Sergey leonidovich tigipko biography. Biography of Sergei Tigipko Where did Tigipko go?

People's Deputy of Ukraine of the VII convocation

Education

Born February 13, 1960 on the territory Moldavian SSR in Ukrainian village Dragonesti.

In 1982 he graduated from the Dnepropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute as a metallurgical engineer.

Candidate of Economic Sciences, in 1996 (7) he defended his thesis "Formation and state regulation of the systems of commercial banks in Ukraine".

A family

They met their first wife Natalia during their student years, got married in 1981, but in 2004 the marriage broke up. The former spouses have a daughter, Anna (born 1984), who graduated from Oxford and now works in one of her father's companies. It was in her honor that the TAS group was named (from Tigipko Anna Sergeevna).

For the second time he married in 2005, who is the organizer forum IDCEE, Odessa Film Festival, in 2010 took 13th place in the ranking "100 the most influential women Of Ukraine ". The spouses have three children: Timofey (born in 2002), Anastasia (born in 2005) and Leonty (born in 2008).

Tigipko has two brothers - Valery and Alexander.

Career and business

After graduating from the institute, at his own request, he served in the army for two years (as an officer in the tank forces), because they paid more there than in production.

Since 1984 he worked in the Komsomol, at first he was appointed head of a department and deputy director for teaching and educational work of the Dnepropetrovsk Mechanical and Metallurgical College. In parallel, he began working in the Ukrainian Komsomol (LKSMU) as a secretary of the committee of this technical school. In 1986, he became the head of the propaganda and agitation department, as well as the second secretary of the Dnipropetrovsk regional committee of the LKSMU.

In August 1989, he was appointed First Secretary of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Committee. According to one of the data, he helped him in this (after the election of Tigipko, he took the post of head of the department of propaganda and agitation). At the same time, he met with who was starting her own business. At the beginning 1990s met with Leonid Kuchma, which was then director plant " Yuzhmash » (Dnepropetrovsk).

Since October 1991, after the liquidation of the Komsomol, he became Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Bank "Dnipro".

In March 1992, he headed the board of the Dnipropetrovsk PrivatBank, created with his participation, around which the financial and industrial group Privat was formed, which owns significant assets in the metallurgical and oil industries. Tigipko himself was a partner and shareholder of the bank, owned by Igor Kolomoisky, Alexey Martynov, Leonid Miloslavsky and Gennady Bogolyubov.

Since November 1994, during the introduction of the hryvnia, he became a freelance consultant to President Kuchma on monetary policy issues.

In April 1997, Tigipko left Privatbank when he was invited to work in the Cabinet of Ministers of Pavel Lazarenko as Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Reform. After the resignation of Lazarenko retained a post in the Cabinet of Ministers of Valery Pustovoitenko.

From 1999 to 2000, Tigipko served as Minister of Economy in the government.

During these years, Tigipko was a member of a number of government and presidential councils and commissions. From 1997 to 2000, he headed the Expert Council on Insurance under the Cabinet of Ministers and the National Council on Statistics under the President of Ukraine. From 1997 to 2001, he was a member of the Supreme Economic Council of the President of Ukraine and was deputy chairman of the State Commission for the Implementation of the Administrative Reform in Ukraine. In 1998-1999, he served as chairman of the Interdepartmental Commission on the Regulation of the Food Market, Prices and Incomes of Agricultural Producers, and in 1998-2000, he was the chairman of the Commission on the return to Ukraine of currency values that are illegally located outside its borders. He was also a member of the Strategic Group on Ukrainian-Russian relations under the presidents of the two states.

In 2000 he went out of business in the Privat group. At the by-election in June of the same year, he went to the Verkhovna Rada, leaving the Cabinet. In November, he headed the Labor Ukraine party.

In 2001, Tigipko, together with his wife Natalia, created a financial and industrial group TAS on the basis of Kiev-Privat, which included banks TAS-Investbank, TAS-Komertsbank, TAS-Businessbank, insurance companies TAS and TAS-Capital, machine-building enterprise Kamet-TAS, factories "Dneprometiz", "Teco" and other companies.

IN 2002-m passed to the Supreme I am glad from block "For a single Ukraine ". December 17 of the same year appointed chairman National Bank .

In October 2003 declared intention run for office President, but then supported and headed it selective headquarters. November 29, 2004 years left chairmanship National Bank (his duties were performed by Arseniy Yatsenyuk) and head of the electoral headquarters of Yanukovych.

In April 2005, he resigned from the post of leader of the "Labor Ukraine", and in September he became chairman of the board financially -industrial group TAS.

In 2007 he sold TAS-Komerzbank to Swedish Swedbank and was invited to the post of Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian branch of Swedbank (AT Swedbank).

In 2008, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko appointed Tigipko as her advisor; together they became co-chairs of the Investors Council under the Cabinet of Ministers.

In May 2009, he resigned from the post of Tymoshenko's adviser, in June he resigned from TAS and Swedbank and ran for president as a self-nominated candidate.

From 28 November 2009 - chairman party "Labor Ukraine, which was renamed" Strong Ukraine ". February 21, 2010 created " Block Tigipko " .

In the 2010 presidential elections in the first round, he won 13.06% of the vote and took third place. In March of the same year he received the post of Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet, in December appointed to the post vice -Premier -minister Of Ukraine - Minister of Social Policy.

In March 2012, Tigipko received the post of deputy chairman of the Party of Regions, which at that time was Azarov. And already in April, Tigipko became the deputy head of the central election headquarters of the Party of Regions, Andrei Klyuev. In the parliamentary elections of the same year, he passed to the Verkhovna Rada from the PR.

March 25, 2014 submitted documents to the CEC for registration as a candidate for presidents Of Ukraine as a self-promoter.

In early April 2014, he was expelled from the Party of Regions after he disagreed that the party did not support his candidacy for the presidency in the 2014 elections. On April 8, 14 people's deputies from the Party of Regions, including Tigipko, announced their withdrawal from the Party of Regions and the PR faction in the Verkhovna Rada, as well as the creation of a parliamentary group opposing the current government.

As a result of the 2014 presidential elections, Sergei Tigipko took 5th place among all candidates with a score of 5.23%.

According to the results of the early elections to the Verkhovna Rada in October 2014, the Strong Ukraine party led by Serhiy Tigipko did not enter parliament, showing a result of 3.11% with a passing 5%.

