Yuriy Kostenko | |
|---|---|
Юрій Костенко | |
 Kostenko in 2009 | |
| Minister of Natural Environment Protection | |
| In office 13 October 1992 – May 1998 | |
| President |
|
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | Yuriy Shcherbak |
| Succeeded by | Vasyl Shevchuk |
| People's Deputy of Ukraine | |
| In office 23 November 2007 – 12 December 2012 | |
| Constituency | NUNS, No. 16 |
| In office 15 May 1990 – 25 May 2006 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Constituency |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 12 June 1951 Nova Obodivka, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine) |
| Political party | People's Movement of Ukraine (1989–1999) |
| Alma mater | Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University |
Yuriy Ivanovych Kostenko (Ukrainian: Юрій Іванович Костенко; born 6 December 1951[1]) is a Ukrainian politician and leader of the Ukrainian People's Party.[2]
Kostenko holds a Ph.D. from the Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University. In 1989, he became one of the founders of People's Movement of Ukraine (Rukh) and served as a People's Deputy of Ukraine from 1990 to 2006 and from 2007 to 2012,[3][4] and in 2002 as a member of Our Ukraine.[5] From 1992 to 1998, he served as the minister of environmental protection.[3] Kostenko was a candidate at the 1999 Ukrainian presidential election where he received 2.17% of votes.[2] Kostenko was involved in Ukraine’s nuclear disarmament, which he later regretted, and in dealing with the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster.[6]
Before the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election Kostenko initiated the creation of a coalition known as Ukrainian National Bloc of Kostenko and Plyushch who has acquired 1.9% of the vote and did not exceed the 3% threshold of the election.
In July 2007 Kostenko and Ivan Plyushch joined together the bloc Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc and both got re-elected as People's Deputy of Ukraine. Unlike many allies of Yushchenko, Kostenko did not defect from the Our Ukraine grouping in parliament.[6]
Kostenko was a candidate in the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election, his party program included recognizing Ukrainian Insurgent Army veterans,[6] during the election, he received 0.22% of the votes.[7]
Kostenko's Ukrainian People's Party competed on one single party under "umbrella" party Our Ukraine in the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, together with Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists; this list won 1.11% of the national votes and no constituencies, and thus failed to win parliamentary representation.[8][9] Kostenko was second the election list of Our Ukraine.[10] He did not participate in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[11]
