Igor Schvede (born on 5 December 1970) is an Estonian Rear Admiral and the former Commander of the

Estonian Navy The Estonian Navy ( et, Merevägi) are the unified naval forces among the Estonian Defence Forces. With only six commissioned ships and displacement well under 10,000 tonnes, the Estonian navy is one of the smallest navies in the world. Its sh ...

from 2007 to 2012.

Biography

Schvede was born in 1970 in, his military career began at the Leningrad Nakhimov Naval School. He later joined the Soviet Navy, receiving education at the Frunze Naval Academy (now the St. Petersburg Naval Institute), where he graduated with a

bachelors A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

Electromechanical Engineering In engineering, electromechanics combines processes and procedures drawn from electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Electromechanics focuses on the interaction of electrical and mechanical systems as a whole and how the two systems ...

. Schvede was commissioned in 1993 in the navy, the beginning of which he participated in the withdrawal of the

Soviet Armed Forces The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and th ...

from Estonia. He has commanded Estonian two patrol craft. In 2005, he was deployed to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. In 2012, he graduated from US Naval Command College. From 2007 to 2012, he commanded

. From 2013 to 2016, Schvede was Chief of Staff at the

Headquarters of the Estonian Defence Forces The Headquarters of the Estonian Defence Forces is the working body of the Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces and joint staff of the Estonian Defence Forces. Its main tasks include supporting the activities of the Commander and Deputy Comm ...

In August 2016, he was appointed as Estonia's representative to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. Since 2021, he has been an advisor at the Ministry of Defence. Schvede was given the rank of Rear Admiral in February 2020. He is a recipient of the

Order of the Cross of the Eagle The Order of the Cross of the Eagle ( et, Kotkaristi teenetemärk; french: Ordre de la Croix de l'Aigle) was instituted in 1928 by the Estonian Defence League to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Estonian independence. It was adopted as a st ...

of the Defence League.

Personal life

He is fluent in Estonian, English and Russian.

References

Living people 1970 births Estonian admirals Estonian people of Russian descent {{Estonia-mil-bio-stub