On January 12, 2016, the Supervisory Board of TASkombank (Kiev) appointed S. Tigipko as Chairman of the Board.

Hobbies

Sports (athleticism, football, tennis, alpine skiing, swimming), reading books.

Links

07.04.2016 2010 - December 9, 2010 Head of the government: Nikolay Yanovich Azarov The president: Viktor Fedorovich Yanukovych

10th Minister of Economy of Ukraine

December 30, 1999 - July 5, 2000 Head of the government: Viktor Andreevich Yushchenko The president: Leonid Danilovich Kuchma Predecessor: Vasily Vasilievich Rogovoy Successor: Vasily Vasilievich Rogovoy Birth: February 13 ( 1960-02-13 ) (52 years old)
Draganesti village, Singerei district, Moldavian SSR, USSR Father: Leonid Sergeevich Tigipko (died 1970) Mother: Yulia Vasilievna Tigipko Spouse: 1) Natalia Tigipko
2) Victoria Tigipko Children: Anna, Timofey, Anastasia, Leonty The consignment: Party of Regions Education: with a degree in metallurgical engineering - 1982 Website: Sergey Tigipko's official website Awards:

Biography

Graduated in 1982 from the metallurgical faculty of DMetI, specializing in metallurgical engineering.

In 1982-1984 he served in the Soviet Army, in the tank forces.

I am always focused on the result and I know one thing: you can always justify failure, and there are thousands of excuses for this, but I like to get the result at any cost.

On December 9, 2010, by the decree of the President of Ukraine, he was appointed to the post of Vice Prime Minister - Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine.

As a candidate for people's deputies in the 2012 elections on the list of the Party of Regions, where he occupied a passing place, he applied for the post of speaker of parliament.

Childhood

Born in the Ukrainian half of the Moldavian village of Dragoneshty, Lazovsky District, Moldavian SSR.

In 1970, at the age of 10, Sergei Tigipko lost his father, who died of purulent appendicitis, and was brought up by his mother together with his two brothers. After the death of his father, the Tigipko family lived on the outskirts of the capital of Moldova, Chisinau, in a house without a sewer, near the city dump

Education

After graduating from high school, Sergei Tigipko moved to Dnepropetrovsk in 1977. Received in. Lived in a hostel. In the same place he founded a cafe-club, where he held student discos and other events. During his studies, he moonlighted as a general laborer at construction sites; worked as a loader, electrician, packer at a meat processing plant. After graduating from the institute, he received a diploma in the specialty "foundry of ferrous and non-ferrous metals" and the qualification "metallurgical engineer". After graduating from the university, he decided to join the army.

Service in the army

In 1982, Sergei Tigipko voluntarily left to serve as an officer in the army. He went to serve in the tank troops. The reason for this decision was the higher pay. He held the positions of platoon commander and deputy commander for the technical part of a tank company. He served in a military unit not far from Chernigov. In service were T-64B tanks.

Work in Komsomol

After returning from the army in 1984, S. Tigipko received the position of head of the department and deputy director for teaching and educational work of the Dnepropetrovsk mechanical and metallurgical technical school. Joined the Komsomol, where he began to work as the secretary of the committee of the same technical school. In 1986 he pays more attention to Komsomol work. Becomes the head of the propaganda and agitation department, as well as the second secretary of the Dnepropetrovsk regional committee of the LKSMU.

Already in August 1989, Tigipko was elected to the post of first secretary of the Dnepropetrovsk regional committee. In this position, Tigipko meets Leonid Kuchma, works and helps Yulia Tymoshenko. Becomes one of the representatives of the future "Dnepropetrovsk clan".

Entrepreneurial activity

In 1991, after the liquidation of the Komsomol, having bought all the contributions, Sergei Leonidovich went into banking. He was offered the position of deputy chairman of the board of directors of the commercial bank "Dnipro". But he was soon fired for “arrogance,” as they wrote in the press. In 1992, he headed the board of the Privatbank Dnepropetrovsk bank created with his participation. The co-owners were Gennady Bogolyubov, Igor Kolomoisky, Alexey Martynov, Leonid Miloslavsky. He also created a media consortium for the Privat group. It included such news agencies as UNIAN, Privat-TV, Novaya Gazeta, and the Dovira advertising agency. Gennady Bogolyubov, in an interview, said that at first Tigipko was a hired manager, and only then became a partner and shareholder. Later, his share was bought out by the founders.

Tigipko himself recalls how his entourage was skeptical about attempts to create a bank. Privat Bank was created by a small group of eight like-minded people. All that was was a room in a student dormitory of a technical school and enthusiasm.

Tigipko finally split the business with the owners of Privatbank in 2000, “taking” his share - Kiev-Privat Bank.

In 2001, on the basis of Kiev-Privat Bank, he created the financial and industrial group TAS. It includes: TAS-Investbank, TAS-Komerzbank, TAS-Businessbank, insurance company TAS and TAS-capital; machine-building enterprise Kamet-TAS, plant "Dneprometiz", other companies. TAS - the initials of Tigipko's daughter Anna Sergeevna. In 2005 he became the chairman of the board of the financial and industrial group TAS. In 2007 he successfully sold his two banks TAS-Commerz and TAS-Invest to the international Swedish group Swedbank.

In October 2012, in an interview with Channel 5, Sergei Tigipko said: “If someone wants to appropriate my business, I will answer and I will answer very harshly. I'm not going to give anything to anyone, "while when asked about the possible consequences of this for his political career, Tigipko replied:" I don't care. In this respect, I don’t care. ”

Work in government

In 1994, Sergei Leonidovich was offered the position of consultant to the President of Ukraine on monetary policy issues. After leaving PrivatBank, he was invited to work in the Ukrainian government as Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Reform in the Government of Pavlo Lazarenko. After Lazarenko's resignation, Sergei Leonidovich became Deputy Prime Minister for Economics in the government of Valery Pustovoitenko. In 1997, Tigipko received the Order of the Legion of Honor from the President of France - Jacques Chirac. This is a unique case when a high-ranking official receives the highest state award in France.

During the year, from 1999 to 2000, Sergei Leonidovich served as Minister of Economy in the government of Viktor Yushchenko.

