Zvyagilsky Efim Leonidovich is one of the most experienced politicians in Ukraine. He is the only person who was a deputy of all convocations of the Verkhovna Rada. Almost the entire recent political history of Ukraine was not without his participation. Thus, Zvyagilsky Efim Leonidovich is a very significant figure. The biography of this person will be the subject of our discussion.
Birth and childhood
Zvyagilsky Efim Leonidovich was born in February 1933, tragic for Ukraine, in a Jewish family in the city of Stalin, as Donetsk was then called. His father, Leonid Zvyagilsky, was a petty employee.
Little Yefim went to his hometown school, and after graduation he entered the Donetsk Industrial Institute at the mining faculty.
Start of work
After graduating from the university in 1956 and receiving an engineering specialty, Yefim Leonidovich Zvyagilsky began his career working in the coal mining industry. He began his career in 1957 with the post of assistant chief of the mine site.
Having shown a high level of professionalism, industriousness, perseverance, and also thanks to his personal characteristics, Yefim Zvyagilsky quickly gained authority both among representatives of the labor collective and in the eyes of his superiors. He was able to rise to the position of head of mine No. 13, which belonged to the Kuibyshevugol trust.
In leadership positions
Finally, after thirteen years of hard work in senior positions, in 1970 he was appointed director of the Kuybyshevsky mine department of the same trust. Finally, in 1979, Zvyagilsky Efim Leonidovich received the position of head of the Zasyadko mine, which was one of the largest coal-mining enterprises of the Soviet Union and was a structural unit of the Donetskugol association.
The management was not mistaken in appointing Efim Leonidovich to such a responsible position. A month after his appointment, the mine fulfilled the planned standards for coal mining, which has not been around for many years. The next year, a record 1.6 million tons of coal was raised up the hill, which exceeded last year's figure by 25%. In addition, the cost of coal due to the technical and organizational introduction of Zvyagilsky became for the first time in a long time lower than planned, which allowed the mine to do without state subsidies and completely switch to self-sufficiency.
In addition, during the direct management of Yefim Zvyagilsky mine, its modernization was constantly carried out, technologies were introduced that helped to reduce the explosion hazard, as well as increase the ventilation of working areas.
Achievements of Yefim Leonidovich Zvyagilsky were seen at the highest level. In 1986, according to a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, he received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.
Zvyagilsky resigned as director of the Zasyadko mine at the end of 1992, wanting to devote himself completely to political activity. Nevertheless, Zvyagilsky Efim Leonidovich remains the honorary director of this enterprise. The contacts that he established for his labor activity, and also continues to build up, having plunged headlong into politics, allow him to actually control the activities of the Zasyadko mine today, while remaining the chairman of the board of the enterprise.
The beginning of a political career
Yefim Zvyagilsky made his first steps in his political career at the time of change, when the old socio-political system collapsed and a new one was created, when a new independent state began to emerge on the ruins of the Soviet Union - Ukraine.
As a member of the Communist Party of the USSR, Zvyagilsky Efim Leonidovich was elected in 1990 as a People’s Deputy of the Ukrainian SSR, running for a single-mandate constituency. It is during this cadet of the deputy that the events of the August putsch in Moscow, the adoption of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian referendum on secession from the USSR, the Belovezhskaya Accords, the final collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as the prohibition of the activities of the Communist Party in Ukraine fall. Zvyagilsky resigned from the CPSU and became non-partisan on August 24, 1991.
At the same time, Efim Leonidovich continued to head the Zasyadko mine, having vacated the post of its director only in November 1992. In the same month, he was elected head of the Donetsk city executive committee and city council.
Government work
But Zvyagilsky managed to work out the mayor of Donetsk only a little more than six months. In June 1993, the Donetsk group of large entrepreneurs, using the strike of miners as an instrument of influence, secured the appointment of his first deputy prime minister, who at that time was another former business executive - Leonid Kuchma.
As a result, the prime minister did not work out with his deputy, and in September Leonid Kuchma resigned. Yefim Zvyagilsky, as his first deputy, was entrusted with the duties of prime minister. He coped with his task quite successfully: he was able to curb inflation, signed lucrative agreements with Russia, and created the conditions for the restoration of enterprises. He personally engaged in the distribution of subsidies. It was his stay at the head of the government that greatly contributed to the growth of the economic power of the Donetsk group of entrepreneurs.
Meanwhile, in March 1994, Yefim Zvyagilsky took part in the next parliamentary elections as non-partisan. And this time he was elected to represent the people of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada.
But due to pressure from political opponents, he was forced to resign as acting prime minister. In June 1994, a new head of government was appointed - Vitaly Masol.
Relocation to Israel
On the eve of the 1994 presidential election, Zvyagilsky became one of the targets of political rivals of Leonid Kravchuk, to whom he was close. Accusations of abuse rained down on Yefim Leonidovich, and an investigation was even initiated. After the victory in the election of Leonid Kuchma, fearing further persecution, Zayagilsky repatriated to Israel.
Efim Leonidovich lived in the homeland of his ancestors from November 1994 to March 1997. At that time, although he was considered a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, he could not take part in its activities for objective reasons.
Return to Ukraine
In the end, having agreed with the then-ruling force in Ukraine, led by Leonid Kuchma, the politician was able to return to Ukraine in 1997. This was also due to the fact that Donetsk capital, of which Zvyagilsky himself owned a significant part, had more and more opportunities to dictate the conditions of power.
Having returned, Yefim Leonidovich began to fulfill his duties as a deputy and chairman of the board of the Zasyadko mine. In 1998, Zvyagilsky was once again elected parliamentarian of the Verkhovna Rada.
In the Party of Regions
At this time, the main force on which Donetsk capital relied was the Party of Regions, supported by the majority of the population of Donbass. Yefim Zvyagilsky became one of the leaders of this political organization. The elections of 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2012 invariably ended with his election to the country's parliament.
After the nominee of the Party of Regions, Viktor Yanukovych, became the president of the country in 2010, Donetsk capital was significantly strengthened. This grouping further strengthened after the victory of the Party of Regions in the 2012 parliamentary elections. One of its main links was Zvyagilsky Efim Leonidovich himself. His fortune for 2012 amounted to 256 million dollars.
Being the oldest deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of the seventh convocation, Yefim Zvyagilsky, according to tradition, was the first to read the oath to the people in the session hall.
Further political career
But the hegemony of the Party of Regions lasted only until the beginning of 2014. Then, as a result of popular protests against the actions of the government, a coup d'etat occurred, which led to the loss of power by Viktor Yanukovych. The Party of Regions has actually dissolved. In the 2014 parliamentary elections, a new political force was formed on its basis, which took the name "Opposition Bloc." Efim Leonidovich also became a member of this association. As part of the opposition bloc, having participated in the elections to the Verkhovna Rada in a single-mandate constituency, he once again became a member of parliament.
Thus, the answer to the question "Where is Zvyagilsky Efim Leonidovich now?" extremely simple. He, as always, is engaged in parliamentary activities, currently being a member of the committee on relations with China and on the fuel and energy complex.
A family
What kind of personal life does Zvyagilsky Efim Leonidovich live? His family is small. The wife of a famous politician - Lyudmila Efimovna born in 1931. She is a former doctor, and currently a pensioner.
The daughter of Efim Leonidovich is Stella born in 1957. Like her mother, she is a medical doctor by training, but currently a housewife. Married to deputy Vladimir Vecherko. In 1979, this married couple gave Efim Leonidovich granddaughter Victoria.
