Spiridon Kilinkarov: political biography

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:54

Spyridon Kilinkarov is one of the veterans of Ukrainian politics. He is well known to everyone who has long been interested in her. People's Deputy of Ukraine of three convocations, party and statesman, he undoubtedly left a noticeable mark in the history of post-Soviet Ukraine.

Life path

Spiridon Pavlovich Kilinkarov was born on September 14, 1968 in the glorious city of Lugansk. His parents were ethnic Greeks - descendants of Balkan colonists who moved to southern Ukraine during the time of Catherine II.

In 1975, the future politician entered Lugansk secondary school No. 25, where he studied for exactly 10 years. Completed the training with honors. After leaving school, he immediately entered the Lugansk Engineering Institute. There he received his first higher education as an engineer-technologist. Studied at the Faculty of Mechanics. Most of the labor and entrepreneurial activities of the hero of the article one way or anotherassociated with mechanical engineering.

In the late eighties, the future leader of the Luhansk "leftists" served in the Soviet army, and in 1989 he got a job at the Lugansk car assembly plant, successfully "knocking out" a vacant position in the department of foreign cooperation. Such practical labor support allowed Kilinkarov, like many other representatives of his generation, to quickly join the ranks of the emerging entrepreneurship, having made his first solid capital back in the early 90s.

In one of the many but now forgotten pre-election interviews, the communist said that he started doing business only in 1993. At that troubled time, when tanks were firing at the parliament in Russia, and in Ukraine they were trying to build the first independent state in the history of the region, Kilinkarov led an enterprise that repaired cars, buses and other equipment. This is where an engineering background came in handy.

From 1992 to 1995, a young entrepreneur worked in the Soyuzavto cooperative as the head of the supply department. Immediately after his dismissal, Spiridon Pavlovich got into big politics (albeit at the regional level), becoming chairman of the Committee on Family and Youth Affairs of the Oktyabrsky District Executive Committee of his hometown of Lugansk.

In the late nineties, the future politician studied at the magistracy of the Volodymyr Dahl East Ukrainian National University. He successfully graduated from the Faculty of Public Administration.

In those difficult times, many business executives and businessmenreceived the education of political scientists, lawyers and managers in order to keep up with the times and take a place under the sun in a new, still young and fragile state. Kilinkarov was no exception in this regard.

In 1998, the ambitious resident of Lugansk received the academic title of Master of Public Administration, which gave him access to a brilliant political and managerial career. Immediately after that, Kilinkarov was appointed executive committee of the Oktyabrsky district council of the city of Lugansk, where he lived most of the time. He retained this large and responsible position until the start of the 2006 parliamentary elections.

At some point, he actually became the right hand of people's deputy A. D. Doroguntsov, until in 2006 he began an independent political career of an all-Ukrainian scale, having won his first parliamentary elections. Until 2014, Kilinkarov was a people's deputy, having been in the Verkhovna Rada for three convocations, each time running for the Communist Party of Ukraine.

From the very beginning of the 2000s, the politician worked as the head of the general department of the Lugansk regional committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, and in 2002 he was even elected secretary of the regional committee of the party. The following year, Kilinkarov became an official member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, which is quite remarkable, since, unlike many Ukrainian politicians (and even leaders), he has never been a member of the CPSU.

In May 2005, he became the first secretary of the Luhansk Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine,and his further disengagement from the "left" came as a surprise to many. He left his post in 2014 when he left the Communist Party.

Politician and statesman

Kilinkarov, as it was said, is the "old hero" of Ukrainian politics. In 2004, he became the first secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of the country, replacing the "grated roll" Vladimir Zemlyakov. In 2006-2007, our hero was a People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 5th convocation from the Communist Party of Ukraine, being on the list under not the happiest number 13. Nevertheless, this convocation went quite well for him.

Since July 2006, Kilinkarov, as befits a representative of the "left" forces, worked as secretary of the Committee on Social Policy and Labor. It is a long-standing European tradition to appoint representatives of the left, socialist parties to such posts.

In November 2007, the communist was successfully re-elected, becoming a people's deputy of Ukraine for the 6th convocation. This time he was on the list at number 15. It is ironic that Spiridon Kilinkarov, who holds pro-Russian and pro-Soviet views, was the secretary of Ukraine's European Integration Committee from 2007 to 2014.

In 2010, Spiridon Pavlovich was nominated as a candidate for the post of mayor of Lugansk by the Communist Party, gaining 48,117 votes. According to official figures, he fell behind race winner Sergey Kravchenko by only two dozen votes, thus finishing in second place.

Spiridon Kilinkarov did not recognize the outcome of the elections, as expected, accusing the favorite of collusionwith the city administration and falsifications. Whether he was right or not - no one knows for sure and, apparently, will not know. But the situation with the elections in Luhansk gave a small crack in relations between the CPU and the then ruling Party of Regions.

Since December 2012, Kilinkarov is a People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 7th convocation from the Communist Party of Ukraine, he was listed at number 4. At the same time, he was the chairman of the Committee on Construction, Regional Policy and Housing and Public Utilities. He was destined for a brilliant career and, perhaps, even the post of leader of the Communists in the event of the resignation of Petro Symonenko, but fate, as often happens, decreed otherwise.

After the 2013-2014 coup, Kilinkarov lost his status as a people's deputy, and with it his parliamentary immunity. After the Communist Party was banned in 2015, he left the party, expressing a vote of no confidence in its leader Petro Symonenko, and refused to take part in its rebranding under the name "Left Opposition". Since then, Spiridon Pavlovich has often criticized his former communist colleagues, blaming them for many of Ukraine's troubles in recent years.

Private life

Married with 3 children. Wife - Kilinkarova Irina Sergeevna, born in 1967. Children - Dmitry (1996), Sofia and Daria (2008). Proudly calls himself a happy family man, a loving husband and a caring father.

Current status

Many people who have been studying politics for more than a year are often interested in where Spiridon Kilinkarov lives and what he does. Many moreworries why he stopped shining on Ukrainian TV channels. In fact, the hero of this article continues to be active in the media and social activities. He regularly performs on Russian and Ukrainian TV channels. Lives with his family in Kyiv, but often visits Russia.