In parallel, Tigipko was a member of such state councils and commissions: Expert Council on Insurance under the Cabinet of Ministers (1997-2000); National Council for Statistics under the President of Ukraine (1997-2000). Member of the Supreme Economic Council of the President of Ukraine (1997-2001); Deputy Chairman of the State Commission for Administrative Reform in Ukraine (1997-2001). In particular, Tigipko served as chairman of the Interdepartmental Commission on Regulation of the Food Market, Prices and Incomes of Agricultural Producers (1998-1999); Chairman of the Commission on the return to Ukraine of currency values that are illegally located outside its borders (1998-2000); Member of the Strategic Group on Ukrainian-Russian relations under the presidents of the two states.

In June 2000, he left the Yushchenko government, accusing the Cabinet of Ministers of ineffectiveness. He was elected a deputy to the Verkhovna Rada of the fourth convocation and joined the Labor Ukraine party, later taking the post of chairman. Member of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance and Banking. While working in parliament, Sergei Leonidovich created the Perspektiva charitable foundation.

In 2001, an electoral bloc "For a United Ukraine" was created, which, in addition to the "Labor Ukraine" headed by Tigipko, included: the Party of Regions, the People's Democratic Party of Ukraine, the Agrarian Party, the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. Sergei Leonidovich was in seventh place in the lists in the 2002 elections. In December 2002 he was elected as the head of the National Bank of Ukraine. He initiated the introduction of a new series of banknotes and was an opponent of the monetary union of Russia and Ukraine.

In the 2004 elections, Tigipko took the post of head of the election headquarters of Viktor Yanukovych, a candidate for the presidency of Ukraine, leaving the post of head of the National Bank to Arseniy Yatsenyuk, at that time the deputy head of the National Bank.

On November 29, 2004, Tigipko resigned from the post of head of the National Bank and head of Yanukovych's headquarters (the reasons for the decision were not disclosed). After his resignation, Sergei Leonidovich announced his intention to get involved in politics, but eventually went into business, leaving the post of leader of "Labor Ukraine". In September 2005, he became the chairman of the board of the TAS financial and industrial group.

After the third place in the 2010 presidential elections in Ukraine, he was again invited to work in the government. March 11, 2010 Serhiy Tigipko was appointed Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs. "The reforms proposed by Tigipkom are aimed at expanding the class of the Ukrainian bourgeoisie, that is, small and medium-sized businesses," said Kost Bondarenko, deputy head of the Strong Ukraine party, Tigipko's deputy head of the Strong Ukraine party, on the eve of the 2010 local elections.

December 9, 2010 - By the Decree of the President of Ukraine, he was appointed to the post of Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine - Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine.

In the Azarov government, he is responsible for carrying out systemic reforms in the country's economy. In particular, under the leadership of Serhiy Tigipko, the Tax Code of Ukraine was adopted and the Pension Reform was carried out.

On November 29, 2010, the Tax Code was adopted, aimed at developing the country's economy.

On the night of July 7-8, 2011, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Pension Reform. Its adoption was necessary for the continuation of cooperation between Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund. Among other changes, the Pension Reform provides for a phased increase in the retirement age and a limitation on the amount of VIP pensions.

Awards

Other

Family business - FIG TAS (named after the initials of his daughter Anna Sergeevna Tigipko). The group includes TAS-Commerzbank, TAS-Investbank, TAS and TAS-Capital Insurance Companies, TAS Trading House, TAS - Family Medicine Clinic. After the sale of the banks, Tigipko's business focused on trade, insurance and medicine.

Candidate of Economic Sciences (1997, thesis topic - "Formation and state regulation of the system of commercial banks in Ukraine"). In the presidential elections, he took second place in the Kiev region.

Personal life

Notes (edit)

Tigipko promises to change his last name if he becomes president
Victoria Tigipko: Sergei has two birthdays, official and real - Politics | KP.UA
Moldovans call Tigipko to their presidency | Ukraine news | “Today” visited Moldova, in the native village of the “bronze medalist” of the presidential elections. | TODAY
Applicants for the Hetman's Mace Part 5 | People's truth
Sergey TIGIPKO: “The best gratitude for veterans is a strong country” - Politics | KP.UA
How foreign banks left / Articles / Finance.ua
Tigipko: I'm just rushing from politics. I'm high on "Politics News of Ukraine - Correspondent
Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine - Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine (Russian). Cabinet of Ministries of Ukraine. Archived from the original on December 25, 2012. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
Who will leave the Cabinet / Articles / Finance.ua
Tigipko was born in the Ethnic Ukrainian village, biography on League.
Mother Tigipko's name was Yulia, she worked as a nurse, // http://mynews-in.net.
People
Lenta.ru:: Tigipko, Sergey
Bondarenko's bone. Always promising Tigipko. - AssisTAS, 14.06.2004.
Yanina Sokolovskaya. Reserve man. - News, 06.12.2004. - No. 227-M (26784)
He lived in a hostel, where he founded a studio cafe, // lenta.ru.
Work while studying Sergei Leonidovich From the Biography on Lenta.ru
, // http://tigipko.com
Tankman's Day - Live Journal, Tankman's Day - Live Journal 09/15/2009.
Taras Buk. Serhiy Tigipko: "The authorities don't care about the army." - Komsomolskaya Pravda Ukraine, 15.09.2009.
Position of deputy. on educational work, Official website, biography - tigipco.com
Receiving one of the posts Sergey Tigipko. - Correspondent.net, 16.06.2009
Work in the positions of the Komsomol From the biography on the website oligarh.net
In the fifth circle. Part II. BYuT. - Newspaper 2000, 26.05.2006
Yanina Sokolovskaya. Ukrainian Cinderella. - News, 04.12.2004. - № 227 (26784)
The end of Komsomol activities and the beginning of entrepreneurship From the Biography on Lenta.ru
Serhiy Tigipko: "the third force". - NEWSru.com, 30.11.2004
Sergiy Rudenko. Rebranding Тігіпка. - Ukrainian Tyzhden, 02.10.2009. - № 40 (101)
One of the founders of PrivatBank Biography on oligarh.net
Vakhtang Kipiani. Private life. - Focus(Ukraine), 06.10.2006. - No. 2
Sergey Leonidovich's work with PrivatBank - from the biography on the site http://www.edinaya-odessa.org
About the creation of PrivatBank - from the biography of Tigipko on the website http: //www.rudenko.kiev
biography on the official website - from the official website of Tigipko Sergey Leonidovich
Sergei Tigipko does not care about politics
Naglyadova is glad to AT Swedbank (publichne). - Bank Swedbank(swedbank.ua), 30.10.2009
Hotline for cold settlement. - Mirror of the week, 13.12.1997. - № 50 (167)
Yulia Mostovaya; Sergey Rakhmanin; Olga Dmitricheva. Five sources, five constituent parts of the "For a United Ukraine!" Bloc. - Mirror of the week, 23.03.2002. - № 11 (386)
Andrey Derkach. The Central Election Commission approved the passage to the Rada of "Our Ukraine", the Communist Party, "For a United Ukraine", Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc, SPU and SDPU (u). - Ukrainian news, 15.04.2002
Tigipko resigned from the post of head of the National Bank of Ukraine. - Correspondent.net, 29.11.2004
Dossier: Sergey Tigipko. - LIGABusinessInform, 09.07.2009
Kost Bondarenko: "Tigipko in the song that will become the President" | Vlad's quarter
Biography on the website tigipko.com
h ttp: //biographera.net/biography.php? id = 311

