Yevhen Kushnaryov - Political Career

Political Career

Kushnaryov became a member of the Communist Party in 1981. In 1989, during the Glasnost era, he joined the pro-democracy movement in the Ukrainian SSR. In 1990 Kushnaryov was elected to both the Kharkiv city council and the Verkhovna Rada, where he took part in formulating the fledgling country's constitution, and in 1994 he became mayor of the city of Kharkiv.

Afterwards, Kushnaryov served as Leonid Kuchma's chief of staff from 1996 to 1998, and as governor of the Kharkiv Oblast from 2000 to 2004.

During the election crisis of 2004, Kushnaryov agitated for the creation of an independent southeastern Ukrainian state in the case of Viktor Yushchenko's victory. This caused him to be arrested on charges of separatism, that were eventually dropped. Following the Orange Revolution, Kushnaryov joined Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions and in 2006 he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada on the Party of Regions ticket.

Kushnaryov quickly became one of the leaders of the party along with Yanukovych and Rinat Akhmetov. Considered by many to be among the party's main ideologues, Kushnaryov could be frequently seen on television debating public policy. In 2006 he published a book (Red Horse: Notes of a Counterrevolutionary) denouncing the Orange Revolution.