Oleh Valeriiovych Liashko ( uk, Олег Валерійович Ляшко; born. 3 December 1972) is a

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

politician, journalist and soldier who was a long time member of the

Verkhovna Rada 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 ...

and leader of the Radical Party. Liashko was elected as a deputy to the Verkhovna Rada in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, in the 2007 parliamentary election for the

Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc ( uk, Блок Юлії Тимошенко, БЮТ; Blok Yuliyi Tymoshenko, BYuT) was the name of the bloc of political parties in Ukraine led by Yulia Tymoshenko since 2001. In November 2011, the participation of blocs ...

(YTB), in the 2012 parliamentary election and 2014 parliamentary election for his Radical Party.Ляшко Олег Валерьевич
Информационно-аналитический центр "ЛІГА" Prior to this, he was a journalist. In the

2014 Ukrainian presidential election Snap presidential elections held in Ukraine on 25 May 2014 resulted in Petro Poroshenko being elected President of Ukraine.
In the

2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election Snap elections to the Ukrainian parliament were held on 21 July 2019. Originally scheduled to be held at the end of October, these elections were brought forward after newly inaugurated President of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dissolv ...

, Liashko lost his parliamentary seat. Since the 2022 escalation of the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatist forces in Donbas, Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since Feb ...

Liashko has joined the Ukrainian armed forces.

Early life

Liashko was born in

Chernihiv Chernihiv ( uk, Черні́гів, , russian: Черни́гов, ; pl, Czernihów, ; la, Czernihovia), is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within ...

on 3 December 1972, but grew up in the village of Lozovivka in

Starobilsk Raion Starobilsk Raion () is a raion (district) in Luhansk Oblast of eastern Ukraine. The administrative center of the district is the town of Starobilsk. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, the number of raio ...

, where his mother lived.Marchenko, Yu.
Out of all pitchforks: where did Oleh Liashko come from and what has he achieved?
'.

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 ...

. 18 September 2015 When Liashko was two years old, his parents separated, and his mother was forced to send him to an orphanage. Liashko studied in three boarding schools: Yablunivska, Komarovska, and Borznianska. He worked as a shepherd at the Progress collective farm. After completing his secondary education he went to college to study as a tractor operator. In a September 2015 interview, Liashko stated that shepherding was his summer job back in 1987-88: he used to travel to

Luhansk Oblast Luhansk Oblast ( uk, Луга́нська о́бласть, translit=Luhanska oblast; russian: Луганская область, translit=Luganskaya oblast; also referred to as Luhanshchyna, uk, Луга́нщина) is the easternmost oblast ...

by train and earn up to 300

roubles The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. , currencies named ''rub ...

per summer (around US$500 at the time). After that Liashko would buy clothing and shoes in

Starobilsk Starobilsk ( uk, Старобільськ, russian: Старобельск) is a city in Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Starobilsk Raion. The modern settlement was founded in 1686, and it was granted city stat ...

. When he graduated from boarding school, Liashko had around 2,000 roubles in savings, the value of which was completely wiped out by post-Soviet inflation. In 1998 he graduated from the Faculty of Law H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University. From 1990 till 1992 Liashko was a correspondent and head of the newspaper ''Young Guard'' (based in

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 ...

). In 1992 he became an editor of ''Commerce'' ''Herald'' of the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations of Ukraine. On 21 June 1993 Liashko was arrested and indicted for grand funds embezzlement. On 9 December 1994, the Criminal College of the Kyiv City Court found Liashko guilty according to articles 86–1, 191, and 194 part 3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The court found Liashko guilty of embezzlement of 1,300,000 roubles personally, and 1,100,000 roubles collectively with accomplices. Liashko was sentenced to six years in prison and sequestration of the property. The Supreme Court reduced the time to four years' imprisonment. Liashko was released in May 1995 under an amnesty agreement due to the "50th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi Germany". In 1998, the criminal case was erased. Liashko himself claims the case was payback for his critical journalism. He claims that his case was falsified by deputy minister of Internal Affairs Veniamin Bartashevych.

Career

Reporting career

In 1995 and 1996, Liashko was an editor at the newspapers ''Politika'' and ''Pravda Ukraine''. In August 1996, he became Chief Editor of the newspaper ''Politika''. In 1999, the publication was closed by decision of the Moscow District Court in Kyiv for "divulging state secrets". From 2000 till 2006, Liashko was chief editor of ''Freedom'' (for "Newspaper "Policy").