Sergei Leonidovich Tigipko was born on February 13, 1960 in the Ukrainian village of Dragoneshty, Lazovsky district of the Moldavian SSR, where his grandfather moved from Vinnytsia in 1902. The newspaper "Kommersant" wrote that Sergei's father, Leonid Tigipko, served as secretary of the Dnipropetrovsk city committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. According to Tigipko himself, his father was in charge of the collective farm apiary and died when Sergei was 10 years old. After the death of their father, Serey Tigipko and his two brothers (the elder Valery and the younger Alexander) were brought up by their mother, they lived in a house without a sewage system on the outskirts of Chisinau, near the city dump.

Tigipko moved to Dnepropetrovsk after graduating from school in 1977, enrolling in the Dnepropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute. During his studies, Tigipko lived in a hostel, where he founded a cafe-club and held student discos in it. He worked part-time in construction brigades, was a loader, an electrician and a chicken packer at a meat processing plant. In 1982, Tigipko received a diploma in the specialty "foundry of ferrous and non-ferrous metals" and the qualification of a metallurgical engineer. After graduating from university, Tigipko voluntarily went into the army (he served as an officer in the tank forces), because they paid more there than in production. Tigipko served as a platoon commander and deputy commander for the technical part of a tank company near Chernigov, and drove a T-64B tank.

Returning from the army in 1984, Tigipko received the post of head of the department and deputy director for teaching and educational work of the Dnepropetrovsk Mechanical and Metallurgical College. In parallel, he began working in the Ukrainian Komsomol (LKSMU) as a secretary of the committee of this technical school. In 1986, he decided to concentrate on Komsomol work, becoming the head of the propaganda and agitation department, as well as the second secretary of the Dnipropetrovsk regional committee of the Komsomol. In August 1989, Tigipko was elected to the post of first secretary of the Dnipropetrovsk regional committee: he was helped in this by the future vice-premier of the Ukrainian government, Alexander Turchinov (after the election of Tigipko, he took over as head of the propaganda and agitation department). In this position, Tigipko helped Yulia Tymoshenko open her business, including the Terminal youth center, at the same time he met Leonid Kuchma and became one of the representatives of the future Dnipropetrovsk clan.

After the liquidation of the Komsomol in October 1991, Tigipko went into banking. He received the post of deputy chairman of the board of the Dnipro commercial bank, but, as they wrote in the press, he was dismissed "for impudence" and in March 1992 headed the board of the Dnipropetrovsk Privatbank created with his participation. Tigipko himself was a partner and shareholder of the bank, owned by Igor Kolomoisky, Alexey Martynov, Leonid Miloslavsky and Gennady Bogolyubov. There were rumors that in this post Tigipko was involved in money laundering through Latvian banks. The politician himself did not comment on these rumors. Also managing Privatbank, Tigipko created a media consortium for the Privat group, which included the UNIAN news agency, Privat-TV, Novaya Gazeta, Premier radio and Dovira advertising agency.

In 1994, Tigipko became a freelance consultant to President Kuchma of Ukraine on monetary policy issues. In April 1997, Tigipko left Privatbank when he was invited to work in the Ukrainian government (then headed by Pavlo Lazarenko) as Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Reform. Ten years later, Lazarenko said that he gave Tigipko "the way to life." After Lazarenko's resignation, Tigipko remained Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs in the government of Valery Pustovoitenko. There were rumors that Tigipko, together with Kuchma and French President Jacques Chirac then organized the transfer of the Nikolaevcement enterprise to the international consortium Lafarge, whose board included Chirac's wife, Bernadette. In 1997, Tigipko received the Order of the Legion of Honor from Chirac.

From 1999 to 2000, Tigipko served as Minister of Economy in the cabinet of Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko. During the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004, Tymoshenko said that as Minister of Economy Tigipko lobbied for the interests of businessman Grigory Surkis and politician Viktor Medvedchuk.

In parallel, Tigipko was a member of a number of government and presidential councils and commissions. From 1997 to 2000, he headed the Expert Council on Insurance under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the National Council on Statistics under the President of Ukraine. From 1997 to 2001, he was a member of the Supreme Economic Council of the President of Ukraine and was the Deputy Chairman of the State Commission for the Implementation of Administrative Reform in Ukraine. In 1998-1999, Tigipko served as chairman of the Interdepartmental Commission on Regulation of the Food Market, Prices and Incomes of Agricultural Producers, and in 1998-2000, he was chairman of the Commission on the return to Ukraine of currency values that are illegally located outside its borders. He was also a member of the Strategic Group on Ukrainian-Russian relations under the presidents of the two states.

In 2000, Tigipko finally split the business with the owners of Privatank: he "took" his share with him - the Kiev-Privat bank (according to other sources, he created it with the funds he earned while working at Privatbank.

Best of the day

In June 2000, Tigipko resigned from the Yushchenko government, "tired of the ineffective work of the cabinet." In the June 2000 by-election, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the fourth convocation from the 36th electoral district in Pavlodar and joined the Labor Ukraine party, in November he took over as its chairman, replacing Igor Sharov. Tigipko joined the parliamentary committee on finance and banking and, while working in parliament, created the Perspektiva charitable foundation.

