Oleksandr Hennadiiovych Tymoshenko (Ukrainian: Олекса́ндр Генна́дійович Тимоше́нко; born 11 June 1960) is the husband of former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and a businessman.[1] Tymoshenko owns an egg farm and is the founder of two companies producing equipment for medical institutions.[2] According to his wife, Tymoshenko only does business outside Ukraine "after all the events that took place in Ukraine" and owns a construction business.[3]

Oleksandr Tymoshenko
Олександр Тимошенко
Born
Oleksandr Hennadiiovych Tymoshenko

(1960-06-11) 11 June 1960 (age 64)
NationalityUkrainian
Alma materOles Honchar Dnipro National University
OccupationBusinessman
Spouse
(m. 1979)
ChildrenEugenia Tymoshenko
ParentHennady Tymoshenko

Biography

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Oleksandr was the son of a mid-level Communist Party official,[4] Hennady Tymoshenko.[5] According to The Times, he met Yulia Telegina when he misdialed her number. He called back and they eventually agreed to meet and quickly fell in love.[6] The pair were married in 1979 in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, and have a daughter, Yevhenia (Eugenia) (b. 1980).[7]

On 18 August 2000[8] Oleksandr, a (along with his father Hennadiy Tymoshenko[9]) board member of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU) Corporation (of which Yulia was general director), was arrested along with the company's managing director, Valery Falkovich.[8][9][10][11] He was charged with embezzling $800,000 in public funds and forging customs documents to import gas from Russia – all based on activities from the 1990s. The following March, he was transferred to a Zhytomyr Oblast jail[8] so as to avoid communication between Oleksandr, Falkovich (who was transferred to a Chernihiv jail at that time) and Yulia, who by that time was also under arrest. On 8 August 2001, Russian prosecutors handed over information to Ukrainian officials implicating Yulia and Oleksandr in customs violations. The following day, a Kyiv district court released Oleksandr and Falkovich due to lack of evidence.[12][13] The prosecutor's office, however, appealed the ruling and continued the case against Oleksandr, leading him to spend two years in hiding to avoid prosecution on charges he and his wife say are trumped up.[14][15] In another ruling, the Kyiv district court ruled the charges against Oleksandr "groundless."[16] Charges were finally dropped in May 2002. Tymoshenko's father-in-law has also been arrested in connecting with this case, he was released in 2003.[10] According to Mrs. Tymoshenko her spouse has never been personally involved with the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc.[17]

In December 2010, Tymoshenko was admitted to hospital, according to Oleksandr Turchynov, "in rather grave condition".[18]

Tymoshenko appears very rarely with his wife in public[4][19] and never gives interviews and does not publicly comment on the work of his wife and their personal life.[20] Tymoshenko's hypocorism for her husband is "Sasha".[17]

