Ivan Kirilenko

Date of birth: 02.10.1956

Ivan Hryhorovych Kirilenko - Ukrainian politician. People's Deputy of Ukraine in the II., III., IV., V., VI., VII., VIII., IX. legislatures. Member of the Fatherland Party, deputy chairman of the party. In 2003-2004 he was chairman of the Agrarian Party of Ukraine, member of the Politburo of the People's Party (2003-2005). Doctor of Economic Sciences (2001), candidate of Historical Sciences. Corresponding member of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine (2002).

Place of birth. Education. Born in Berestovoye, Berdyansk district, Zaporizhzhia region. Graduated from Dnipropetrovsk Agricultural Institute in 1978, 1991 - Academy of Public Sciences under the Central Committee of the CPSU (Moscow). Doctor of Economic Sciences (2001).

Career. 1978-1981 - Second, First Secretary of the District Committee of the Lenin Communist Youth Union in the Dnipro region.

1981-1985 - Secretary, Second Secretary of the Regional Committee of the Lenin Communist Youth Union in Dnipropetrovsk.

1985-1987 - Deputy Chairman, Chairman of the Collective Farm im. Petrovsky, Soloniansk district, Dnipropetrovsk region.

1987-1988 - Deputy Head of Agriculture and Food Industry Department of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine in Dnipropetrovsk.

1988-1990 - First Secretary of the District Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine in Magdalinow.

1990-1991 - Head of Agriculture and Food Industry Department of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine in Dnipropetrovsk.

1991-1992 - Deputy Head of the Department, Head of Agricultural Products of AG 'Dnipropetrovsk Goods and Raw Materials Exchange'.

1992-1994 - Secretary of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Administration.

Since 1994 - Deputy Chairman of the Regional Council of People's Deputies of Dnipropetrovsk, Pavlo Lazarenko.

1995-1996 - First Deputy Governor of the Dnipro region.

1999 - Member of the National Council on Youth Policy under President Leonid Kuchma.

The peak of Kirilenko's career fell in the new millennium. From January 2000 to April 2002, he served as Minister of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine in the governments of Viktor Yushchenko and Anatoliy Kinakh. In 2000, he was a member of the government committee for reforming the agricultural sector and environmental issues.

From November 2002 to February 2005, he was the 'agricultural' Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine in the cabinet of Viktor Yanukovych, the leader of the Party of Regions.

He was elected as a People's Deputy of Ukraine, starting in 1995 (Verkhovna Rada of the II legislature).

In the third legislature, he was elected to parliament from the Lazarenko group, the faction he belonged to in 1998-1999. After that, he was a member of the Fatherland Party faction, led by the future controversial opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

In the 2002 elections, he led the central election headquarters of the 'pro-Kuchma' block For a United Ukraine! with Volodymyr Lytvyn at the helm. He then became a member of the United Ukraine and Agrarians of Ukraine faction. He entered the Verkhovna Rada of the V. and VI. legislatures through the lists of Yulia Tymoshenko's block and became a member of the Tymoshenko party Fatherland.

After the early elections of 2007 and the transition of Tymoshenko and her right-hand man Oleksandr Turchynov into the government, he led the BYuT faction.

In various legislative periods of parliament, Kirilenko was a member of the parliamentary committee on agricultural and land resources as well as social rural development, headed the committee on youth policy, sports and physical culture, was a member of the committee on European integration (responsible for cooperation with the EU and WTO).

Since December 2012, he has been a People's Deputy of Ukraine of the VII legislatures for the Fatherland party (No. 15 on the list). Member of the Parliament Committee on European Integration.

On October 25, 2014, he was elected as a People's Deputy of Ukraine of the VIII legislatures from the party list of the political party All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland, No. 14 on the party list. In the Verkhovna Rada, he is a member of the Fatherland faction. Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Science, Innovation Management and Intellectual Property of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on Science and Education.

In the early parliamentary elections of 2019, he was elected as a People's Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of the IX legislatures for the Fatherland party, No. 6 on the party list.

Views and Assessments. After Tymoshenko was appointed Prime Minister of Ukraine, the 'orphaned' BYuT faction entrusted Kirilenko with the role of its leader. As it seems, not by chance, since Lady Yu considers him her godfather and mentor in politics.

The career of the 'father' impresses with the succession of peaks and the absence of loud crashes and scandals around his person. And that even in times of extremely difficult relations between Tymoshenko and her entourage and the secretariat of President Yushchenko, which developed after the collapse of the BYuT-NUNS coalition in September 2008 and before the presidential elections. Observers believe that the renewed attempt by the authorities to extradite the ex-prime minister Lazarenko, convicted in the USA, is directed against Tymoshenko. Kirilenko, however, allows himself to calmly state that he occasionally contacts his former boss and a controversial figure in Ukrainian politics. And he regrets the scandalous history surrounding Lazarenko, saying 'unfortunately, that's how it happened.'

Awards. Awarded with the Order of 'For Merit', II class. Honored Worker of Agriculture of Ukraine. Corresponding member of the Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences.

Family. The politician is married and has a daughter.

03.10.2023