Vyacheslav Kirilenko is a Ukrainian politician who has been a deputy of the Supreme Council of Ukraine for several years now. He began his political career at a fairly young age, joining the People’s Movement party in 1993. After 5 years, he becomes the elected representative in the Supreme Council (III convocation), running for office from the NRU.
Biography: birth and youth
Vyacheslav Anatolyevich Kirilenko (06/07/1968) was born in the small village of Polesskoye, which is located in the Kiev region.
From 1984 to 1987 he was a cadet of the Kherson Naval College. He graduated in 1993, graduating from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - Faculty of Philosophy. In the same educational institution in 1996 he graduated from graduate school. In 1997, Vyacheslav Kirilenko defended his thesis and received a Ph.D. in Philosophy.
From the end of 1989 to the spring of 1992, he was a member of the Ukrainian Student Union and served as chairman of the secretariat from 1992 to 1993.
Active participation in protests
In the fall of 1990, a student hunger strike was held in Kiev, which was called the "revolution on granite." The strike led to the resignation of Vitaliy Masol (chairman of the Council of Ministers of Ukraine). This event accelerated the signing of a document declaring Ukraine an independent state.
One of the initiators of the student protest was Vyacheslav Kirilenko. The politician’s biography contains other equally significant events that changed the political situation in the country.
So, in 2004, as a member of the Our Ukraine party, he actively participated in the revolution, which they called the “orange”. Protests in 2013-2014, which served as the removal from power of President Yanukovych, arose after the signing of the association document with the European Union. This entailed a wave of student strikes that grew into a movement called the “revolution of dignity.” Vyacheslav Kirilenko, along with other opposition politicians, took an active part in the protests.
Political career
The main dates of a biography related to a political career:
- Vyacheslav joins the ranks of the People's Rukh of Ukraine (1993). From October 93 to April 94 is a member of the Small Council of the NRU.
- From 1993 to 2002 he was the head of the Young Ruh All-Ukrainian Youth Society.
- In the 1998 parliamentary elections he ran for the party of the NRU and became a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada in the third convocation (until April 2002). During this period, he served as secretary in the committee on social policy and labor. He was listed under number 18 on the list of a political party.
- Vyacheslav Kirilenko was Deputy Yuri Kostenko (Head of the Movement) from December 1999 to January 2003.
- In 2002, passes to parliament (IV convocation) from the political bloc "Our Ukraine". It occupies the 20th position in the party list.
- During the presidential race in 2004, he was the representative of the candidate Viktor Yushchenko.
- Under the government of the Prime Minister, Tymoshenko Yu.V. was in the position of Minister of Labor and Social Policy (February-September 2005).
- In the cabinet of ministers under the leadership of Yuri Yekhanurov (2005-2006), he served as deputy prime minister for humanitarian and social policy.
- Head of the People’s Union party in the Our Ukraine bloc since April 2007.
- In 2007, he was elected to the Supreme Council of Ukraine for the third time (VI convocation). In the list of the fraction "Our Ukraine" was listed at number 2.
- When creating a parliamentary coalition between the BYuT and OU factions, according to the agreement, he was to take the post of head of the Supreme Council. But he voluntarily resigned after negotiations with President Yushchenko.
- At the end of 2008, resigned as head of the faction.
- In early 2009, Vyacheslav Kirilenko and his supporters left the Our Ukraine faction.
- He became the head of the public organization “For Ukraine!”, Which was reorganized into the same political force.
- In 2011, he became one of the organizers of the Committee on Resistance to Dictatorship. At the end of the same year he signed a political agreement on conducting joint opposition activities with Yatsenyuk Arseniy Petrovich. According to the agreement, the party “For Ukraine” should unite with the “Front for Change” immediately after the election.
- In November 2014, he passes into parliament and becomes a deputy of the VIII convocation of the Supreme Council.
- At the end of 2014, he held key posts (Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy and the Minister of Culture) under the Cabinet of Ministers under A. Yatsenyuk.
Minister of Culture
After the union of the Popular Front (“Front for Change”), which received the majority of votes in the parliamentary elections, with the party “For Ukraine”, Kirilenko became a member of the government headed by Arseniy Yatsenyuk. His appointment as head of the Ministry of Culture caused a number of negative comments. Cultural figures were skeptical of such a candidate as Vyacheslav Kirilenko. For a year and a half of his activity, the Minister of Culture did not carry out any reforms in this industry and was remembered only because he issued a decree banning certain Russian films in Ukraine.
