Oleksandr Skipalskyi
Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Skipalskyi (Ukrainian: Олександр Олександрович Скіпальський, born March 12, 1945) is a Ukrainian military officer and intelligence officer. He spent more than 20 years as a Soviet border guard and in military counterintelligence. He was born in the village of Vyzhhiv, Volyn Oblast, and grew up in Yenakiieve, Donetsk Oblast, where he finished school and a vocational college.
In 1968 he graduated from the Moscow Border Guard Military College and then served with Ukraine’s border guard troops. In 1975 he finished the KGB Higher School and worked as a counterintelligence officer in the Russian Far East (Siberia and the Kuril Islands). In 1987 he returned to Ukraine and served in KGB special divisions.
In October 1990 he was expelled from the Communist Party. From 1990 to 1992 he worked for the agricultural bank "Ukraine." From 1992 to 1997 he headed the Chief Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, helping to build a new intelligence agency. He was also elected a People's Deputy of Ukraine.
From 1997 to 2004 he was deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine, deputy minister of Emergencies, and an adviser to the minister of Justice. In 2004 he led the security service for presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko. In 2006–2007 he was the head of the Security Service's regional office in Donetsk Oblast.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 11:13 (CET).