Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

Born on January 1, 1949 in Dzerzhinsk, Zhytomyr region.

He has twice served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. Tarasyuk studied international relations and international law at National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, from which he graduated in 1975. Besides Ukrainian, he is fluent in English, French and Russian.

March 9, 1992 - September 16, 1995 -- Tarasyuk serves as deputy of foreign minister.

1995 - 1998 -- ambassador in Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Ukraine representative in NATO. April 17, 1998 - September 29, 2000 -- becomes foreign minister for the first time.

He later broke with President Leonid Kuchma, and became a foreign relations adviser to Viktor Yushchenko, the main opposition candidate in the 2004 presidential elections. After Ukraine's Orange Revolution, Tarasyuk became foreign minister again on February 4, 2005, and served in the Cabinets of Yulia Tymoshenko, Yuriy Yekhanurov and Viktor Yanukovych. Tarasyuk favors Ukrainian integration with the European Union.

December 1, 2006 -- Tarasyuk was formally dismissed by the Verkhovna Rada. He disputed this dismissal in Kyiv Shevchenkivskyi district court, and on December 5 parliament's decision was reversed on the grounds that it violated Ukrainian law. On the same day, Yushchenko issued a decree that Tarasyuk must keep his job.

Despite this court order and presidential decree, he was not allowed to enter cabinet meetings and this caused political conflict based on interpretations of amendments to Constitution.

On January 30, 2007, Tarasyuk announced his resignation.

Borys Tarasyuk is the founder of the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation (IEAC), a political action committee established to campaign for NATO- and European Union memberships in Ukraine. The group is funded by Western donations and is open about its goals. The IEAC' logo juxtaposes the flag of Ukraine with the logos of NATO and the European Union. However, polls cited by Tarasyuk show that only between 18% and 22% of Ukraine's population support NATO-membership.

The Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation has influenced Ukraine state policy in the past. For example, a report produced by the Institute titled Trilateral Plan for Solving the Transnistrian Issue recommended changes to the customs regime relating to Transnistria. Less than five weeks after the report's publication, the recommendations were implement and signed into law. Ukraine-Transnistria border customs conflict followed on March 3, 2006. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the European Union, and the United States backed the legislation, while Russia opposed it.

Awards: State Order "For Merits", I Grade (2005), Doctor Honoris Causa of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (2002), State Order "For Merits", II Grade (1999), State Order "For Merits", III Grade (1996), Diplomatic Rank of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (1992).

Borys Tarasyuk has been decorated with highest state awards of Argentina, Brazil, France, Lithuania, Portugal, Sweden and Venezuela.

Married. Has a son and two daughters.Hobbies - fishing, tennis, billiards.He also likes cooking.