Yevhen Kushnaryov

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yevhen Kushnaryov
Євген Кушнарьов
Yevhen Kushnaryov
In office
1994 – 1996
In office
1996 – 1998
In office
2000 – 2004
In office
2006 – 2007
Born January 29, 1951(1951-01-29)
Flag of the Soviet Union Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Died January 17, 2007 (aged 55)
Flag of Ukraine Izium, Ukraine

Yevhen Petrovych Kushnaryov (Ukrainian: Євген Петрович Кушнарьов, Jevhen Petrovyč Kušnar'ov; Russian: Евгений Петрович Кушнарёв, Evgenij Petrovič Kušnarëv) (January 29, 1951 - January 17, 2007) was a prominent Ukrainian politician of the post-Soviet era. Kushnaryov was considered one of the chief ideologues of the Party of Regions and a key ally of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

Contents

[edit] Early Life

Yevhen Kushnaryov was born in Kharkiv to migrants from Russia in 1951. [1] He graduated from the Kharkiv Engineering-Construction Institute in 1973, and for several years thereafter worked at a local factory of concrete and steel manufacturing. [2]

[edit] Political career

Kushnaryov became a member of the Communist Party in 1981. In 1989, during the Glasnost era, he joined the pro-democracy movement in the Ukrainian SSR. In 1990 Kushnaryov was elected to both the Kharkiv city council and the Verkhovna Rada, where he took part in formulating the fledgling country's constitution, and in 1994 he became mayor of the city of Kharkiv. [3]

Yevhen Kushnaryov in the Verkhovna Rada.
Yevhen Kushnaryov in the Verkhovna Rada.

Afterwards, Kushnaryov served as Leonid Kuchma's chief of staff from 1996 to 1998, and as governor of the Kharkiv Oblast from 2000 to 2004.

During the election crisis of 2004, Kushnaryov agitated for the creation of an independent southeastern Ukrainian state in the case of Viktor Yushchenko's victory. This caused him to be arrested on charges of separatism, that were eventually dropped. Following the Orange Revolution, Kushnaryov joined Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions and in 2006 he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada on the Party of Regions ticket.

Kushnaryov quickly became one of the leaders of the party along with Yanukovych and Rinat Akhmetov. Considered by many to be among the party's main ideologues, Kushnaryov could be frequently seen on television debating public policy. [4] In 2006 he published a book (Red Horse: Notes of a Counterrevolutionary) denouncing the Orange Revolution. [5]

[edit] Death

On January 15, 2007 Kushnaryov was accidentally shot in the liver while hunting with a group of friends and colleagues, and died two days later in a hospital in Izium. A two-day period of mourning was declared in Kharkiv over the death of the former governor. [6] [7]

[edit] Legacy

  • Yevhen Kushnaryov is survived by his wife, two children, and two grandchildren.[8]
  • Aссording to the Ukrainian Wikipedia, a future station of the Kharkiv Metro will be named after Kushnaryov.[9]

[edit] Honors and Distinctions

[edit] Trivia

  • Although his Ukrainian name was Yevhen (Євген), Kushnaryov personally preferred to use the Russified form Yevheniy (Євгеній) when writing in Ukrainian. [10]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kushnaryov.com "Biography" (Ukrainian)
  2. ^ Ibid
  3. ^ Ibid
  4. ^ 5tv.com.ua "Channel 5: Video Archive" (Ukrainian)
  5. ^ Yevhen Kushnaryov Red Horse: Notes of a Counterrevolutionary (Russian)/(Ukrainian) (Online PDF version)
  6. ^ Kushnaryov.com "Yevheniy Kushnaryov's funeral will take place on Friday, January 19th" (Ukrainian)
  7. ^ Lenta.ru "Two-day period of mourning declared over Kushnarev in Kharkov" (Russian)
  8. ^ Kushnaryov.com "Biography" (Ukrainian)
  9. ^ [1] Ukrainian Wikipedia(Ukrainian)
  10. ^ Kushnaryov.com "Yevheniy Kushnaryov - Personal Website" (Ukrainian)

[edit] External links