Early January 2012 Tymoshenko was granted asylum in the Czech Republic that he had requested at the end of the previous year.[4][21] He stated that the "decision was made so that we should not give the authorities additional opportunities to exert pressure on my wife".[22] He also claimed he could not return to Ukraine because he would be immediately arrested upon arrival.[22] Since 2000 Tymoshenko owned 33% share of International Industrial Projects, s.r.o., a small company in Ústí nad Labem.[21][23] The company did not have any web presence and no contact could be found on the internet.[24] It failed to publish information mandated by the Czech law and was liquidated in February 2012.[25] Tymoshenko also has lasting contacts with several top Czech politicians.[26] It was alleged that he had owned a house in Lidice since 2000,[27] but he denied this accusation in a post in his wife's blog,[28] stating that his asylum in the Czech Republic was temporary. On 24 February 2014, just after the "Maidan revolution"[29] and his wife's release from prison,[30] he returned to Ukraine.[31]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ (in Ukrainian) Тимошенко наголошує, що її чоловік займається бізнесом, Ukrainian Independent Information Agency (2 April 2009)
  2. ^ (in Ukrainian) Юлія Тимошенко , Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (30 November 2009)
  3. ^ Тимошенко у домогосподарки не піде, а у Facebook – обіцяє, Tablo ID (3 February 2011)
  4. ^ a b c Czechs give asylum to spouse of Ukraine's Tymoshenko Reuters (6 January 2012)
  5. ^ Rutland, Peter (1998). The Challenge of Integration. M. E. Sharpe. pp. 173–174. ISBN 0765603594.
  6. ^ The Fairest Premier of Them All?, The Sunday Times (26 June 2005)
  7. ^ Ukraine's Gold-Plaited Comeback Kid, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (23 September 2008 )
  8. ^ a b c (in Ukrainian) Ключові слова: Олександр Тимошенко, Ukrainian Independent Information Agency
  9. ^ a b (in Ukrainian) Олександр Тимошенко звинувачується в тому, що давав хабарі Лазаренку, Korrespondent (7 November 2000)
  10. ^ a b 2003 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Ukraine, US Department of State (25 February 2004)
  11. ^ (in Ukrainian) Закрити вікно Олександр Тимошенко переведений у СІЗО міста Житомир, Korrespondent (23 February 2001)
  12. ^ Ukrainian Energy Sector Officials Arrested on Embezzlement Charges, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (22 August 2001)
  13. ^ Yuliya Tymoshenko Faces Criminal Charges from Russia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (14 August 2001)
  14. ^ "Oleksandr Tymoshenko Put on Wanted List," Kyiv Post (20 August 2003)
  15. ^ "Prosecutors Seek Oleksandr Tymoshenko," Kyiv Post (28 August 2003)
  16. ^ Ukraine Appoints new Prosecutor-General as Kuchma Targets Opposition by Taras Kuzio, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (22 August 2002)
  17. ^ a b To a real man Archived 12 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Blog of Yulia Tymoshenko (6 July 2010)
  18. ^ Turchynov confirmed that Tymoshenko’s husband is in hospital “in rather grave condition”, Ukrainian Independent Information Agency (15 December 2010)
  19. ^ (in Ukrainian) Всеядна дружина Ющенка, співоча Янукович та терплячий "пташник" Тимошенко, Табло ID (10 November 2009)
  20. ^ (in Ukrainian) Тимошенко розповіла, як не взяла свого чоловіка в БЮТ, TCH (6 July 2010)
  21. ^ a b "Husband of Ukraine's Tymoshenko wins Czech asylum". BBC. 6 January 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  22. ^ a b Tymoshenko's husband not to return to Ukraine under current regime, Kyiv Post (13 February 2012)
  23. ^ "International Industrial Projects, s.r.o." (in Czech). Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  24. ^ "Husband of Ukrainian former prime minister granted asylum in the Czech Republic" (in Czech). MF Dnes. 6 January 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012. The company was registered in June 2000, now it resides in a panelák in Ústí nad Labem. The company has now website and no contact can be found using a browser.
  25. ^ "Tymoshenko's husband liquidates company in Ústí. It didn't publish what it should according to the law" (in Czech). MF Dnes. 29 February 2012. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  26. ^ "Tymoshenko knows how to deal with top Czech politicians" (in Czech). Euro (online edition). 21 January 2012. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  27. ^ "Tymoshenko's husband bought house in Czech Rep". Ceskapozice (online edition). 9 January 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  28. ^ "Oleksandr Tymoshenko: my wife and I hide nothing". Yulia Tymoshenko's Blog. 31 May 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  29. ^ Ukraine: Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov named interim president, BBC News (23 February 2014)
    Ukraine protests timeline, BBC News (23 February 2014)
  30. ^ Yulia Tymoshenko is back centre stage in Ukraine – but not all want her there, The Guardian (23 February 2014)
  31. ^ (in Ukrainian) Male Tymoshenko flew to his wife and daughter in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrayinska Pravda (24 February 2014)