Ivan Bokiy

Date of birth: 20.02.1942

Place of birth. Education.

He was born in the village of Pronozovka in the Globinsky District of the Poltava region. In 1968, he graduated from the Journalism Faculty of the Kyiv University T. Shevchenko.

Career. In the 1960s, he worked as a journalist for the newspaper Socialist Gradijtschina. From 1962 to 1974, Ivan Bokiy headed the department and was the deputy editor-in-chief of the Globinsky newspaper Zarja Kommunizma. For the next eight years, he led the regional magazine of the Komsomol of Poltava. From 1982 to 1987, he was the editor-in-chief of the republican newspaper Molodzh Ukrainy, and from 1987 to 1998, he was the deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper Selskiye Vesti, which became the main publication of the Socialist Party during independence.

Bokiy has been a three-time people's deputy of Ukraine since 1998. He is a member of the Socialist faction. In the Verkhovna Rada, he was involved in the Foreign Affairs and CIS Committee, and he continued his work in this committee in the fourth Rada. In the fifth Rada, he became the first deputy chairman of the Committee for Eurointegration.

In December 2006, Bokiy became the faction leader of the Socialists after his predecessor Vasily Tsushko was appointed Minister of Interior.

In the early parliamentary elections of 2007, the Socialists did not make it into Parliament.

Views and evaluations. In an interview, the politician stated that his parliamentary faction effectively has a dual leadership: there is an official leader, but the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Alexander Moros, who is also the leader of the Socialist Party, also leads the faction. According to experts, Bokiy is a reliable supporter of Moros and is ready to clearly follow the given line, you should not expect any unexpected surprises from the party leader. This was fully confirmed by Bokiy during the prolonged political crisis, which was accompanied by a sharp struggle between the coalition movement and President Viktor Yushchenko, at the height of which the head of state decided to dissolve the Verkhovna Rada of the V Rada prematurely. Like the party leader of the Socialists, the faction leader of the Socialists rejected the president's initiative and held elections to Parliament.

According to Bokiy's statements, the Socialist Party has no particular inclination towards the 'orange' or regionalists. According to him, the desire to join the 'oranges' was probably expressed only by individual Joseph Vinski and Galina Harmasch (immediately after the Socialist Party joined the coalition with the Party of Regions and the CPU). Politician believes that their step is determined not by ideological motives but by personal motives.

Regarding entrepreneurs and business managers who joined the Socialist Party, Bokiy sees no inclination towards regions or any other direction. 'They are pragmatic people, they know what they want, so their interests sometimes coincide with the pragmatists of other factions... This requires economic development now,' he says. As for oligarchs, in his opinion, there are none in the Socialist Party, only 'oligarchs' (for example, at that time, the Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolai Rudkovski).

Award. Ivan Bokiy has been an Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine since 1980. He is a holder of the Order of Merit of the USSR, a laureate of the Republic Prize named after J. Galan, and the international Ukrainian prize named after G. Skovoroda.

Works. Author of the book Essays 'Branch of the Pushkin clan', the series 'Let's talk, friend', 'In daylight', which were published during the Soviet era.

Family, hobbies. The politician has a daughter. Hobbies include reading literature, video films, and poetry.

Death. Ivan Bokiy died on March 24, 2020, at the age of 79.

25.03.2020