Viktor Uspaskich (, ; born 24 July 1959) is a Russian-born Lithuanian entrepreneur, politician and former MEP.

Early life

Uspaskich was born in the village of Urdoma,

Arkhangelsk Oblast Arkhangelsk Oblast ( rus, Архангельская область, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲskəjə ˈobɫəsʲtʲ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It includes the Arctic Ocean, Arctic archipelagos of Franz ...

in what was then the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

. He was born into a family of forestry workers. He graduated from Urdom high school in 1976. From 1977 to 1979, he served in the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

. After the army, he continued to work in the construction of gas pipelines. He arrived in the

Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; ; ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania, was '' de facto'' one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990. After 1946, its terr ...

in 1985 and worked as a

welder A welder is a person or equipment that fuses materials together. The term welder refers to the operator, the machine is referred to as the welding power supply. The materials to be joined can be metals (such as steel, aluminum, brass, stainles ...

in the gas industry. He left shortly after for Finland, before returning in 1987, divorcing his Belarusian wife with two children (Julia, Eduard) and marrying

Jolanta Blažytė Jolanta Blažytė (born 1 May 1965) is a Lithuanian business executive and entrepreneur, chairwoman and shareholder of the Lithuanian company UAB Vikonda and (as of June 2013) the richest Lithuanian woman. According to the weekly "Ekonomika.lt" ...

. He formed his own company ''Efektas'' in 1990, and took citizenship of the newly formed Republic of Lithuania in 1991. With power he quickly gained tremendous success in his business empire that now includes the importation of natural gas from

Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐsˈprom) is a Russian State-owned enterprise, majority state-owned multinational Energy industry, energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. The Gazprom name is a contract ...

, in addition to flourishing enterprises in the food production ( Kėdainių konservų fabrikas, UAB) and animal fodder industries.

Political career

Between 1997 and 2003 was chairman of the Association of Lithuanian Employers, and in 2000 was selected as a non-party member of the ''Naujoji sąjunga'' (New Union) social liberal party in the ''

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania (), or simply the Seimas ( ; ), is the unicameralism, unicameral legislative body of the Lithuania, Republic of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of Government of Lithuania, govern ...

'' (parliament). His own political ambitions led him to form the '' Darbo Partija'' (Labour Party) in 2003. The DP scored highly during the 2004 European Parliamentary Elections, gaining 30.2% of the popular vote and returning five

MEPs A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Comm ...

. That same year, he became Minister of Economic Affairs in Lithuania's coalition government. He held this until 2006. Since 2014, and previously from 2009 to 2012, Viktor Uspaskich has been a

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

for

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. The European Parliament has twice stripped Uspaskich's legal immunity.

Controversies

Tax fraud

In the end of May 2006 his political party '' Darbo Partija'' (Labour Party) was suspected of income violations by the financial police. Victor Uspaskich flew to his hometown Urdoma (

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

) to his brother's

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

and came back in late 2007. He is believed to have been hiding from the

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

enforcement and

interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

. Lithuania had issued an arrest warrant for Uspaskich, who was in

, as he was suspected of

tax fraud Tax evasion or tax fraud is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trust (property), trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax au ...

. In July 2013, Uspaskich was sentenced to 4 years in prison for tax fraud. He has not served the prison sentence claiming his legal immunity as member of the Lithuanian Parliament and, since the May 2014 elections, member of the European Parliament. Even though the immunity has been stripped, Lithuanian authorities were not able to actually persecute Uspaskich due to limitation period and the formal reorganisation of the Labour Party.

Pseudoscientific beliefs

Uspaskich is well known for his open eccentric and

pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...

beliefs. In a Labour Party conference in 2014, he used his keynote speech to speak about the healing qualities of "unconditional love". On 30 December 2015, Uspaskich published a free access book titled "My Sicknesses and Enemies - My Greatest Teachers", in which he stated that his then-wife Jolanta violates "the laws of the Universe" by using too much masculine "solar energy", as opposed to feminine "lunar energy". He also claimed that

greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...

grown vegetables lack taste as they lack this alleged "lunar energy", and recommends

sexual abstinence Sexual abstinence or sexual restraint is the practice of refraining from sexual activity for reasons medical, psychological, legal, social, philosophical, moral, religious or other. It is a part of chastity. Celibacy is sexual abstinence general ...

to men to protect their intelligence. In a 2019 interview with TV host Kristina Rimienė, Uspaskich claimed that he has ascended to "another layer" and attempted to study the TV host's "frequency" by holding her hand.

Alleged COVID-19 cure

On 27 December 2020, Uspaskich started advertising mineral water that can be bought via a network of individuals across the country. He claims that the water improves the immune system and protects against COVID-19. These statements have been condemned by politicians, medics, various officials, as well as by his own party members. The company selling the water is mainly owned by Uspaskich's children. Lithuania's authorities have started investigations of illicit advertisement which can lead to a fine of up to €100,000.

Homophobic and transphobic remarks

On 10 January 2021, Uspaskich published a Facebook video where he spoke about

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

people, calling them "perverts": ''Those who put their dick under a skirt and go into the street and shout, they are (...) perverts, and such things must not be tolerated.'' He has been asked to apologise publicly by his group within the European Parliament, and claimed he had "only aimed at those who insulted him, not the LGBT community as a whole".

Renew Europe Renew Europe (or simply Renew) is a liberal, centrist to centre-right, pro-European political group of the European Parliament founded for the ninth European Parliament term. The group is the successor to the Alliance of Liberals and Dem ...

, after an internal disciplinary procedure, has terminated his membership. After this, the Labour Party announced its withdrawal from

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE Party) is a European political party composed of 76 national-level parties from across Europe, mainly active in the European Union. The ALDE Party is affiliated with Liberal Interna ...

Fake news websites

He has financially supported 77.lt, a

fake news website Fake news websites (also referred to as hoax news websites) are websites on the Internet that deliberately publish fake news—hoaxes, propaganda, and disinformation purporting to be news, real news—often using social media to drive web traffic ...

, according to national broadcaster

LRT Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

References

External links

Darbo Partija home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uspaskich, Viktor 1959 births Living people People from Arkhangelsk Oblast Members of the Seimas Labour Party (Lithuania) politicians Labour Party (Lithuania) MEPs MEPs for Lithuania 2009–2014 Lithuanian people of Russian descent Ministers of economy of Lithuania MEPs for Lithuania 2014–2019 MEPs for Lithuania 2019–2024 People convicted of tax crimes Lithuanian politicians convicted of crimes Anti-transgender activists