Oleksandr Lukyanchenko
| Oleksandr Lukyanchenko | |
|---|---|
| Олександр Лук'янченко | |
 | |
| Mayor of Donetsk | |
|
In office 31 March 2002 – present | |
| Preceded by | Volodymyr Rybak |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
30 August 1947 Berdychi, Yasynuvata Raion, Donetsk Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR |
| Political party | Party of Regions |
Oleksandr Oleksiyovych Lukyanchenko (Ukrainian: Олександр Олексійович Лук'янченко, Russian: Александр Алексеевич Лукьянченко; born 30 August 1947) is the mayor of Donetsk city, in Ukraine.[1][2]
Life
He was born to a Russian-speaking Ukrainian family in the village of Berdychi, in Donetsk Oblast. He attended primary school in the village of his birth, and secondary school in Avdiivka. In 1962, he entered the Makiivka Civil Engineering Institute, and then served in a tank corps in the Soviet Army. After his service in the army, he worked as a chief engineer at multiple factories in Donetsk.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he became vice-president of the city administration in Donetsk city on 27 November 1992. From 1994 to 1996, he worked in the Donetsk regional state administration, where he also achieved the post of vice-president. Then, he spent two years as the director-general of the highway administration of Donetsk Oblast. He was nominated vice-mayor of Donetsk city, under Volodymyr Rybak, who he replaced as mayor in 2002 after 31 March municipal elections. He was re-elected on 26 March 2006, and again on 31 October 2010.
His role came to prominence during the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine. Lukyanchenko has criticised separatists affiliated with the Donetsk People's Republic and the post-Euromaidan Ukrainian government. He said "Indeed, the seizure of administrative buildings is illegal and bad. Separatist slogans that were voiced in city squares are unacceptable. Yet all these problems are a consequence of the new authorities' incorrect policy, their unwillingness to look into the problems to understand them".[3] Lukyanchenko left the city of Donetsk for Kiev in early July, after he had received threats against his life from members of the Donetsk People's Republic.[4] He said he would continue to run the city administration from Kiev until he was able to return to Donetsk.
References
- Autobiography on the Donetsk city website
- ↑ "2 Ukrainian Mayors Play Different Hands in Crisis". The New York Times. 28 February 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ↑ "33 Russians Killed in Clashes Over Donetsk Airport, Separatists Say". The Moscow Times. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ↑ "Kiev pursues wrong policy - Donetsk mayor". The Voice of Russia. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ↑ "Latest from the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine based on information received until 18:00 hrs, 14 July" (Press release). Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2014.