Yuriy Kostenko

For other uses, see Kostenko.
Yuriy Kostenko
Юрій Іванович Костенко
December 2009
2nd Minister of Natural Environment Protection
In office
13 October 1992  May 1998
Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma
Vitaliy Masol
Yevhen Marchuk
Pavlo Lazarenko
Valeriy Pustovoitenko
Preceded by Yuriy Shcherbak
Succeeded by Vasyl Shevchuk
Personal details
Born 12 June 1951
Nationality Ukrainian
Other political
affiliations
People's Movement of Ukraine (1989–1999)
Alma mater Zaporizhzhya Machine-building Institute

Yuriy Kostenko (Ukrainian: Юрій Іванович Костенко; born 6 December 1951[1] in Nova Obodivka, Vinnytsia Oblast) is a Ukrainian politician and leader of the Ukrainian People's Party.[2]

Biography

Kostenko holds a Ph.D from the Zaporizhia Institute of Machine-building. In 1989, he became one of the founders of Rukh and has been a Member of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) since 1990 (except in 2006).[3][4] In 2002 as a member of Our Ukraine.[5] From 1992 to 1998 he served as the minister of environmental protection.[3] Kostenko was a candidate at the Ukrainian presidential election, 1999 where he received 2.17% of votes.[2] Kostenko was involved in Ukraine’s nuclear disarmament, which he later regretted, and in dealing with the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster.[6]

Before the parliamentary elections in 2006 Kostenko initiated the creation of a coalition known as Ukrainian National Bloc of Kostenko and Plyushch who has acquired 1.9% of the vote and did not exceed the 3% threshold of the election.

In July 2007 Kostenko and Ivan Plyushch joined together the block Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc and both got re-elected as MP. Unlike many allies of Yushchenko, Kostenko did not defected from the Our Ukraine grouping in parliament.[6]

Kostenko was a candidate in the 2010 presidential election, his party program included recognizing Ukrainian Insurgent Army veterans,[6] during the election he received 0,22% of the votes.[7]

Kostenko's Ukrainian People's Party competed on one single party under "umbrella" party Our Ukraine in the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, together with Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists; this list won 1.11% of the national votes and no constituencies and thus failed to win parliamentary representation.[8][9] Kostenko was second the election list of Our Ukraine.[10] He did not participate in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[11]

References

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Leader of Ukrainian People's Party
1999–2013
Succeeded by
Oleksandr Klymenko