Yuriy Lutsenko

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Yuriy Lutsenko. April 7th, 2005.

Yuriy Vitaliyovych Lutsenko (Ukrainian: Юрій Віталійович Луценко; born December 14, 1964 in Rivne) is a Ukrainian politician and statesman. Presently, he is the Minister of Internal Affairs in the Cabinet of Viktor Yanukovych since February 2005^[1] (after holding the same post in the Cabinet of Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Yekhanurov). The Ministry of Internal Affairs is in charge of Ukrainian police, and Lutsenko became the first civilian minister in 2005.

1 Early political biography
2 2000s
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Early political biography

Yuriy Lutsenko recieved his degree in Engineering in 1989 from Lviv Polytechnical Institute.

He was a long-term member (since 1991) of the Socialist Party of Ukraine (after his appointment as a minister he suspended the membership in this party). He left the party in the summer of 2006 as a result of what he percieved to be the party leader Oleksandr Moroz's treason of the party's long term pro-democratic stance by entering the Parliamentary coalition with the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Party of Regions of current PM Yanukovych. Lutsenko belonged to so-called "right wing" of SPU which takes a pro-European position akin to social democratic parties in the rest of Europe, rather than a post-Soviet conservative socialism. Prior to his appointment to the executive branch he was people’s deputy in the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) since February 2002.

[edit] 2000s

Yuriy Lutsenko gained public fame as one of the leaders of the Ukraine without Kuchma! campaign, which followed the Cassette Scandal of 2000. He was also one of the "faces of Orange revolution".

As a Minister, Lutsenko refused to run in the 2006 parliamentary election on his party list. However, he has been running for both the Kiev City Council and Rivne Oblast Council simultaneously in the lists of Socialist Party - "to make the point", as he explained. Having won these seats, Lutsenko resigned from both in favor of his Minister's position as the Constitution of Ukraine prohibits occupying the positions in the legislative and executive branches of the government at the same time.

As the Parliamentary coalition of the Party of Regions, the Communists and the defected Socialists began to take shape, Lutsenko stated flatly that he refused to continue serving as the minister in a future government formed by these parties. However, after President Viktor Yushchenko agreed to allow the forming of the cabinet in exchange for several political concessions including the ability to pick the Minister of Interior, Lutsenko stated that the president asked him personally to remain as the minister, and he will do so.