Ihor Yosypovych Tenyukh (; born 23 May 1958) is a former Ukrainian

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

and Svoboda party member. He was the commander of the

Ukrainian Navy The Ukrainian Navy (), is the Navy, maritime force of Ukraine and one of the eight Military branch, service branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The naval forces consist of five components: surface forces, submarine forces, Ukrainian Naval ...

from 2006 until 2010 when dismissed by

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych (born 9 July 1950) is a Ukrainian politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014. He also served as the prime minister of Ukraine several times between 2002 and 2007 and was a member of t ...

. Tenyukh fully supported the 2013–2014 uprising, and was appointed Minister of Defense of Ukraine in February 2014. After and because of accusations of indecision in the face of the Russian invasion of Crimea, he resigned on 25 March 2014.

Biography

Tenyukh graduated from the Frunze Higher Naval School,

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

in 1979 and began his career as a torpedo boat officer.. In 1982 he underwent submarine training and became an officer of the submarine branch, mainly working in Kilo-class submarines. From 1983 to 1991, he rose through the ranks of commander of coastal mine-sweeper, executive officer of, then commander of seagoing mine-sweeper, chief of the armament and equipment stores department on a mine and anti-submarine armament base. He was for a time attached to training and advising the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

and the Algerian Navy as a liaison officer. In 1991 he became a member of the Defense and State Security Commission of the

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 Deputy (legislator), deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovn ...

(Ukrainian parliament), and participated in the development of a bill on the creation of the

Armed Forces of Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

. From 1991 to 1995, he was a senior officer of maintenance of combat actions Department of the Navy of Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, chief of command of the Navy of the Main Staff of the Armed forces of Ukraine, chief of department of directions of the Main operational agency of General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In 1994, he graduated from the U.S. Defense Language Institute, and in 1997 he became a faculty member at National Academy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to prepare officers on an operational-strategic level. From 1997 to 2005, he was a commander of 1st Surface Ships Brigade and commander of combined arms squadron of the Ukrainian Naval Forces. In 2002, he was commander of the annual activation of the Black Sea Force BLACKSEAFOR. From November 2005–2006 he was deputy chief of staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Pursuant to decree #252/2006 dated 23 March 2006 the Ukrainian president promoted him from rear admiral to commander-in-chief of the Navy of Ukraine. On 22 August 2008 Tenyukh was promoted from

Vice Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

to the rank of

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

. On 25 March 2014, acting President

Oleksandr Turchynov Oleksandr Valentynovych Turchynov (, ; born 31 March 1964) is a Ukrainians, Ukrainian politician, screenwriter, Baptists in Ukraine, Baptist minister and economist. He is the former Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukra ...

dismissed Tenyukh from his position after he was criticized for withdrawing from

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

too slowly during the Russian annexation.

Politics

Tenyukh is a member of the right-wing All-Ukrainian Union "Freedom" party, better known as Svoboda.

Euromaidan and annexation of Crimea

During the

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

rally in Kyiv on 19 January 2014 Tenyukh warned of the dangers posed by the " coup d'etat planned by the current authorities" and called for members of the Armed Forces to defy "illegal" orders from those in power. He was quoted as saying "Tomorrow the regime will enslave you too. Therefore we are calling on you to fulfill your military oath of loyalty to the Ukrainian people, and not to the authorities who have gone off the rails". Tenyukh was appointed on 27 February 2014 by the

Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 Deputy (legislator), deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovn ...

Minister of Defense. Due to his indecisiveness during the annexation of Crimea, he submitted his resignation to the Ukrainian parliament on 25 of March which accepted it with 228 votes.

Awards

Tenyukh has been awarded with orders, medals and departmental rewards. *

Order of Merit (Ukraine) The Order of Merit () (Distinguished service) first, second or third class, is the Ukrainian order of merit, given to individuals for outstanding achievements in economics, science, culture, military or political spheres of activity. It was firs ...

* Medal For Military Service to Ukraine * Commendation For Merits * Jubilee Medal "70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" * SU Medal For Impeccable Service 2nd class ribbon

Medal "For Impeccable Service"

References

External links

Biography (''In Ukrainian'')
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tenyuh, Igor 1958 births Living people People from Stryi Military personnel from Lviv Oblast Svoboda (political party) politicians Ministers of defense of Ukraine Ukrainian admirals Soviet Navy personnel People of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class Naval commanders of Ukraine Saint Petersburg Naval Institute alumni