Ukrainian politician and businessman Yevgeny Chervonenko: biography, family, career

Evgeny Alfredovich Chervonenko refers to the type of people who are used to achieve success in different fields. He reached heights, being a businessman, racing driver, politician. Of course, it was very difficult to go to the goal of Eugene Chervonenko. The biography and personal life of this person will be the subject of our study.

Childhood

Yevgeny Chervonenko was born in December 1959 in the city of Dnepropetrovsk, in the Jewish family of professor of the Dnepropetrovsk Mining Institute Alfred Chervonenko. Yevgeny Alfredovich's mother was the daughter of a working pro-rector at the same institute as her husband, Israel Solomonovich Marshak, who, in turn, was a cousin of the famous children's writer Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak. The family had a younger son - Igor, which EA Chervonenko always responded very warmly.

Evgeny Alfredovich Chervonenko graduated from school No. 23 in 1977, at that time the most prestigious in Dnepropetrovsk. His classmate was the future famous businessman Eduard Shifrin. A year later, the same billionaire graduate and the son-in-law of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Pinchuk, graduated from the same school.

While studying at the school, Eugene Chervonenko was particularly good at math, as evidenced by regular victories in mathematical olympiads. Studying in Dnepropetrovsk, he also simultaneously graduated in absentia from the Physics and Mathematics School in Moscow, which is subordinate to the Physicotechnical Institute.

Youth

After graduation at the school, Evgeny Chervonenko enters the DGI Institute, located in his hometown, and is trained in engineering. Initially, he tried to enter MFTI, who supervised the school, absenteely graduated from Chervonenko, but did not pass through the competition. According to Yevgeny Alfredovich, this was due to his nationality. At that time in the USSR there was an unofficial decree on admission to universities of a limited number of Jewish students.

Despite the fact that, thanks to his excellent academic performance, Eugene received a high Lenin scholarship at the time, he also worked as a driver in the Avtotrans organization, a fitter, and as a laboratory assistant. Evgeny Alfredovich successfully graduated from the university in 1982.

After graduation he worked as an engineer in the design department of Dnepromashobogaschenie in Dnepropetrovsk. There he established himself as a true professional, and even wrote a thesis.

Career racing driver

Over time, Eugene Chervonenko realized that after all, engineering activities - this is not his field. He had been caring about cars since early childhood and dreamed of becoming a racing driver. At the amateur level (and there simply could not be another in the USSR), while still studying at the university, Yevgen Chervonenko began to engage in motorsport. In 1980 he enrolled in the section of this sports discipline. Already in 1981 he was included in the Ukrainian SSR team.

In 1983, Chervonenko won the titles of the winner of the sports days and the championship of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1985 he became a member of the USSR national team and was awarded the title of Master of Sports. Participated in the championships of the USSR and Europe, where he won prizes and became the winner. In 1988, Yevgeny Alfredovich became the champion of the Spartakiad of the USSR, and a year later received the title of master of sports of international class.

Meanwhile, the country experienced a time of significant changes in the policy of leadership and public life. Not for nothing that period has acquired the name "Perestroika". In those years there were significant indulgences in the field of human rights and freedoms, it was allowed to engage in small business and professional sports. Until then, all Soviet athletes were considered amateurs.

In late 1986, Evgeny Chervonenko became one of the first professional racing drivers in the USSR. Already at the turn of 1987 and 1988 he became one of the organizers of the first Soviet professional racing team, which had a landmark name - Perestroika. Help in the formation of the team Eugene Alfredovich provided his companion Alexander Salyuk. It is rumored that the organization of a professional team, whose activity was based on self-financing, became real thanks to a personal meeting between Evgeny Chervonenko and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, organized by high-ranking friends of the racing driver.

The first steps in business

Having organized a professional team, Yevgeny Alfredovich realized that entrepreneurship in the new economic conditions is a very promising area for activity. In parallel with the racing team, he created a company to provide transportation services called "Transalli". In fact, both organizations were part of the same structure. The revenue from the competitions, in which the racing team took part, went to the development of the trucking company.

