev anti-aircraft missile school, which he graduated in 1977 with honors. Several years later, in the same educational institution, he graduated from postgraduate studies. I must say that Smeshko has always attached great importance to his own education and has been improving it all the time. In 2000, he graduated from the National Defense Academy with an MA in Military Management. Two years later, he became a certified lawyer after completing his studies at the Taras Shevchenko University of the capital. Behind the shoulders of the politician are special courses in the USA, Sweden, Great Britain. All of them are associated with the activities of national intelligence and special services.
Military career
Since 1992, Smeshko began his career in the country's military department, served as the executive secretary at the scientific council. For the next three years he served as the military attaché for Ukrainian-American cooperation in defense matters. Then he held a responsible post in the Intelligence Committee, was the head of the department of this organization. Since the early 2000s, he represented Ukraine in various international organizations. For several years Smeshko headed the Ukrainian Security Council and the country's Security Service. In 2005, he completed his career with the rank of Colonel General.
Politics
After the end of his military career, a new period began in the biography of Igor Petrovich. He decided to apply his extensive experience in leadership work and the acquired knowledge in the political arena. In 2006, he became the head of the national think tank for strategy research. In 2009, Smeshko became the head of the all-Ukrainian public organization Power and Honor, and then the party of the same name. For the first time, the political movement brought together representatives of power structures: military, police, special forces, as well as civil servants - about seven hundred thousand people in order to represent themselves in a single wave in the Ukrainian parliament. The name of the party emphasized the strength of these people and the fact that they were familiar with the concept of "honor" firsthand.
For a long time the Ministry of Justice did not register the organization of security veterans, but after months of bureaucratic delays, it declared itself as a force counting on the support of the population. The electorate of the party is not only the siloviki, but also representatives of science and culture, middle-level business and students. According to the head of Strength and Honor, the Ukrainian law-abiding people have been far from political life for a long time, and now the time has come to act as a united force against the violation of the norms of the Constitution and the collapse of the legal field. The party consisted of about one and a half tens of thousands of participants aged 40-50 years - "not yet old people with an active life position." Igor Petrovich himself considered himself a professional officer and was not going to go to the polls, although the leader received absolute support from his colleagues. The party was ready to support any of the candidates who would share their views and positions.
In 2005, Smeshko was involved in a high-profile scandal involving the figure of President Yushchenko. An investigation was carried out on suspicion of dioxin poisoning of the current head of state, but this fact was not finally confirmed. The victim refused to be tested, only after two court sessions from the Austrian clinic came documents that did not confirm the poisoning. Igor Petrovich, as the head of the SBU, controlled this process.
During the events of Euromaidan, Smeshko criticized the actions of the country's leadership and the Berkut special forces, which used force during the confrontations in Kiev in the winter of 2014. President Poroshenko offered Igor Petrovich the position of adviser, and after that he appointed him the head of the Intelligence Committee. The politician considered it his great personal merit that during the first Maidan in 2004, when he was in charge of the Ukrainian Security Service, the blood of civilians was not shed and the confrontation ended peacefully.
For the elections of 2014 and 2016, "Strength and Honor" (SICH) came with a specific program, the main directions of which were: protecting the security and defense of the state, overcoming the crisis, eliminating corruption, further developing science and culture, improving social policy and fostering patriotism. The leader of the movement advocated democratic values and the humanization of Ukrainian society, because Ukraine has finally decided on the chosen course of European integration and must unswervingly follow it.
How does he live today
Very little is known about the politician's personal life. He is married and has two sons. Most of the time is occupied by work, so there is almost no time for family and hobbies. The politician has long been fond of European philosophy and culture, fluently communicates in several foreign languages. In his personal piggy bank there are more than a hundred scientific inventions - a contribution to the development of domestic high-precision weapons.
In announcing his decision to run for president, in a recent interview, the candidate named among his first steps in this post the restoration of the economy and the tax system, as well as the return of Crimea and Donbass. Smeshko is not ready to cooperate with oligarchs, but he places great bets on representatives of small and medium-sized businesses. He is not afraid of responsibility, is honest with his constituents, and is even ready to go through a lie detector if necessary.
Over the years of work in law enforcement agencies, he collected information about many figures who have emerged on the Ukrainian political Olympus, starting in 1991. In the coming months, it will become clear whether the famous politician will use the available incriminating evidence or his own charisma will help him become the new president of Ukraine.