In 2001, Tigipko, together with his wife Natalia, created a financial and industrial group TAS on the basis of Kiev-Privat, which included banks TAS-Investbank, TAS-Komertsbank, TAS-Businessbank, insurance companies TAS and TAS-Capital, machine-building enterprise Kamet-TAS, plant "Dneprometiz" and other companies. Tigipko named the financial and industrial group by the initials of his daughter Anna Sergeevna Tigipko.

In 2001, "Labor Ukraine", together with the Party of Regions, the People's Democratic Party of Ukraine, the Agrarian Party and the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, entered the electoral bloc "For a United Ukraine!" Tigipko received seventh place in the combined list and was elected in April 2002 to the Verkhovna Rada of the fifth convocation. In December 2002, after a long debate, Tigipko was elected by the Verkhovna Rada to the post of chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine. In this position, he initiated the introduction of a new series of banknotes and opposed the monetary union of Russia and Ukraine. There were rumors that President Kuchma was going to nominate Tigipko for the post of prime minister or even make him his successor, and Tigipko himself also did not deny his presidential ambitions. The press wrote that Tigipko is close to Kuchma's son-in-law, businessman Viktor Pinchuk.

In July 2004, Tigipko headed the election headquarters of Viktor Yanukovych, a presidential candidate in Ukraine, after which his deputy Arseniy Yatsenyuk became the de facto head of the National Bank. On November 29, 2004, after the second round of the presidential elections, in which Yanukovych won, Tigipko resigned as head of the National Bank and head of Yanukovych's headquarters (neither he himself nor Yanukovych disclosed the reasons for this decision). Some experts expressed the opinion that Yanukovych lost the election precisely because of his headquarters, whose team, led by Tigipko, was allegedly imposed on the candidate by coalition agreements. Although immediately after his resignation, Tigipko announced his intention to get involved in politics and, according to opinion polls, 17 percent of voters could vote for him on the eve of the Orange Revolution, he eventually decided to go into business. In April 2005, Tigipko resigned from the post of leader of Labor Ukraine (Valery Konovalyuk became the new chairman of the party, two years later she joined the Party of Regions) and in September became chairman of the board of the financial and industrial group TAS.

In 2007, Tigipko sold TAS-Komerzbank to Swedish Swedbank for $ 735 million and was invited to the post of chairman of the board of the Ukrainian branch of Swedbank (AT Swedbank). In 2008, Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko appointed Tigipko as her advisor: together they became co-chairs of the Investors Council under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

In March 2009, Tigipko announced that he was ready to enter the Tymoshenko government and was not going to be elected to the presidency. However, already in April 2009, Tigipko announced his intention to participate in the presidential elections in Ukraine. In May 2009, he agreed to the nomination of Dmitry Sirota from the Labor Party of Ukraine, resigned from the post of Tymoshenko's advisor, and in June resigned from TAS and Swedbank, remaining a member of the latter's supervisory board. On October 27, 2009, self-nominated candidate Tigipko was registered as a presidential candidate in Ukraine. In case of victory in the elections, he promised that he would correct the Ukrainian spelling of his last name from Tigipko to Tigipko.

According to political analysts, Tigipko was to become an important "technical" candidate on the side of Yulia Tymoshenko, and his task was to take away from Yanukovych some of the votes in eastern Ukraine. However, some experts argued that Tigipko could offer his services to other candidates. It is noteworthy that the leader of the Ukrainian socialists, Oleksandr Moroz, and the representative of the Party of Regions, Yuriy Boyko, announced about "closeness" with Tigipko. Tigipko was going to spend about UAH 15-20 million on his election program. In October 2009, social polls showed that 1.7 percent of respondents were going to vote for Tigipko in the presidential elections.

Among Tigipko's election slogans were Ukraine's accession to the European Union, tax and constitutional reforms, and a decrease in the state's influence on the economy. He was also against granting the Russian language the status of a second state language.

Tigipko is a candidate of economic sciences. He defended his dissertation on the topic "Formation and state regulation of the systems of commercial banks of Ukraine" in 1996 (according to other sources, in 1997.

In May 2008, Korrespondent magazine estimated Tigipko's fortune at $ 1.64 billion and placed him 17th among the richest citizens of Ukraine.

According to the official biography, Tigipko is married. Natalia married Tigipko in 1981, while he was still in college, it was claimed that they divorced in 2004. With his second wife, Victoria Lopatetskaya, Tigipko married in 2005. According to LIGA News, in addition to his daughter Anna (born in 1984) from his first marriage, he has three children from his second marriage (in 2008, Victoria said that she was already taking them to school). According to Tigipko, in 2008 his son was born. According to his official biography, he has four children. Meanwhile, according to the income statement filed by Tigipko with the Ukrainian Central Election Commission in October 2009, his wife at that time was Natalia Tigipko (in 2008 she was mentioned as a former co-owner of the TAS group), in addition, the presidential candidate had no minor children ... At the same time, according to some sources, it was Lopatetskaya who oversaw Tigipko's election campaign.

Place of Birth. Education. Born in the ethnically Ukrainian village of Dragoneshty, Lazovsky District, Moldavian SSR. In 1982 he graduated from the Dnepropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute as a metallurgical engineer. Ph.D. in Economics, thesis topic - "Formation and state regulation of the systems of commercial banks in Ukraine" (1996).

Career. The name and state of Tigipko did not come from metallurgy. Immediately after the army, in 1984, he went to master the Komsomol "field". He worked as secretary of the LKSMU committee, head of the department and deputy director for educational work of the Dnepropetrovsk mechanical and metallurgical technical school, head of the propaganda and agitation department of the Dnepropetrovsk regional committee of the LKSMU. In 1989-1991. was the first secretary of the regional committee of the Komsomol.

In 1991, Tigipko became deputy chairman of the board of Dnipro commercial bank. And in March 1992 - the chairman of the board of the new Dnipropetrovsk. According to some reports, it was Tigipko who proposed to the founders of the Privat group, among whom were and, to create their own commercial bank. In an interview, billionaire Bogolyubov said that at first Tigipko was a hired manager, and then became a key partner and shareholder. Later the founders of Privat bought out his share.

