Andriy Mokhnyk ( uk, Андрій Володимирович Мохник) is a Ukrainian politician, Deputy Chairman of the right-wing
All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom"
The All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom" ( uk, Всеукраїнське об'єднання «Свобода», translit=Vseukrainske obiednannia "Svoboda"), commonly known as Svoboda, is an ultranationalist political party in Ukraine. It has been ...
party, and a former
Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine .
Biography
From the age of six to fourteen he lived with his parents in the town of
Pripyat
Pripyat ( ; russian: При́пять), also known as Prypiat ( uk, При́пʼять, , ), is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine, located near the border with Belarus. Named after the nearby river, Pripyat, it was founded on 4 February 1 ...
, now abandoned and part of the
Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation, Belarusian: Хона адчужэння Чарнобыльскай АЭС, ''Zona adčužennia Čarnobyĺskaj AES'', russian: Зона отчуждения Чернобыльской АЭС ...
since the
Chernobyl accident
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nu ...
. After school he worked in education, with a personal experience of combat
Russification
Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...
. For a while he worked in the
Ministry of Education of Ukraine. .In 1994 he graduated from the
Kyiv Institute of Civil Engineering as a civil engineer. He worked as a
foreman
__NOTOC__
A foreman, forewoman or foreperson is a supervisor, often in a manual trade or industry.
Foreman may specifically refer to:
*Construction foreman, the worker or tradesman who is in charge of a construction crew
* Jury foreman, a head j ...
engineer at the
Research Institute
A research institute, research centre, research center or research organization, is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often i ...
.
In 2011 he graduated from
Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University majoring in law. He completed postgraduate studies in "
History of Ukraine
Prehistoric Ukraine, as a part of the Pontic steppe in Eastern Europe, played an important role in Eurasian cultural contacts, including the spread of the Chalcolithic, the Bronze Age, Indo-European migrations and the domestication of the horse ...
".
Activities within Svoboda
Mokhnyk joined the nationalist movement in the mid-1990s. By September 2010 he was head of the
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
organization
Svoboda, and deputy of the "Kyiv Regional Council" from 2010–2012. In 2012 he won a seat in the
Ukrainian parliament
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...
's 7th convocation for the All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom". He rose to deputy chairman and is member of their Political Council. He met with representatives of Svoboda's Italian counterpart, the
Forza Nuova
New Force ( it, Forza Nuova, FN) is an Italian neo-fascist political party. It was founded by Roberto Fiore and Massimo Morsello. The party is a member of the Alliance for Peace and Freedom and was a part of the Social Alternative from 2003 to 20 ...
, discussing cooperation regarding the "preservation of each country's national identity" in October 2013.
Mokhnyk has been described as Tiagnybok's "right hand man in parliament", who sees "Russia as Ukraine’s main foreign enemy, seeking to oppress Ukrainians, control their riches, and sabotage EU integration". In 2012 he has stated that Ukrainians suffered like Jewish people, and that the
Holodomor
The Holodomor ( uk, Голодомо́р, Holodomor, ; derived from uk, морити голодом, lit=to kill by starvation, translit=moryty holodom, label=none), also known as the Terror-Famine or the Great Famine, was a man-made famin ...
genocide, a 1930s man-made famine that killed up to 7.5 million, nearly eliminated Ukrainians. He has said that Ukraine's internal enemies are an "oligarchic class composed of former Communist apparatchiks, Komsomol leaders, KGB agents and straight forward criminals of primarily non-Ukrainian ethnic descent". He supports banning Communist party members, former Soviet apparatchiks and KGB agents from holding office.
Mokhnyk is on record for supporting re-nationalization of "strategic state assets", which he claims were "stolen by oligarchs through corrupt privatizations" and increasing taxes for large businesses rather than small and medium businesses. He also supports stating Ukrainian passport holders' ethnicity.
In the
Yatsenyuk Government that came to power on 27 February 2014, Mokhnyk was Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. On 12 November 2014 he and his fellow two Svoboda ministers in the Yatsenyuk Government resigned (they became
acting
Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode.
Acting involves a broad r ...
ministers till a new Government was formed).
[Svoboda party members in Ukrainian government resign – Deputy Premier Sych](_blank)
Interfax-Ukraine
The Interfax-Ukraine ( uk, Інтерфакс-Україна) is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian independent news agency founded in 1992. The company does not belong to the Russian news corporation Interfax Information Services. The company pub ...
(12 November 2014) In the October
2014 parliamentary election Mokhnyk had been 8th on the election list of his party; since the party came 0,29% short to overcome the 5% threshold to win seats on the nationwide list he was not re-elected into parliament.
[Poroshenko Bloc to have greatest number of seats in parliament](_blank)
, Ukrainian Television and Radio
UTR ( uk, Українське телебачення і радіомовлення; Ukrayins'ke telebachennya i radiomovlennya) is the Ukrainian state owned TV channel targeting a foreign Ukrainian-speaking audience. Programming is provided with ...
(8 November 2014)
People's Front 0.33% ahead of Poroshenko Bloc with all ballots counted in Ukraine elections - CEC
, Interfax-Ukraine
The Interfax-Ukraine ( uk, Інтерфакс-Україна) is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian independent news agency founded in 1992. The company does not belong to the Russian news corporation Interfax Information Services. The company pub ...
(8 November 2014)
Poroshenko Bloc to get 132 seats in parliament - CEC
Interfax-Ukraine
The Interfax-Ukraine ( uk, Інтерфакс-Україна) is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian independent news agency founded in 1992. The company does not belong to the Russian news corporation Interfax Information Services. The company pub ...
(8 November 2014)[Party list All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom"]
Ukrayinska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...
(3 October 2014)
Private life
He is married and has one daughter, Miroslava, living in Kyiv.
References
External links
Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mokhnyk, Andriy
1972 births
Living people
People from Vinnytsia Oblast
Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture alumni
University of Kyiv, Law faculty alumni
Seventh convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada
Ecology and natural resources ministers of Ukraine
Svoboda (political party) politicians
Ukrainian nationalists