President gives job to Hayduk, president of the Industrial Group, a business consortium linked to coal and steel magnate Serhiy Taruta
ions to head his Security Council. The president gave the job to Vitaliy Hayduk, president of the Industrial Group, a business consortium linked to coal and steel magnate Serhiy Taruta.
Taruta was one of the few eastern tycoons to quietly back the pro-Western Yushchenko in the 2004 presidential election, an unusual move in the Russian-speaking Donbass region, home to Yushchenko’s rival, Viktor Yanukovych.
The Industrial Group, which brings together numerous metals companies, has argued that European markets hold more promise for Ukrainian business and that closer trade ties with Russia would only increase competition with Russia’s wealthy metals sector.
Hayduk served as vice premier under former President Leonid Kuchma, working alongside Yanukovych, and he also worked in the fuel and energy sector. He was fired from Kuchma’s government after he criticized proposals to allow a consortium comprising Ukraine, Russia and Germany run Ukraine’s profitable gas pipelines, arguing that the proposals were not feasible.
The Council on National Security and Defense has checked the Cabinet’s powers. It is seen as one of the few ways that Yushchenko can influence the government led by Yanukovych, who is now prime minister.
Hayduk insisted Tuesday that his job shouldn’t be politicized. “I haven’t been given any task other than that envisioned by the law,” he told reporters. Hayduk takes over from Acting Security Council secretary Volodymyr Horbulin, who was seen as a caretaker figure.
