Oleksandr Kuzmuk

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Oleksandr Kuzmuk
Олександр Кузьмук
Minister of Defence of Ukraine
In office
24 September 2004 – 3 February 2005
PresidentLeonid Kuchma
Preceded byYevhen Marchuk
Succeeded byAnatoliy Hrytsenko
In office
11 July 1996 – 24 October 2001
PresidentLeonid Kuchma
Preceded byValeriy Shmarov
Succeeded byVolodymyr Shkidchenko
Personal details
Born (1954-04-17) 17 April 1954 (age 70)
Diatylivka,
Ukrainian National Guard

Oleksandr Ivanovych Kuzmuk (

General of the Army of Ukraine
(1998).

Early life and career

Oleksandr Ivanovych Kuzmuk was born on 17 April 1954 into the family of military officer Ivan Fedorovych Kuzmuk (died 1973) and Rayisa Mykhailivna Kuzmuk, in the village of Diatylivka, in the Slavuta Raion of Khmelnytskyi Oblast. In 1975, he graduated the Kharkiv Higher Armor Command College.

Soviet military career

From 1975 to 1980, Kuzmuk served as platoon leader of armour forces, and became deputy chief of staff of his armour regiment. From 1980 to 1983, he was an audit student of the Malinovsky Military Armored Forces Academy, in Moscow. After that, until 1988 Kuzmuk was an instructor at the academy.

From 1988 to 1993, he was in leading positions of mechanized rifle division. From 1975 to 1993, Kuzmuk served in the

. From 1993 to 1995, he was commander of the 32nd Army Corps and senior military chief of Crimea.

Career in independent Ukraine

From 1995 to 1996, Kuzmuk was commander of the National Guard of Ukraine and was appointed Minister of Defence. In late 2001, he finished his military career and became a politician by participating in the 2002 Ukrainian parliamentary election on the party list of the For United Ukraine! alliance. Soon after winning multiple seats in the Verkhovna Rada, however, the alliance collapsed, and Kuzmuk stayed with the Labour Ukraine party, an off-shot of the Labour Party of Ukraine. During that time in 2004, he was again appointed the Minister of Defence, while keeping his parliamentary seat. After the Orange Revolution, Kuzmuk lost his ministerial seat, and was replaced by Anatoliy Hrytsenko.

In the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, Kuzmuk was elected into the Verkhovna Rada as a member of Party of Regions.[1]

In the 2014 parliamentary election, Kuzmuk tried to win a seat through winning electoral district 38 situated in Novomoskovsk, but failed, finishing in third place with 12.78% of the vote.[2] The announcement of the final result for electoral district 38 (won by Vadym Nesterenko) was delayed until mid-November because Kuzmuk challenged the results in court, claiming Nesterenko was guilty of fraud and bribery of voters.[1]

Awards and decorations

Kuzmuk has been awarded the following awards and decorations:[3]

References

  1. ^ a b (in Ukrainian) In the 38th district of Dnipropetrovsk stop recount, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (17 November 2014)
  2. RBK Ukraine
  3. ^ Кузьмук Олександр Іванович (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 19 May 2014.

External links

Military offices
Preceded by National Guard Commander
1995–1996
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Commander of the 32nd Army Corps
1993–1995
Succeeded by