BIOGRAPHY
Biography
True friends have not betrayed me. Those who turned their backs on me were mere fellow-travelers who found being around me beneficial and comfortable
Thanks God there is a mirror to see yourself outside both in its literal sense and in the figurative one the latter being the mirror of public opinion… Looking into those I give myself the truest estimate. And it is far from always being positive. It is difficult to briefly outline personality traits that characterize me the most accurately. I will risk claiming that I have a position. I can correct it but I will never give up my believes under the influence of outer conjuncture… To be very brief, I also do not betray friends and I am not afraid of responsibility… I am fond of life too.
My parents moved to Ukraine from Russia. My father Piotr Kushnarev was born in 1924 in the village of Yakovlevo in the Smolensk Region. Half of the village residents were the Kushnaryovs and the other half the Yakovlevs. My grandfather died in 1943 in the battle for the city of Lisychansk. Father, a WW2 disabled person of group II, died in 1996. My mother Serafima (Lukyanchikova) Kushnaryova was born in Russian village Mrakovo, in the remotest part of the Bashkir region. My grandfather Timophei was born in the Kursk region and grandmother Varvara Shvedchikova was from the Orenburg Cossaks. Mother died in 2000. My parents are buried in Kharkiv, the city of their youth, where they met each other after WW2 and where I was born on the 29th of January 1951.
Fatherwasalawyerandmotherwasateacher. Attachment to social matters and the current of life outside the walls of their home was the leading treat in both mother’s and father’s character. Theywerethepeoplewithaclearcivicposition. Iinheritedthat.
In 1973 after graduating from Kharkiv Engineering and Construction Institute I worked at Kharkiv Ferroconcrete Plant.
The Party work I began in 1981 in the Communist Party of Ukraine. In 1989 I became one of the founders of democratic platform of the Communist Party of Ukraine in Kharkiv. Open confrontation with the old authorities became a trail for me, my family and friends. We faced everything threats, blackmailing and vituperation. However, we managed to endure. The Kharkovites will long remember big pro-democratic rallies in the main square of the city.
In early 90-s I was among those who advocated the idea of giving up the old system and stepping on the road that could not be easy, however, had to lead to a better life. I am constantly feeling my share of responsibility for being able to justify the hopes of those who chose to follow a democratic way of development promoted by us. Thehopeshavenotyetfullyjustified. I wish badly that neither I nor my children and grandchildren felt any shame for what Yevgeny Kushnaryov’s did in his life.
The turbulent days of 1990 resulted in the first democratic elections of independent Ukraine. They brought me to the City Council which I headed. In 1994 theKharkoviteselectedmetheirmayor.
My parents moved to Ukraine from Russia. My father Piotr Kushnarev was born in 1924 in the village of Yakovlevo in the Smolensk Region. Half of the village residents were the Kushnaryovs and the other half the Yakovlevs. My grandfather died in 1943 in the battle for the city of Lisychansk. Father, a WW2 disabled person of group II, died in 1996. My mother Serafima (Lukyanchikova) Kushnaryova was born in Russian village Mrakovo, in the remotest part of the Bashkir region. My grandfather Timophei was born in the Kursk region and grandmother Varvara Shvedchikova was from the Orenburg Cossaks. Mother died in 2000. My parents are buried in Kharkiv, the city of their youth, where they met each other after WW2 and where I was born on the 29th of January 1951.
Fatherwasalawyerandmotherwasateacher. Attachment to social matters and the current of life outside the walls of their home was the leading treat in both mother’s and father’s character. Theywerethepeoplewithaclearcivicposition. Iinheritedthat.
In 1973 after graduating from Kharkiv Engineering and Construction Institute I worked at Kharkiv Ferroconcrete Plant.
The Party work I began in 1981 in the Communist Party of Ukraine. In 1989 I became one of the founders of democratic platform of the Communist Party of Ukraine in Kharkiv. Open confrontation with the old authorities became a trail for me, my family and friends. We faced everything threats, blackmailing and vituperation. However, we managed to endure. The Kharkovites will long remember big pro-democratic rallies in the main square of the city.
In early 90-s I was among those who advocated the idea of giving up the old system and stepping on the road that could not be easy, however, had to lead to a better life. I am constantly feeling my share of responsibility for being able to justify the hopes of those who chose to follow a democratic way of development promoted by us. Thehopeshavenotyetfullyjustified. I wish badly that neither I nor my children and grandchildren felt any shame for what Yevgeny Kushnaryov’s did in his life.
The turbulent days of 1990 resulted in the first democratic elections of independent Ukraine. They brought me to the City Council which I headed. In 1994 theKharkoviteselectedmetheirmayor.
In 1990 I became the member of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the first calling taking an active part in the development of Ukrainian Constitution and the Law on “Local self-government in Ukraine”.
1994 - 1997 – I am the President of the Association of Ukrainian Cities.
The role of leader is probably a common state for me, which allows me to self realize in full, though I am an apt team player. It might be that those qualities and the inherent martial spirit have stimulated my professional success.
From December 1996 till November 1998 I was head of Administration of the President of Ukraine. Being in this post I was head of the Commission for State Awards of Ukraine, deputy head of the State Commission for Administrative Reform and Member of the Council of National Security and Defence of Ukraine.