Andriy Sharaskin

Andriy Sharaskin
Андрій Шараськін
Sharaskin in 2018
People's Deputy of Ukraine
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 November 2020
Constituency	Holos, No. 20
Personal details
Born	(1977-09-20) 20 September 1977 (age 46) Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine)
Political party	Holos
Other political affiliations	Justice (since 2021) Right Sector
Ukrainian Volunteer Corps
Battles/wars	War in Donbas Second Battle of Donetsk Airport
Awards	Order for Courage

Andriy Andriiovych Sharaskin (

Andriy Andriiovych Sharaskin was born on 20 September 1977 in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil, then part of the Soviet Union. Sharaskin is a graduate of the Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television University, and prior to 2013 he was an actor in several television films.^[1] Sharaskin founded a Lviv and Ternopil-based children's acting school in 2006, and he additionally directed a children's theatre in Lviv.^[2]

Military career

Sharaskin was a participant in

After leaving combat in January 2016, Sharaskin served as a personal consultant to the 2017 film Cyborgs, with the central character being heavily based on Sharaskin.^[3] He had previously introduced screenwriter Nataliya Vorozhbyt to the Cyborgs during the war in Donbas.^[4]

Political career

Sharaskin became leader of Right Sector in 2015. He additionally worked as deputy to Dmytro Yarosh after Yarosh left Right Sector to form the Government Initiative of Dmytro Yarosh.^[2] Sharaskin's activities in Right Sector were later noted on Russian state television channel Russia-1, where he was referred to as a Nazi and a puppet of the United States.^[5]

People's Deputy of Ukraine

During the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election Sharaskin was the 20th candidate on the proportional list of the liberal Holos party,^[6] having previously been introduced to the party by personal friend and fellow Cyborg Roman Kostenko.^[1] As Holos won only 17 proportional-list seats during the election, Sharaskin was not originally elected to the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament).^[6] After Holos leader Sviatoslav Vakarchuk chose to resign in June 2020, however, Sharaskin was brought into the Verkhovna Rada to fill the seat vacated by Vakarchuk.^[7]

Following his appointment to the Verkhovna Rada, Sharaskin became secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Foreign Affairs and Interparliamentary Cooperation Committee. In June 2021, along with 9 other People's Deputies from Holos, Sharaskin established the Justice parliamentary group in protest of Kira Rudik's leadership of the party.^[6]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sharaskin claimed that the government of China had demanded Ukraine remove its signature from United Nations Human Rights Council statements calling for an independent investigation into the persecution of Uyghurs in China. According to Sharaskin, the Chinese government threatened to cease delivering COVID-19 vaccines if Ukraine did not remove its signature from the statements.^[8]

Sharaskin has expressed opposition to violence against Ukraine's LGBT community, comparing his position towards the LGBT community to that of Pope Francis, and has condemned threats of violence against pride parades from Right Sector members.^[9] However, in the Verkhovna Rada he proposed an amendment to exclude sexual orientation and gender identity from recognised forms of discrimination in media. Sharaskin's amendment, which ran counter to the position of other Holos members such as Inna Sovsun, was unsuccessful.^[10] He additionally voted against the ratification of the Istanbul Convention.^[6]

Personal life

Sharaskin is a Christian. He has one daughter, and briefly lived in poverty while raising her from 2005 to 2006. It is unknown if he is married.^[1]

References