Thus, Evgeny Chervonenko became one of the first people in the USSR who successfully started doing business. According to Yevgeny Alfredovich himself, he became a millionaire in Soviet times.

Further successes in entrepreneurship

Over time, Chervonenko realized the need to expand the scope of activities. In 1992, after Ukraine adopted the Declaration of Independence, Yevgeny Alfredovich co-founded the enterprise "Lviv Van Pur", which was the first in the territory of the former USSR to manufacture canned beer. In 1994, he became chairman of the board of the company "Rogan Van Pur", and a year later - chairman of the group of companies "Ukraine Van Pur".

Evgeny Chervonenko did not intend to stop at this. "Ukraine Van Pur" won more and more confident positions in the domestic beer market.

In 1995, Evgeny Chervonenko achieved a new peak, becoming a member of the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. After that he is a member of the board of this respected organization, and also becomes chairman of one of the commissions.

In 1997, Yevgeny Alfredovich joined the Council of Entrepreneurs, which operates under the government of Ukraine, becomes a member of the Federation of Employers, and next year - advisor to the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma.

In 1997 the concern Orlan appeared. In it till 2000 inclusive he holds a post of the president and is the actual owner of it. After 2000, in connection with his retirement in the civil service, Yevgeny Alfredovich becomes honorary president of Orlan, and his second wife Margarita Chervonenko and brother Igor got the actual leadership of the company. This state of affairs persisted until 2007. Chervonenko's wife was the president of the concern, but then the couple divorced, which led to the loss of her status in the company.

Public service

In 2000, Yevgeny Alfredovich was appointed chairman of the State Agency for Material Reserve Management. It was time for new opportunities for Eugene Chervonenko. Goskomrezerv has become another significant milestone in his biography. This was the first post in the civil service on which he was until 2001.

During this period, the State Committee for Reserves in every way contributed to the development of the company Igor Chervonenko, but allegations of corruption, filed by official bodies, did not follow Eugene Alfredovich.

In 2001, Evgeny Chervonenko was dismissed. This decision was motivated by the need to reorganize the State Reserves Committee, but everyone understood that in fact this was due to the resignation of the Cabinet of Ministers of Viktor Yushchenko.

The beginning of political career

After leaving the civil service, Yevgeny Chervonenko plunged into political activities. Being non-partisan, in 2002 he took part in elections to the Verkhovna Rada on the lists of the Our Ukraine bloc. The party won first place in the elections, and Yevgeny Alfredovich, who was on the thirtieth position on the list, became a member of the Ukrainian parliament.

During his stay in the Verkhovna Rada he held the post of secretary of the committee for construction and transport, and also became a member of several groups on inter-parliamentary relations.

Then a major scandal broke out. Representatives of the authorities accused Chervonenko of having Israeli citizenship, and in this connection they demanded the deprivation of Yevgeny Alfredovich of the Ukrainian parliament and citizenship, as dual citizenship in Ukrainian legislation is prohibited.

Presidential Elections and the Orange Revolution

In the presidential elections of 2004, as expected, Chervonenko supported Viktor Yushchenko, whose premiership was ruled by the State Reserve Committee, and now was in the parliamentary faction headed by him. Moreover, he largely spent financing the election campaign and was her treasurer.

After the initial results of voting in the presidential elections were won by the incumbent Prime Minister of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovich, Yevgeny Chervonenko took an active part in a large-scale protest movement, which disputed the reliability of the counting results, which was called the Orange Revolution. In particular, he directed the protection of V. Yushchenko.

The opposition managed to get an additional round of elections, during which Victor Yushchenko won.

Government Activities

After the so-called "orange coalition" came to power, Yevgeny Chervonenko could reasonably count on a ministerial portfolio or other high office, as he himself put a lot of effort and money into Victor Yushchenko's victory in the elections.

