The president’s decrees #301, #302 and #303  that appeared Friday on the official website of the president bring in a new Intelligence head dismissing  thelieutenant general Valeriy Kondratiuk who was at the helm of the  Intelligence agency since June 5, 2020.

Oleksandr Lytvynenko who worked as a director of National Institute for Strategic Studies now steps in as a new Foreign Intelligence Service head.

Oleksandr Lytvynenko. Photo: niss.gov.ua

 

Who is Oleksandr Lytvynenko?

A 49- years old Kyiv-native  is a PhD in Political Sciences and a major general of the reserve.

Education

According to the website of the National Institute for Strategic Studies (where information about Litvinenko’s professional path is still available), in 1994, he graduated from the Institute of Cryptography, Communications and Informatics of the Academy of Federal Counterintelligence Service of the Russian Federation with a degree in Applied Mathematics. In 2015, he was ‘vetted’ by lustration inspection.

Lytvynenko is a graduate of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (2009), and UK Royal College of Defense Studies (2013).

Career

In 1994-1998, Lytvynenko was a senior officer of the SBU’s Department of Government Communications.

In 1998-2005, he worked at the National Institute for Strategic Studies. Later, until 2007, Lytvynenko worked for the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

In 2007-2009, he was Deputy Head of the Information and Analytical Department of the Security Service of Ukraine. In 2010-2014 Lytvynenko was Deputy Director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies.

In 2014-2019, he held the position of Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.

In August 2019, Lytvynenko became the director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies.

Lytvynenko also worked part-time as a lecturer at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.