In 1994-1997. Tigipko is a freelance monetary policy advisor to the President of Ukraine.

Then he received the posts of Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for Economic Reform in the Government (April-July 1997), Deputy Prime Minister for Economics in the Cabinet (1997-1999), Minister of Economy in the Government.

In 2000, at the by-election to the Verkhovna Rada in the constituency in Pavlograd, he became a people's deputy of Ukraine. In 2002, he again passes to parliament on the list of the pro-presidential bloc For a United Ukraine!

Since December 2002, he served as head of the National Bank of Ukraine for two years.

2000 to 2005 headed the Labor Ukraine party.

During his political career, he was a member of the NSDC, was a member of and led various government commissions, councils and committees. Represented Ukraine in the intergovernmental structures of the CIS.

In November 2004, he left big politics. He concentrated on managing his own big business - the TAS financial group, which included TAS-Investbank, TAS-Komerzbank, TAS-Businessbank, TAS insurance company, family medicine clinic and a number of other assets.

In 2007 he sold TAS-Investbank and TAS-Komerzbank to a Swedish bank. As reported by the media, - for $ 735 million with the size of the equity capital of two financial institutions $ 161.2 million.

On March 18, 2008, the Prime Minister announced that she had appointed Tigipko as her adviser. At the same time, together with the prime minister, he became co-chairman of the newly created Council of Investors under the Cabinet of Ministers. On July 8, 2009, Tigipko resigned from the post of adviser to the head of the Cabinet of Ministers of his own free will.

In June 2009, he left the post of the head of the board of the TAS financial group and the head of the board of Swedbank and concentrated on political activities. In 2010, Tigipko campaigned successfully and finished third in the presidential election.

After the elections, he received the post of Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs in the regional government. On December 9, 2010, as a result of the administrative reform that had begun, he became Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Social Policy.

On March 16, Strong Ukraine dissolved his party, urging members of the same party to join the Party of Regions. On the same day, at the PR congress, he was elected deputy leader of the presidential party.

Since December 2012 - People's Deputy of Ukraine of the VII convocation, passed under No. 3 on the list of the Party of Regions. Deputy head of the Party of Regions faction in the Verkhovna Rada. Member of the Committee on Informatization and Information Technologies.

As a result of the 2014 presidential elections, Sergei Tigipko took 5th place among all candidates with a score of 5.23%.

January 12, 2016 supervisory board TAScombank (Kiev) appointed Serhiy Tigipko as chairman of the board.

Views and ratings. According to some reports, in 1997 the banker got into the government on the recommendation of the then first assistant to the president, who commented on the replacement of the deputy prime minister for economics with Tigipko as follows: "The market-theoretician has been replaced by the market-practitioner."

In 2004, during the presidential election campaign, unexpectedly for many, Tigipko became the candidate's confidant and headed his campaign headquarters. A week after the first round of elections and the start of the Orange Revolution, he left the team of the candidate-prime minister and resigned as head of the NBU. And soon disappeared from the sight of the ubiquitous journalists for quite a long time. Preliminarily on the air, he said that, leaving, he did not say goodbye to Yanukovych, since "we did not drink a hundred grams," and promised that if Yushchenko became president, he would be in opposition to him.

By the way, even today many observers are sure that then bet Kuchma not on Yanukovych, but on Tigipko, the outcome of the presidential race could have been completely different.

After the presidential elections, the ex-head of the National Bank and the founder of the TAS group was engaged exclusively in business, resigning as the leader of Labor Ukraine and ignoring the parliamentary campaigns of 2006 and 2007.

The founder of the TAS group is a constant figure in the ratings of the richest people in Ukraine. So, in February 2008, experts of the Focus magazine put Tigipko in the 28th place in the top 130 Ukrainian wealthy people, estimating his assets at $ 900 million. A year earlier, his fortune was estimated at $ 780 million.

Until 2012, he was one of the top 10 richest Ukrainians according to Forbes, now he is 12th in the top 100. According to Forbes estimates, as of February 2013, his net worth is $ 1.11 billion.

A family. The politician and multimillionaire is married. Tigipko has an adult daughter Anna from his first marriage. It was in her honor that the TAS group was named (from Tigipko Anna Sergeevna). In the second marriage, Tigipko has three children.

Sergey Leonidovich Tigipko(Ukrainian Sergiy Leonidovich Tigipko; February 13, 1960, Draganesti village, Singerei district, Moldavian SSR, USSR) - Ukrainian politician, People's Deputy of Ukraine, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine (2010-2012).

In 1992-1997 he was the chairman of the board of Privatbank. In 1997-1999 he served as Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Ukraine, and from 1999 to 2000 - Minister of Economy. Founder and leader of the Labor Ukraine Party (2000-2005). In 2002-2004 he was the head of the National Bank of Ukraine, and in 2004 he headed the campaign headquarters of Viktor Yanukovych in the presidential elections in Ukraine. Chairman of the party "Strong Ukraine" (2009-2012), deputy chairman of the Party of Regions (2012-2014), candidate for the presidency of Ukraine in 2010 and 2014.

In 2007-2009 - the chairman of the board of AT Swedbank, in 2005-2009 he served as the head of the financial and industrial group TAS.

Until 2012, he was one of the top 10 richest Ukrainians according to Forbes, now he is 12th in the top 100. According to the latest estimates by Forbes (Feb 2013), his net worth is $ 1.11 billion.

Early years (1960-1984)

Sergei Leonidovich Tigipko was born on February 13, 1960 in the village of Dragonesti (Draganesti), Lazovsky district of the Moldavian SSR, where his grandfather moved in 1902 from Vinnytsia. The newspaper "Kommersant" wrote that Sergei's father, Leonid Tigipko, served as secretary of the Dnipropetrovsk city committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. According to Tigipko himself, his father was in charge of the collective farm apiary and died when Sergei was 10 years old. After the death of their father, Sergei Tigipko and two of his brothers (the elder Valery and the younger Alexander) were brought up by their mother, lived in a house without a sewage system on the outskirts of Chisinau, near the city dump.

After graduating from university, Tigipko voluntarily went into the army (he served as an officer in the tank forces), because they paid more there than in production. Tigipko served as a platoon commander and deputy commander for the technical part of a tank company near Chernigov, and drove a T-64B tank.