First, Yevgeny Alfredovich was offered the job of minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but he refused this post. However, after some time reported that he regrets this decision. Since February 2005, he headed the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

One of the first steps in the new post of Evgeny Chervonenko was the decision to break all contracts with counterparts signed by his predecessors. According to his statement, after signing new, really profitable contracts, revenues to the budget will grow significantly. He also held a number of anti-corruption inspections in the ministry, which revealed a whole bunch of abuses. In turn, the press heard accusations of corruption and Yevgeny Alfredovich himself, but no factual evidence was ever provided.

In December 2005, Yulia Tymoshenko's cabinet resigned, thus, Evgeny Chervonenko lost his seat, and the Ministry of Transport - the head. Then he headed the Automobile Federation of Ukraine.

Governor

Nevertheless, without work in the civil service Chervonenko did not remain. He received the post of head of the Zaporozhye regional administration, or, as they say, the governor. It is possible that Viktor Chernov's decision about this appointment was influenced by Chervonenko's close acquaintance with the owners of Zaporizhstal - Alex Schneider and Eduard Shifrin. With the latter, as mentioned above, Yevgeny Alfredovich even studied in the same class.

Despite the fear that the appointment of the head of the Yanukovych-backed region as one of the leaders of the Orange Revolution could provoke discontent among the population, Yevgeny Chervonenko's governorate passed rather calmly. On his part, too, there was no provocation of the local elite. The only nuance that could create conflict was the installation in Zaporozhye under the direct patronage of EA Chervonenko monument to the victims of the Holodomor. But the conflict never broke out.

The chair of the regional administration was occupied by the former Minister of Transport until December 2007.

Further career

The resignation of the governor of Zaporizhzhya region, most likely, was associated with the return of Yulia Tymoshenko to the prime minister's seat.

Since December 2007, Chervonenko was entrusted with an important mission - to be the head of the National Agency for organizing the European Football Championship, which was to be held in Ukraine in 2012. However, at the end of 2008 the agency was liquidated.

After that, Yevgeny Alfredovich, at the suggestion of Leonid Chernovitsky's Kiev head, became his deputy. At the same time, in 2008 he was re-elected head of the Automobile Federation of Ukraine and was in this position until 2011 inclusive.

In 2010 he went on leave to care for the child, refusing to remain an adviser to the Kiev head.

In the first round of presidential elections in 2010, supported by Yushchenko, but, after he did not go to the second round, openly announced the support of Viktor Yanukovych. This was the first step on the road to rapprochement with their former political opponents, who by that time had come to power.

In 2011, Chervonenko returned to the civil service. He began to work in senior positions in the Ministry of Emergencies - first as head of the department, and then as deputy minister.

The modern stage

What is now engaged in Evgeny Alfredovich Chervonenko? Today, after the change of power that occurred in early 2014, this politician does not belong to the civil service. During this period, he was also not nominated for any elective office. Nevertheless, he continues to take part in a public discussion of political events.

For example, even at the very beginning of the conflict in the Donbass, E. Chervonenko accused the incumbent Ukrainian authorities of "corruption of morality", indecision and inability to make responsible decisions.

In the same year 2014, a live broadcast of the news program of TSN channel "1 + 1", a major scandal between Yevgeny Chervonenko and journalist Tatyana Chernovol, which he accused of illegal actions to seize private property.

Already in 2016, throughout Ukraine, a public statement was made by Yevgeny Chervonenko about the lawlessness of the police. This statement was provoked by an unprecedented pursuit, which the police arranged for a crowded Kyiv for one car with the use of firearms. Chervonenko sharply criticized the professional training of law enforcement.

Another scandal occurred between E. Chervonenko and the governor of the Odessa region, Mikhail Saakashvili, on the air of the transfer of Savik Shuster. During the squabble, Saakashvili accused the former minister of transport of using corruption schemes.