Political career

Liashko was elected as a deputy to the

(Ukraine's parliament) in the 2006 parliamentary election for the

(YBT) (No. 26 in the party list). During this term he served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on the organization of the Supreme Council of the Parliamentary Committee on Rules, Ethics and maintenance of the parliament. In the 2007 parliamentary election, he was re-elected into the Verkhovna Rada for YBT (No. 29 on the party list). He was Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Budget. On 18 October 2010, he was expelled from the YBT faction "for cooperating with the majority coalition". YTB had previously stated that a video leaked a week before would not be the reason for excluding of Liashko from the faction. Maidan Kiev 2014-04-13 12-12

On 8 August 2011, Liashko was elected the new party leader of the Ukrainian Radical Democratic Party during its third party congress. On the same day, the party changed its name to

Radical Party of Oleh Liashko The Radical Party of Oleh Liashko ( uk, Радикальна Партія Олега Ляшка, translit=Radykal'na partiia Oleha Liashka, RPOL) and formerly known as the Ukrainian Radical-Democratic Party ( uk, Українська демокр� ...

(shortened to the Radical Party). In the 2012 parliamentary election, he was re-elected to the Verkhovna Rada after winning single-member constituency number 208 in the

Chernihiv Oblast Chernihiv Oblast ( uk, Черні́гівська о́бласть, translit=Chernihivska oblast; also referred to as Chernihivshchyna, uk, Черні́гівщина, translit=Chernihivshchyna) is an oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. T ...

(as candidate of the Radical Party) with 55.57% of the votes. During this term he was Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance and Banking. He did not join any faction in parliament. In mid-November 2012, Liashko went on hunger strike in support of

jailed A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

fellow opposition leader

Yulia Tymoshenko Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko ( uk, Юлія Володимирівна Тимошенко, ; Hrihyan ();Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This event took place in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and is part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War. The events in Kyiv th ...

in 2014, he introduced a bill which classified participants of the " separatist rallies for joining Russia", as well as those who obstruct the movement of soldiers and military equipment, to be saboteurs and accomplices of the occupiers. At the time of "military aggression" the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

should be applied to them. The bill provided for the introduction of a

visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

regime with

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, denunciation of the agreements made with Russia, the prohibition of the

Communist Party of Ukraine The Communist Party of Ukraine, Abbreviation: KPU, from Ukrainian and Russian "" is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 as the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine which was banned in 1991 (accord ...

and the

Party of Regions The Party of Regions ( uk, Партія регіонів, Partiia rehioniv, ; russian: Партия регионов, Partiya regionov) was a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine formed in late 1997 that then grew to be the biggest party of Uk ...

, called for the EU to ban the entry of

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

n residents with

Russian passport The Russian passport (russian: Заграничный паспорт гражданина Российской Федерации, Zagranichnyy pasport grazhdanina Rossiyskoy Federatsii, Transborder passport of a citizen of the Russian Federati ...

s and other events. During the

2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine From the end of February 2014, demonstrations by pro-Russian and anti-government groups took place in major cities across the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity, which resulted in the succes ...

and two days before the May 25, 2014 presidential election, Liashko claimed responsibility for the storming of a local government building in

Torez Chystiakove ( uk, Чистякове, ), formerly Torez ( uk, Торез), is a city of regional significance in the Donetsk Oblast in Ukraine. The city is a center of the regional coal industry and much of its economy relies on mining industr ...

(by "Soldiers from the Liashko Battalion 'Ukraine'") that killed a pro-Russian separatist and supporter of the

self-proclaimed Self-proclaimed describes a legal title that is recognized by the declaring person but not necessarily by any recognized legal authority. It can be the status of a noble title or the status of a nation. The term is used informally for anyone declari ...

Donetsk People's Republic The Donetsk People's Republic ( rus, Донецкая Народная Республика, Donetskaya Narodnaya Respublika, dɐˈnʲetskəjə nɐˈrodnəjə rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə; abbreviated as DPR or DNR, rus, ДНР) is a Territorial ...

while critically wounding another.

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

and

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

have condemned the activities of the Liashko Battalion 'Ukraine' and Liashko's actions in

Eastern Ukraine Eastern Ukraine or east Ukraine ( uk, Східна Україна, Skhidna Ukrayina; russian: Восточная Украина, Vostochnaya Ukraina) is primarily the territory of Ukraine east of the Dnipro (or Dnieper) river, particularly Khark ...

. Amnesty International, while noting "abuses perpetrated by both sides of the conflict," pointed to Liashko as "one particularly errant MP" who published videos of his actions on his website. According to Liashko his actions should be seen as

citizen's arrest A citizen's arrest is an arrest made by a private citizen – that is, a person who is not acting as a sworn law-enforcement official. In common law jurisdictions, the practice dates back to medieval England and the English common law, in which ...

s and he accused Amnesty International of being "obviously biased". Lyashko 2014(PR)

Liashko was the candidate of the Radical Party in the

2014 Ukrainian presidential election Snap presidential elections held in Ukraine on 25 May 2014 resulted in Petro Poroshenko being elected President of Ukraine. Liashko was elected to the

Kyiv City Council Kyiv City Council ( uk, Київська міська рада, translit=Kyivska miska rada), also known as Kyivrada ( uk, Київрада), is the city council of Kyiv municipality, the highest representative body of the city community. The me ...

since his party won three seats and he headed its party list in the 2014 Kyiv local election.
However, he decided not to become a deputy in the Kyiv City Council. In the

2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Snap elections to the Verkhovna Rada took place on 26 October 2014. Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, had pressed for early parliamentary elections since his victory in the presidential election in May.

