Maksym Yuriiovych Berezin ( uk, Максим Юрійович Березін; born 9 May 1984) is a Ukrainian politician currently serving as a People's Deputy of Ukraine from Ukraine's 151st electoral district in northern Poltava Oblast since 2019. He is a member of the Servant of the People party.

Early life and career

Maksym Yuriiovych Berezin was born on 9 May 1984, in the city of Vinnytsia in what was then the Soviet Union. From 2001 to 2004 he studied at the Kremenchuk Flight College of the

National Aviation University National Aviation University (NAU; uk, Національний авіаційний університет) is a university located in Kyiv, Ukraine. It started in 1933 when the Kyiv Aviation Institute was founded on the basis of the mechanical ...

. He graduated as an airplane pilot, and completed his final courses at the university in 2006. From 2005 to 2010 he worked in the as an investigator. Berezin worked at the Kremenchuk division of the International Society for Human Rights from 2010 to 2012, and subsequently worked as a teacher at the . In 2014, following the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War, he joined the

Armed Forces of Ukraine , imports = , exports = , history = , ranks = Military ranks of Ukraine , country=Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Збро́йні си́ли Украї́ни), most commonly known ...

. He fought in the War in Donbas for a year before leaving the military. In 2016 he became head of the "Municipal Guard" of Kremenchuk, and the same year he co-founded the Natural-Ecological Control non-governmental organisation and the All-Ukrainian Union of Anti-Terrorist Operation Veterans, Military Activities, and Peacekeeping Missions.

Political career

Berezin was a candidate in the 2016 by-elections, participating as a member of the European Party of Ukraine in Ukraine's 151st electoral district. He won 0.86% of the vote, compared to the winner,

Ruslan Bogdan Ruslan Dmytrovich Bogdan (born 28 January 1972 in Kyiv) is a Ukrainian businessman, and politician. Biography Education He studied at the secondary school No. 234, Kyiv. In 1989 Ruslan entered Kyiv Suvorov Military School (now Ivan Bohun Militar ...

, who gathered 21.64% of the vote. During the

2019 Ukrainian presidential election The 2019 Ukrainian presidential election was held on 31 March and 21 April in a two-round system. There were 39 candidates for the election on the ballot. The 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia and the occupation of parts of Donetsk Oblast an ...

Berezin was part of the campaign staff of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy won the election with 74.96% of the vote in the second round. Berezin again ran to represent the district in the

, this time as part of Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party. This time, he was successfully elected with 47.44% of the vote, ahead of Bogdan's 15.58%. In the Verkhovna Rada (parliament of Ukraine) Berezin is a member of the National Security, Defence, and Intelligence Committee. He is described by anti-corruption non-governmental organisation Chesno as part of a group of Servant of the People deputies closely connected to oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi. Berezin voted for the legalisation of medical cannabis, as well as for banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). He supported Draft Law 5655, which Chesno criticises as placing reconstruction following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in control of property developers rather than citizens in general. Anti-corruption media portal Antikor has criticised Berezin for his closeness to Kremenchuk mayor , who has been involved in several corruption scandals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berezin, Maksym 1984 births Living people Ninth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada 21st-century Ukrainian educators European Party of Ukraine politicians Politicians from Vinnytsia Servant of the People (political party) politicians Ukrainian aviators Ukrainian military personnel of the war in Donbas