Komsomol (1984-1991)

In August 1989, Tigipko was elected to the post of first secretary of the Dnipropetrovsk regional committee: he was helped in this by the future vice-premier of the Ukrainian government, Alexander Turchinov (after the election of Tigipko, he took over as head of the propaganda and agitation department). In this position, Tigipko helped Yulia Tymoshenko open her business, including the Terminal youth center, at the same time he met Leonid Kuchma and became one of the representatives of the future Dnipropetrovsk clan.

Banking (1991-2000)

After the liquidation of the Komsomol in October 1991, Tigipko went into banking. He received the post of deputy chairman of the board of directors of the commercial bank "Dnipro", but, as they wrote in the press, he was dismissed "for impudence", and in March 1992 he headed the board of the Dnipropetrovsk Privatbank created with his participation.

Tigipko himself was a partner and shareholder of the bank, owned by Igor Kolomoisky, Alexey Martynov, Leonid Miloslavsky and Gennady Bogolyubov. There were rumors that in this post Tigipko was involved in money laundering through Latvian banks. The politician himself did not comment on these rumors. Also managing Privatbank, Tigipko created a media consortium for the Privat group, which included the UNIAN news agency, Privat-TV, Novaya Gazeta, Premier radio and Dovira advertising agency.

In government (1994-2001)

After Lazarenko's resignation, Tigipko remained Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs in the government of Valery Pustovoitenko. There were rumors that Tigipko, together with Kuchma and French President Jacques Chirac then organized the transfer of the Nikolaevcement enterprise to the international consortium Lafarge, whose board included Chirac's wife, Bernadette. In 1997, Tigipko received the Order of the Legion of Honor from Chirac.

From 1999 to 2000, Tigipko served as Minister of Economy in the cabinet of Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko. During the Orange Revolution in 2004, Tymoshenko stated that, as Minister of Economy, Tigipko lobbied for the interests of businessman Grigory Surkis and politician Viktor Medvedchuk.

In parallel, Tigipko was a member of a number of government and presidential councils and commissions. From 1997 to 2000, he headed the Expert Council on Insurance under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the National Council on Statistics under the President of Ukraine. From 1997 to 2001, he was a member of the Supreme Economic Council of the President of Ukraine and was the Deputy Chairman of the State Commission for the Implementation of Administrative Reform in Ukraine. In 1998-1999, Tigipko served as chairman of the Interdepartmental Commission on the Regulation of the Food Market, Prices and Incomes of Agricultural Producers, and in 1998-2000, he was the chairman of the Commission on the return to Ukraine of currency values that are illegally located outside its borders. He was also a member of the Strategic Group on Ukrainian-Russian relations under the presidents of the two states.

In parliament and the National Bank (2000-2004)

In 2000, Tigipko finally split the business with the owners of Privatbank: he "took" his share with him - the Kiev-Privat bank (according to other sources, he created it with the funds he earned while working at Privatbank).

In June 2000, Tigipko resigned from the Yushchenko government, "tired of the ineffective work of the cabinet." In the June 2000 by-election, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the third convocation from the 36th electoral district in Pavlograd and joined the Labor Ukraine party, in November he took over as its chairman, replacing Igor Sharov. Tigipko joined the parliamentary committee on finance and banking and, while working in parliament, created the Perspektiva charitable foundation.

In 2001, "Labor Ukraine", together with the Party of Regions, the People's Democratic Party, the Agrarian Party and the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, entered the electoral bloc "For a United Ukraine!" Tigipko received seventh place in the combined list and was elected in April 2002 to the Verkhovna Rada of the fourth convocation.

In December 2002, after a long debate, Tigipko was elected by the Verkhovna Rada to the post of chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine. It was noted that his appointment to this post - as a representative of the parliamentary majority - took place in exchange for the support of the majority of the earlier appointment of V.F. Yanukovych as Prime Minister. In this position, he initiated the introduction of a new series of banknotes and opposed the monetary union of Russia and Ukraine. There were rumors that President Kuchma was going to nominate Tigipko for the post of prime minister or even make him his successor, and Tigipko himself also did not deny his presidential ambitions. The press wrote that Tigipko is close to Kuchma's son-in-law, businessman Viktor Pinchuk.

Leaving politics (2004-2009)

Although immediately after his resignation, Tigipko announced his intention to get involved in politics and, according to opinion polls, 17% of voters could vote for him on the eve of the Orange Revolution, he eventually decided to go into business. In April 2005, Tigipko resigned from the post of leader of Labor Ukraine (Valeriy Konovalyuk became the new party chairman, two years later she joined the Party of Regions) and in September became chairman of the board of the financial and industrial group TAS.

2010 presidential election

In March 2009, Tigipko announced that he was ready to enter the Tymoshenko government and was not going to be elected to the presidency. However, already in April 2009, Tigipko announced his intention to participate in the presidential elections in Ukraine. In May 2009, he agreed to the nomination of Dmitry Sirota from the Labor Party of Ukraine, resigned from the post of Tymoshenko's advisor and in June resigned from TAS and Swedbank, remaining a member of the supervisory board of the latter. On October 27, 2009, self-nominated candidate Tigipko was registered as a presidential candidate in Ukraine.

According to political analysts, Tigipko was supposed to become an important "technical" candidate on the side of Yulia Tymoshenko, and his task was to take away from Yanukovych some of the votes in eastern Ukraine. However, some experts argued that Tigipko could offer his services to other candidates. It is noteworthy that the leader of the Ukrainian socialists, Oleksandr Moroz, and the representative of the Party of Regions, Yuriy Boyko, announced about "closeness" with Tigipko. Tigipko was going to spend about UAH 15-20 million on his election program. In October 2009, social polls showed that 1.7% of respondents were going to vote for Tigipko in the presidential elections. Among Tigipko's election slogans were Ukraine's accession to the European Union, tax and constitutional reforms, and a decrease in the state's influence on the economy. He was also against granting the Russian language the status of a second state language.

In November 2009, Tigipko was elected chairman of the Labor Party of Ukraine. Before this, the delegates of the party congress made a decision on the early termination of the powers of its previous chairman Dmitry Sirota. In addition, the delegates unanimously decided to change the name of the party (it became known as "Strong Ukraine"), and also approved new versions of its program and party charter.

