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Petro Symonenko

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In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Mykolayovych and the family name is Symonenko.

Petro Symonenko
Петро Симоненко
First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine
Incumbent
Assumed office
19 June 1993
Preceded byPosition established
People's Deputy of Ukraine
In office
12 May 1994 – 27 November 2014
Constituency
Personal details
Born (1952-08-01) 1 August 1952 (age 72)
Donetsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine)
Political partyCommunist Party of Ukraine
Other political
affiliations		Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1978–1991)
Spouses
Svetlana Vladimirovna Simonenko
​
​
(m. 1974; div. 2009)​
[7]
Oksana Nikolayevna Vashchenko
​
​
(m. 2009)​
[8]
ChildrenMaria (born 2009), 2 (adult) sons[7]
Residence(s)Kyiv, Ukraine[9]
Websiterada.gov.ua

Petro Mykolayovych Symonenko (Ukrainian: Петро́ Микола́йович Симоне́нко; born 1 August 1952) is a Ukrainian politician and the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. Symonenko was the party's candidate in the 1999 and 2004, 2010,[10][nb 1] and until his withdrawal, the 2014 Ukrainian presidential elections.[12][13] The Central Election Commission of Ukraine prohibited his candidacy for the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election due to the fact that the statute, name, and symbolism of his party did not comply with the decommunization laws in Ukraine.[14]

Biography

[edit]
Symonenko (seated fourth from left, between Volodymyr Biletskyy and Dmytro Pavlychko) at the meeting of the Taras Shevchenko Fellowship of Ukrainian Language in Donetsk, 28 October 1989
Symonenko at the Kremlin in 2002 with Vladimir Putin

Symonenko was born in Donetsk. He became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1978, and worked as a party functionary in the 1980s. He has been the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine since 1993. He is also the chairman of the Communist Party Faction in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's Parliament).[15]

Symonenko has been a Ukrainian delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. From 1994 to 1996 he was a member of the Ukrainian parliament's Constitution Commission. He was a candidate in the 1999 Ukrainian presidential election, receiving 22.24% of the votes in the first round and taking second place. In the second round he won 37.8% of the votes, losing to Leonid Kuchma. His election program had classic Communist content.[clarification needed]

In late 2002, Viktor Yushchenko (Our Ukraine), Oleksandr Moroz (Socialist Party of Ukraine), Yulia Tymoshenko (Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc), and Symonenko issued a joint statement concerning "the beginning of a state revolution in Ukraine". His party left the alliance, as Symonenko was against a single candidate from the alliance in the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election; the other three parties remained allies,[16] at least until July 2006.[17]

Symonenko's support sharply declined at the time of the 2004 presidential election. He received 5% of the votes and came in fourth place, unable to get into the controversial runoff which caused the Orange Revolution. Symonenko was re-elected to the Verkhovna Rada in the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[18] At the opening of the new parliament's first session on 23 November 2007, he was re-elected as chairman of the Communist Party faction.[15]

During the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election, Symonenko was the candidate of the Bloc of Left and Center-left Forces,[10][19][20][21][22] receiving 3.54% of the votes.[23] In 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, he was re-elected into the Verkhovna Rada.[24] In the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election, he initially ran as a candidate of his party on a federalization-platform that should have eventually led to a "parliamentary system without the institution of the presidency at all".[12] He withdrew from the race on 16 May.[13] He stated he withdrew "to save Ukraine from arbitrariness, which takes place today", and said about the elections itself "in our opinion they will be illegitimate".[13] Later the same day, Symonenko's car was attacked by a mob with baseball bats and Molotov cocktails as he left a TV interview. He was uninjured in the incident. In the 2014 presidential election, he received 1.51% of the vote.[25]

The Central Election Commission of Ukraine did not register his candidacy for the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election due to the fact that the statute, name, and symbolism of the Communist Party of Ukraine did not comply with 2015 decommunization laws.[14] In late May 2021, TV channel 112 Ukraine received a fine of ₴100,000 for broadcasting Symonenko's claim that the war in Donbas was "a civil war" initiated by "Ukrainian nationalists and neo-fascists supported by the United States."[26]

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Simonenko has taken a pro-Russian stance.[27] In March 2022, as reported by Obozrevatel, he managed to escape from Kyiv to Belarus during the Kyiv offensive with the assistance of Russian forces.[27] In October 2022, Symonenko took part in the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties in Havana, Cuba. During the speech, he blamed the United States and the United Kingdom for the war, and said they wanted to "use Ukraine against Russia and Taiwan against China".[28]

In August 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine opened an investigation against Symonenko on the charges of sedition and treason.[29] The investigation established that during the Russian occupation of Kyiv Oblast of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine he had fled to Russia accompanied by Russian Special Forces.[30] In Russia Symonenko was appointed deputy chairman of the Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union.[30]

Political positions

[edit]

