Former Navy chief Igor Schvede appointed chief of staff

Photo: Kaitseministeerium

Defense Minister Urmas Reinsalu has appointed Navy Capt. Igor Schvede, deputy chief of staff of the defense forces and former commander of the Navy, as the new chief of staff of the Estonian defense forces effective from July 8.

Schvede will take over from Brig. Gen. Peeter Hoppe, whose next position is that of Estonia's representative at NATO's Allied Command Operations, spokespeople for the Defense Ministry told BNS.

"As a very experienced planner, the task of Brig. Gen. Peeter Hoppe will be to help set out NATO defense plans. This is directly connected with Estonia's security interests," the minister was quoted by spokespeople as saying.

"I made a proposal to Brig. Gen. Hoppe to take up the post of Estonian representative at Allied Command Operations," said the commander of the defense forces, Maj. Gen. Riho Terras. "Estonia needs at Allied Command Operations an experienced officer like Hoppe and vice versa – Brig. Gen. Hoppe has experience of how a small country must build up its defense forces so that it had maximum capability to defend itself. Estonia's initial independent defense capability and NATO collective defense must be united into an unbreakable defensive shield," the defense chief said.

Peeter Hoppe, 52, started service in the Estonian defense forces as platoon commander in the Kuperjanov battalion in 1993 and moved up the ranks to the position of commander of the battalion. He served in the defense forces' operations department from 2000 to 2002 and was the Army's chief of staff from 2002 to 2005. After service at Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum Hoppe returned to Estonia and was appointed chief of staff in 2011.

Igor Schvede, 42, has served in the Estonian defense forces since 1993. He started service in the mine countermeasures (MCM) division where he ascended to the position of commander of the division and served as commander of the joint Baltic MCM squadron BALTRON. He then served as commander of the Navy and was appointed deputy chief of staff of the defense forces in September 2011.

Schvede has served at the Allied Maritime Component Command Northwood and in 2006 he served on the NATO operation in Afghanistan as liaison officer for the ISAF headquarters at the Afghan Ministry of Defense.

Schvede is a graduate of the Nakhimov Naval School, the Frunze Higher Naval School in St. Petersburg and the senior officers course at the Baltic Defense College. In 2012 he completed a naval warfare course at the US Naval War College.