On January 17, 2010, the first round of the presidential elections took place in Ukraine. Tigipko took third place on them, gaining 13% of the vote and losing to Yanukovych and Tymoshenko.

In government (2010-2012)

Before the elections, Tigipko promised to remain neutral during the second round. In March of the same year, Yanukovych offered Tigipko the post of deputy prime minister. After the formation of a new parliamentary coalition, on March 11, 2010, Tigipko was appointed Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs in the government of Mykola Azarov.

On December 9, 2010, Yanukovych announced an administrative reform, as a result of which the number of members of the government was reduced from 36 to 17, and the number of executive bodies was also almost halved. Tigipko, as a result of the reform, retained the post of Deputy Prime Minister, and was also appointed Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine.

In August 2011, the launch of the process of unification of the “Strong Ukraine” and the ruling Party of Regions was officially announced. In November of the same year, the Kommersant Ukraina newspaper reported that the unification was postponed indefinitely due to the unwillingness of the leadership of the Party of Regions to fulfill Tigipko's demands to provide his supporters with additional posts in the government. However, the press services of the parties denied this information and promised that the merger process will be completed "in the near future." In 2012, the unification of the two parties finally took place: on March 17, "Strong Ukraine" disbanded, and its members were invited to join the Party of Regions. Tigipko received the position of deputy chairman of the Party of Regions, who at that time was Mykola Azarov.

In parliament (since 2012)

On April 23, 2012, Tigipko became Deputy Chief of the Central Election Headquarters of the Party of Regions Andrei Klyuev, responsible for public campaigning of the party in the 2012 parliamentary elections. In December, Tigipko rejected an offer to remain in the executive branch and finally decided to move to parliament. In parliament, Tigipko became a member of the Committee on Informatization and Information Technologies. According to a sociological survey by the Razumkov Center, as of March 2013, he entered the top five politicians in the rating of antipathies of Ukrainians (64.7% of non-support).

2014 elections

In early April 2014, he was expelled from the Party of Regions after he disagreed that the party did not support his candidacy for the presidency in the 2014 elections. On April 7, the political council of the Party of Regions expelled Sergei Tigipko from the party. On April 8, 14 people's deputies from the Party of Regions, including Tigipko, announced their withdrawal from the Party of Regions and the PR faction in the Verkhovna Rada, as well as the creation of a parliamentary group opposing the current government.

Ukrainian Presidential Candidate Program

Sergei Tigipko's program contains promises of direct elections of regional governors, early elections of all levels of legislative power, giving the Russian language the status of a second state language and restoring the legal status of regional languages, disbanding all illegal armed formations, reforming local self-government with the achievement of maximum cultural and economic autonomy. In the field of foreign policy, it is proposed to use the "buffer position of the country" as an instrument of influence and pursue a tough and independent policy. It is also expected to resume negotiations on all spheres of interaction with the Russian Federation on a pragmatic basis and develop a plan for restoring the territorial integrity of the state.

Personal life

Tigipko is a candidate of economic sciences. He defended his dissertation on the topic "Formation and state regulation of the systems of commercial banks in Ukraine" in 1996 (according to other sources, in 1997).

In May 2008, the Korrespondent magazine estimated Tigipko's fortune at $ 1.64 billion and placed him 17th among the richest citizens of Ukraine.

According to LIGA News, in addition to his daughter Anna (born in 1984) from his first marriage, he has three children from his second marriage (in 2008, Victoria said that she was already taking them to school). According to Tigipko, in 2008 his son was born. According to his official biography, he has four children. Meanwhile, according to the income statement filed by Tigipko with the Ukrainian Central Election Commission in October 2009, his wife at that time was Natalia Tigipko (in 2008 she was mentioned as a former co-owner of the TAS group), in addition, the presidential candidate had no minor children ... At the same time, according to some sources, it was Lopatetskaya who oversaw Tigipko's election campaign in 2010.

The press wrote that Tigipko was engaged in barbell, alpine skiing and swimming. Previously, he was fond of tennis, but was forced to quit this activity due to a back injury. Tigipko - Orthodox, baptized in a church under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Own

Sergei Tigipko owns the Cititrend-Krok private enterprise and the Industrialnaya Insurance Company OJSC, which in turn owns the FIG TAS (named after the initials of his daughter Anna Sergeevna Tigipko) and a number of enterprises.

Sergey Leonidovich Tigipko - quotes

The congress showed that the Party of Regions has become a real center of attraction for all healthy, constructive forces in society. It was important for me to see many new young faces, these are guys who are ready to work, and for them nothing is impossible. When many of these people gather in one place, I can tell you, this is crazy energy. This is really an important feeling for all of us. The Party of Regions has shown that it knows about the problems that exist in the country today, that it listens and hears people, that the party has a clear understanding of how to solve these problems. The Party of Regions has shown that it is the only political force that is confidently building a new country.

We have taken certain steps. But a further increase in pensions is problematic for us. Because the pension of a Chernobyl disaster is 2 times higher than the average pension in the country. The minimum pensions for Chernobyl victims are at the level of pensions for combatants. The government intends to budget certain amounts and gradually implement court decisions providing for a significant increase in pension payments to liquidators of the Chernobyl accident.

Ukraine should orient itself towards Europe, and, choosing between the Customs Union and the EU, Ukraine should choose the European Union. If we make a choice for Ukraine, then we must focus on the EU. We are a European country, and we must understand well that Europe has the best standards for both democracy and a market economy. And the market is five times larger than that of the same, say, CIS countries. Of course, now, against the background of these internal political problems, we have a certain disappointment. And the difficulties that the EU is now experiencing do not make Ukrainians dream about the EU as much as they did before. But still it doesn't change anything. We must move to the EU, and the European choice is the main one for us.

Almost the entire vacation was in Kiev, because there was such a need for work - all the time there were certain political consultations. Now I am dealing with the problems of the ministry. I read all the speeches of the IDCEE Internet conference and found many interesting ideas. Now I am full of strength and will continue to engage in reforms.

The position of the Party of Regions has not changed. We have consistently advocated and continue to advocate the unity of Ukraine. The document, which reserves the right for Ukraine to turn to other states for help in restoring territorial integrity, contains some provocative clauses. We need to wait until the end of the referendum, to see what will happen in Crimea.