Nevertheless, despite public statements, Yevgeny Chervonenko at the moment remains outside of big politics.

Activities in Jewish Organizations

Among other things, Evgeny Chervonenko is known as a major functionary of various Jewish organizations. He never concealed his nationality and was proud of it. This feature was clearly manifested even in Soviet times, when Jews were restricted in the right to education and closed access to high posts.

While still in high school, Evgeny Chervonenko seriously injured one person because of insulting comments about the Jewish people. This decisive act cost him a gold medal.

According to Chervonenko, it was his nationality that served as a barrier to admission to a prestigious Moscow university.

After the fall of the communist regime, Evgeny Chervonenko had the opportunity to take part in the activities of the Jewish community as much as possible. Even there is a version that the first large company - "Lvov Van Pur" - he was able to discover due to the capital of the Irish community of Jews.

In 1999, E. Chervonenko with a group of individuals, including such well-known figures as Yu. Zvyagilsky and S. Maksimov, was the co-founder of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine (EKU). This organization was to become a worthy alternative to the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress Vadim Rabinovich. This fact caused a rather tough confrontation between Chervonenko and Rabinovich, which lasted about two years.

In 2001, Yevgeny Alfredovich became a member of the Council of National Minorities (left in 2003), naturally, being a representative of the Jewish nation. Then he left ECU and established friendly relations with V. Rabinovich, in the organization of which he received the post of head of the board of trustees.

In 2002, Yevgeny Alfredovich took up a high post in another major Jewish organization. He was entrusted with the post of vice-president of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress. This organization was an association of a number of Jewish societies in Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine. In 2005, the EJC became a member of the World Jewish Congress.

As a parliamentarian, Yevgeny Alfredovich was a member of one of the deputy groups, which dealt with the support of relations with Israel. At the same time Chervonenko was accused of having Israeli citizenship (true, unproven), which almost cost him his deputieship and even citizenship of Ukraine.

In 2007, E. Chervonenko was appointed by the European Jewish Congress as a delegate for the nuances of interaction with the countries of Eastern and Central Europe. Then he was elected vice-president of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, headed by Rabinovich. But after the billionaire Igor Kolomoisky became the leader of the organization , Yevgeny Alfredovich also left leading roles in this structure.

At present, when Chervonenko is not an employee of state structures or a deputy, he is most often represented in the press as vice-president of the European Jewish Congress.

A family

It was quite difficult for Evgeny Chervonenko to have a family life.

In the first marriage his wife was the daughter of a high-ranking party employee. In this union in 1987 was born the daughter of Alexander. But the marriage soon broke up.

Evgeny Chervonenko got married for the second time. His chosen one was the beautiful Margarita. They had a daughter - Victoria Chervonenko. At first, their family life evolved quite well. After leaving for the civil service, E. Chervonenko even gave his wife a management company. But in 2006 he began to notice surrounded by another woman, who was called Nina. In 2007, followed by the divorce of Eugene Alfredovich and Margarita, which was accompanied by a major scandal involving the division of property and other issues.

Soon, Yevgeny Alfredovich married for the third time - on the girl who caused the rupture of the previous marriage. Nina Chervonenko is younger than her husband for 13 years. She from her first marriage has a son - Cyril. In addition, she gave Evgeny Alfredovich a male heir, since they had a son, Alfred Chervonenko, named after grandfather.

general characteristics

One of the most famous political figures in Ukraine is Evgeny Chervonenko. His biography is full of interesting facts and unexpected turns. He knew in his life both ups and downs.

Being a multilateral personality. Evgeny Alfredovich tried to prove himself in various spheres: in science, sports, business, politics, public activity. And everywhere he managed to achieve certain peaks.

Evgeny Chervonenko is characterized as a single-minded, firm but impulsive person. He is not afraid to tell the truth, without choking himself with rather harsh expressions.