On 28 November 2006, the Ukrainian Parliament narrowly passed a law defining the Holodomor as a deliberate act of genocide and made public denial illegal. Commenting in 2007, Symonenko said that he "does not believe there was any deliberate starvation at all", and accused Viktor Yushchenko of "using the famine to stir up hatred". In response, Yushchenko declared he wanted "a new law criminalising Holodomor denial".[31] In May 2012, Symonenko defended the deportation of the Crimean Tatars, saying that this measure saved Crimean Tatars because otherwise a civil war would have started.[32]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ In the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election, Symonenko was the candidate of the Bloc of Left and Center-left Forces, of which the Communist Party of Ukraine was a part.[10][11]

References

[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Petro Symonenko.
  1. ^ "People's Deputy of Ukraine of the II convocation". Official portal (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  2. ^ "People's Deputy of Ukraine of the III convocation". Official portal (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  3. ^ "People's Deputy of Ukraine of the IV convocation". Official portal (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Retrieved 22 December 2014.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "People's Deputy of Ukraine of the V convocation". Official portal (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  5. ^ "People's Deputy of Ukraine of the VI convocation". Official portal (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  6. ^ "People's Deputy of Ukraine of the VII convocation". Official portal (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  7. ^ a b Chief communist of Ukraine has extramarital affair! Archived 2010-02-08 at the Wayback Machine, MIGnews (2 February 2009)
  8. ^ Leader of Communist Party Symonenko got married second time, UNIAN (28 September 2009)
  9. ^ Biography Archived 2009-11-07 at the Wayback Machine, Verkhovna Rada
  10. ^ a b c Bloc of left and center-left forces to nominate CPU Leader for Ukraine's president, Interfax-Ukraine (October 3, 2009)
  11. ^ Four parties unite to participate in presidential election, Interfax-Ukraine (September 14, 2009)
  12. ^ a b Leader of Communist party stands for step-by-step transition to federation followed by elimination of post of president, Interfax-Ukraine (8 April 2014)
  13. ^ a b c Communist leader Symonenko withdraws his candidacy from presidential race, Kyiv Post (16 May 2014)
  14. ^ a b (in Ukrainian) The CEC refused to register nearly fifty presidential candidates, Ukrayinska Pravda (8 February 2019)
  15. ^ a b "Opening of the First Session of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the 6th Convocation", Verkhovna Rada website, 23 November 2007.
  16. ^ Understanding Ukrainian Politics: Power, Politics, and Institutional Design by Paul D'Anieri, M.E. Sharpe, 2006, ISBN 978-0-7656-1811-5, page 117
  17. ^ Ukraine coalition born in chaos, BBC News (July 11, 2006)
  18. ^ "The Makeup of the New Verkhovna Rada" Archived 2008-03-17 at the Wayback Machine, Ukrayinska Pravda, November 5, 2007.
  19. ^ Spravedlyvist Party backs Communist leader as single candidate from left political forces at president election, Interfax-Ukraine (October 10, 2009)
  20. ^ (in Ukrainian) Союз Лівих Сил підтримав кандидатуру Петра Симоненко[permanent dead link], Union of Leftists (October 16, 2009)
  21. ^ (in Ukrainian) Події за темами: XXII з’їзд Соціал-демократичної партії України(о), UNIAN (October 17, 2009)
  22. ^ Social-Democratic Party supports Symonenko as single candidate for president post from left political forces, Kyiv Post (October 17, 2009)
  23. ^ (in Ukrainian) ЦВК оприлюднила офіційні результати 1-го туру виборів, Gazeta.ua (January 25, 2010)
  24. ^ (in Ukrainian) Список депутатів нової Верховної Ради, Ukrayinska Pravda (11 November 2012)
  25. ^ "Poroshenko wins presidential election with 54.7% of vote – CEC". Radio Ukraine International. 29 May 2014. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014.
    (in Russian) Results election of Ukrainian president, Телеграф (29 May 2014)
  26. ^ (in Ukrainian) Natsrada fined "112 Ukraine", "NASH" and NEWSONE for hate speech and Azarov on air, Ukrayinska Pravda (27 May 2021)
  27. ^ a b (in Russian) А куда пропал Петр Симоненко? Оккупанты помогли ему выехать, Obozrevatel (12 May 2022)
  28. ^ "Ucraina: parla il Segretario del PC dell'Ucraina" (in Italian). Communist Refoundation Party. 16 November 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  29. ^ Roschina, Olena (11 August 2023). "Ukraine's Security Service serves leader of banned Communist party with notice of suspicion and describes his escape to Russia". Ukrainska Pravda.
  30. ^ a b (in Ukrainian) Biography of Petro Symonenko, Civil movement "Chesno"
  31. ^ Laura Sheeter, "Ukraine remembers famine horror", BBC News, 24 November 2007
  32. ^ Симоненко заявил, что крымских татар депортировали, чтобы защитить, UNIAN, 16 May 2012
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