Alexander Zinchenko

Date of Birth: 16.04.1957

Place of Birth. Education. He was born in the city of Slavuta in the Khmelnytskyi region. In 1979, he graduated from Chernivtsi State University (Physicist, Physics Teacher). In 1982, he defended his candidate dissertation on semiconductor physics and dielectrics ahead of schedule. In 1992, he graduated from the Moscow Academy of Public Administration with a focus on Political Science.

Career. From 1979 to 1983, Zinchenko worked as an engineer at the Department of Theoretical Physics of Chernivtsi State University, studied in graduate school, and was a research assistant at the same department of the university.

From 1983 to 1992, he built a career in the Komsomol. He started as the deputy secretary of the university committee of the Komsomol and ended up as the chairman of the executive committee of the Coordinating Council of the Central Committee of the Komsomol in Moscow. His penultimate position in the Central Committee of the Komsomol was the head of the department for propaganda and agitation.

In the second half of 1992, he served as president of the Association of Youth Initiatives.

From 1992 to 1998, he was engaged in business. He held positions as the CEO of OOO Ometa-Mercantile, vice president of AO Balchug, deputy head of the representation of the Balchug company, and general director of ZAO IA Ukraine-Express. In 1995-1998, Zinchenko was the general director of ZAO Ukrainian Independent TV Production Company (TV channel Inter), which was established with his direct involvement.

In 1998 and 2002, he became a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. In the third parliamentary session, he headed the faction of the SDPU(o). In the fourth parliamentary session, he was the deputy speaker of Volodymyr Lytvyn (until January 2005).

As a deputy from 1998 to 2002, he held the position of honorary president of the Inter channel.

From January to September 2005, Zinchenko held the position of Secretary of State of Ukraine (head of the office of President Viktor Yushchenko).

After his resignation, he was vice president of the International Charitable Foundation 'Ukrainian Home' for several months, leading the strategy and development program. He then headed the public organization Institute for Strategy and Reforms.

Since October 2006, he has been an advisor to Ukrainian President Yushchenko.

On April 11, 2008, he was dismissed from his position as advisor to the head of state.

On February 11, 2009, he was appointed by the Timoshenko Cabinet as the director of the National Space Agency of Ukraine. After the power takeover by Mykola Azarov's government, he resigned on March 17, 2010.

Views and Assessments. Zinchenko became a well-known politician when he was still a deputy of SDPU(o) and the deputy head of the SDPU(o) Viktor Medvedchuk. After the 'split' with some prominent social democrats (one of the sources of conflict was reportedly Inter) and the loss of control over the powerful television channel during the presidential election of 2004, he drew closer to opposition politicians Yulia Tymoshenko and Yushchenko. He actively participated in the 'Orange Revolution'. His appointment as Secretary of State was a sign that he had found resonance in his new political camp.

It was precisely Zinchenko who turned out to be the spark that fully revealed the sharp conflict between the Tymoshenko and Yushchenko teams. On September 3, 2005, the politician submitted his resignation to the president. The head of state accepted the resignation and thanked him for his work. On September 5, a scandalous press conference of the former Secretary of State took place, during which he claimed that corruption and selfish interests of the closest circles of the president (as Tymoshenko called them, 'dear friends') were the reasons for his resignation. One of the main purposes of the conference was, according to one version, to cool the 'hot temper' of the head of the National Security and Defense Council, Peter Poroshenko, who at that time had made the Security Council a serious alternative to the Tymoshenko government. However, everyone fell victim to the personnel decisions of the president: both 'dear friends' and Tymoshenko's 'comrades'.

After the sensational press conference, Poroshenko and several members of the Our Ukraine party, who were mentioned in Zinchenko's accusations, filed lawsuits against the former Secretary of State. Zinchenko was represented by the lawyer and future deputy of Batkivshchyna Andriy Portnov. He did not manage to prove corrupt practices against the defendant.

In the 2006 parliamentary elections, Zinchenko made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the parliament as number 1 on the list of the newly formed party of patriotic forces of Ukraine. In October of the same year, Zinchenko's reappearance on Bankova Street surprised many politicians and experts, this time in the role of an advisor to the president. Since then, he had generally distanced himself from the public political scene. However, some observers wondered why Zinchenko remained among the president's advisors despite the former Secretary's closeness to Tymoshenko and the conflict between Yushchenko and his new team.

Some things became clearer after early elections to urban authorities were announced in the spring of 2008. A day before his resignation as an advisor to the president, Zinchenko was included in the top five of the candidate list of Batkivshchyna at the inter-party conference of Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc. 'I think there is no doubt that Alexander Zinchenko… is a worthy politician, a great patriot of Ukraine, and this person has actually proven with his actions that he… serves Ukraine,' said top candidate Tymoshenko about him.

Scientific Activity. He published 35 scientific papers in the field of semiconductor physics, 15 articles on the theory of youth movements, 20 works on global information systems and the role of the media, and 25 articles on the theory of development of modern political systems.

Awards. He was awarded the Order of 'For Merit' of the III degree. Academician of the National Television Academy of Ukraine. Since 2001, he has been the president of the Ukrainian All-Style Martial Arts and Sports Federation.

Family. The politician was married (his wife Iryna was a former host of Inter). He leaves behind two daughters - Yekaterina (born 1979) and Alexandra (born 1982).

Hobbies. Reading books (including 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull' and 'Master and Margarita'), music (classical, 'The Beatles'), martial arts.

Death. On June 9 2010, Alexander Zinchenko died at the Feofania hospital at the age of 53 from blood cancer, which he had fought for about 10 years. He was buried on June 11 at the Baikove cemetery in Kyiv.

10.06.2010