On November 14, 2016 he was physically attacked by Yuriy Boiko after calling him a "Kremlin agent". In 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 ...

, Liashko gained 5.48% of the votes.Ukraine election: Comedian leads presidential contest

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

(1 April 2019) This time ranking him in 7th place. In the

, Liashko lost his parliamentary seat. His party lost all its parliamentary seats because it only gained about 1%, which was too little to clear the 5% election threshold. The party also did not win any electoral district seats.CEC counts 100 percent of vote in Ukraine's parliamentary elections

Ukrinform The National News Agency of Ukraine ( uk, Українське національне інформаційне агентство), or Ukrinform ( uk, Укрінформ), is a state information and news agency, and international broadcaster of ...

(26 July 2019)
Results of the extraordinary elections of the People's Deputies of Ukraine 2019

(21 July 2019) Liashko unsuccessfully ran for a parliamentary seat (Chernihiv) in the sole additional election to the Verkohvna Rada held on October 25, 2020 at the same time as the country's 2020 local elections. Liashko took 31.78% of the vote, while his closest rival, from

Servant of the People Servant of the People (SN; uk, Слуга народу, Sluha narodu, ) is a liberal, centrist, pro-European political party in Ukraine. It was formed in late 2017 and was officially registered on 31 March 2018 on the basis of the previousl ...

won with 34.10%. In early October 2022 Liashko posted a video seemingly showing him taking the oath of induction into 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 ...

Cooperation with Rinat Akhmetov

In 2013, Oleh Liashko described

Rinat Akhmetov Rinat Leonidovych Akhmetov, ; russian: Ринат Леонидович Ахметов, ; tt-Cyrl, Ринат Леонид улы Әхмәтов, translit=Rinat Leonid uly Äkhmätov (born on 21 September 1966) is a Ukrainian billionaire and b ...

as the guarantor of Ukraine's independence. In 2016, a special investigation conducted by

Radio Liberty Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

recorded the facts of secret meetings between Oleh Liashko and Rinat Akhmetov. In February 2018, the former director of a Mariupol factory belonging to the

Metinvest Metinvest is an international group of steel and mining companies that owns operations in Ukraine, Italy, Bulgaria, the UK and the US, mines ore and coal, produces coke, smelts steel and produces rolled products, pipes and other steel products. T ...

group, Yurii Zinchenko headed the executive committee of the Radical Party of Oleh Liashko. On May 9, 2018, the journalist of ''

'' Oleksii Bratushchak published the blog "Liashko becomes Akhmetov's talisman", in which Liashko was directly accused of cooperating with Akhmetov. Liashko makes frequent appearances during broadcasts of the TV channel

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, which belongs to Akhmetov. As media expert Nataliia Lyhachova, Chairman of "Detector Media" NGO stated: "According to our monitoring, there is almost no day when Liashko does not appear there for any reason".

Family and personal life

On 2 June 2018, Liashko married Rosita Sayaranen, formalizing a 20-year partnership. The couple have one daughter, Vladyslava. Liashko's private life is surrounded by rumours that he is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, something Liashko has always firmly denied. In early October 2010, a video shot in 1993 was leaked onto the internet in which a young man who looks and sounds like Liashko talks about having sexual relations with another man, a certain high-ranking official. Liashko had been rumored to be gay for a long time before the video appeared. The day after the video was leaked he issued a statement accusing political opponents of doctoring the video using "modern technologies". And he stated "Personally, I have a traditional sexual orientation". In an interview in October 2012, Liashko was told by a spoof interviewer that the reporter's friend believed Liashko represented sexual minorities in parliament. Liashko was handed a mobile phone, spoke to the supposed friend and then promised to beat his face in while being filmed on camera. Liashko had stressed in May 2011 he had nothing against sexual minorities. In an interview in September 2015, he stated that being

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

"is the choice of each individual. I cannot condemn".

Notes

References

External links

Official SiteBiographyImpunity reigns for abductions and ill-treatment by pro-Kyiv vigilantes in eastern Ukraine
*Marchenko, Yu.
Out of all pitchforks: where came from and what reached Oleh Liashko
'.

. 18 September 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Liashko, Oleh 1972 births Candidates in the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election Fifth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Sixth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Seventh convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Eighth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Living people People of the Euromaidan People of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation Pro-Ukrainian people of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine People from Chernihiv Radical Party of Oleh Liashko politicians Ukrainian journalists Politicians convicted of embezzlement Vigilantes Ukrainian politicians convicted of crimes Ukrainian nationalists Candidates in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election