Yevhen Kushnaryov

Yevhen Petrovych Kushnaryov (Євген Петрович Кушнарьов; 29 January 1951 – 17 January 2007) was a Ukrainian politician. Kushnaryov was considered one of the chief ideologues of the Party of Regions and a key ally of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

Early life
Yevhen Kushnaryov was born in Kharkiv to migrants from Russia in January 29, 1951. Soon after his birth, the family moved to Melitopol. Since 1958, he studied at eight-year school No. 6, and then at secondary school No. 5, from which he graduated in 1968. Kushnaryov entered the Odessa Institute of Civil Engineering, but after the first year, by decision of his father, he transferred to the Kharkov Institute of Civil Engineering, which he graduated in 1973, receiving a degree in mechanical engineering.

Political career
Kushnaryov became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 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.In mid-December 2001, under the leadership of Kushnaryov, a Ukrainian-Russian economic business forum was organized in Kharkiv with the participation of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the same time, Kharkiv was proclaimed “the capital of Russian-Ukrainian relations.” On November 7, 2003, Yevhen Kushnaryov, signed an agreement with the Governor of the Belgorod Oblast, Yevgeny Savchenko, on the creation of the Euroregion “Slobozhanshchina”. Within the Euroregion, relations between areas in many humanitarian and financial sectors have developed. In 2004, the Euroregion “Slobozhanshchina” was included in the Association of European Border Regions as an observer. During the Orange Revolution, 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 2005 he published a book (Red Horse: Notes of a Counterrevolutionary) denouncing the Orange Revolution.

Death and remembrance
On 15 January 2007, Kushnaryov was accidentally shot in the liver while hunting with a group of friends and colleagues, and died two days later in a hospital in Izium. A two-day period of mourning was declared in Kharkiv over the death of the former governor. Yevhen Kushnaryov was survived by his wife, two children, and two grandchildren. In October 2008 a monument to honour Kushnaryov was unveiled in Kharkiv. The Yevgeny Kushnaryov Foundation for Democracy Initiatives Support was founded in October 2007. The goal of the organisation is "to pursue with the ideas that mattered to him".

Honors and Distinctions

 * Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise V (1998), IV (2002), III (2004) Class (Ukraine)
 * Légion d'honneur (1997) (France)

Trivia

 * Although his Ukrainian name was Yevhen (Євген), Kushnaryov personally preferred to use the Russified form Yevheniy (Євгеній) when writing in Ukrainian.