Here’s a snapshot of the new president’s team.
Victor Yanukovych issued seven decrees on Feb. 25, the first day of his presidency. He renamed the president’s office from the “secretariat” to “administration,” the way it was called under President Leonid Kuchma. He also ordered for his staff to be cut by 20 percent, and appointed seven key officials.
Serhiy Lyovochkin
Appointed head of the president’s administration, Lyovochkin is former President Leonid Kuchma’s top assistant from 2002-05 and one of Yanukovych’s closest confidants. Fluent in English, the 39-year old is the son of Volodymyr Lyovochkin, who ran the country’s prison system under Kuchma. The younger Lyovochkin reportedly played a leading role in promoting two intermediary companies in the lucrative business of supplying natural gas to Ukraine from Russia and Central Asian producers. His new job puts him in charge of planning all presidential activities and policies.
Iryna Akimova
Appointed first deputy head of the president’s administration, Akimova, a Party of Regions lawmaker, is considered a leading economist in Yanukovych’s team. The 40-year old Kharkiv native holds academic degrees in economic sciences with international experience, having worked as a senior fellow at Warsaw University’s Center for Economic Research, and at the economics department of Magdeburg University. Prior to snap parliamentary elections in 2007, Akimova was the General Director of the Kyiv-based Bureau of Economic and Social Technologies. She is expected to lead economic policy in Yanukovych’s administration.
Stanislav Skub
Appointed deputy head of the presidential administration, Skubshevskiy will manage regional affairs and human resources. A Party of Regions deputy, the 60-year old is no stranger to the workings of central and local government, having held government posts during former President Leonid Kuchma’s presidency, and as chief of several oblast state administrations. A native of Khmelnytsky oblast, Skubshevskiy is a graduate of the Donetsk Polytechnical Institute and held a number of political posts in Donetsk oblast during the 1970-80s. He worked as deputy head of the Donetsk Oblast Administration when Yanukovych was governor (1995-1996) and was chief of staff for the Cabinet of Ministers when Yanukovych became prime minister in 2002.
Hanna Herman
Appointed deputy head of the president’s administration, the 50-year old Herman was a career journalist until 2004. She received a job offer to become Yanukovych’s spokesperson in 2004 after interviewing him for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. She accepted the offer and moved on to politics, serving as an adviser to Yanukovych and then becoming a lawmaker on the Regions ticket. She became deputy head of Regions’ faction, as well as deputy head of parliament’s freedom of speech committee. She speaks English, German, Polish and is known for her sharp tongue.
Yuriy Ladniy
Appointed deputy head of the president’s administration in charge of protocol and ceremonies, Ladniy worked for the Foreign Ministry and served in Ukraine’s embassy in Washington, where he arranged former President Leonid Kuchma’s visit to the United States in 1999. He worked with Yanukovych for the last four years as head of his protocol department.
Oleh Rafalsky
Appointed deputy head of the president’s administration, the 50-year old Rafalsky is not a novice in the president’s office: he served as head of its department on domestic affairs in President Leonid Kuchma’s administration. He had an academic career before joining Kuchma’s staff, serving as dean of a history faculty in Kirovohrad region. According to his biography, he published more than 100 academic works, including four books, in many countries, including Germany and Poland. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Andriy Kravets
Appointed head of the State Department of Management of Affairs, often referred to as DUSYA for its Ukrainian acronym, the 35-year-old Kravets is a lawmaker on the Party of Regions ticket, and a member of the committee on rules of procedure for deputies’ ethics. A former businessman, he was director of Zoryany cinema in 2004, where Yanukovych’s election headquarters were located, and where the results of the rigged November 21, 2004 vote were allegedly doctored. The department Kravets is to chair manages the real estate, buildings, cars and other properties on behalf of the president and government. shevskiy
