Viktor Uspaskich (russian: Виктор Викторович Успасских, lt, Viktoras Uspaskichas; born 24 July 1959) is a Russian-born

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), 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. Lithuania ...

n entrepreneur and politician.

Early life

He was born in the village of Urdoma,

Arkhangelsk Oblast Arkhangelsk Oblast (russian: Арха́нгельская о́бласть, ''Arkhangelskaya oblast'') is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It includes the Arctic Ocean, Arctic archipelagos of Franz Josef Land ...

in what was then the Russian SFSR. 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. After the army, he continued to work in the construction of gas pipelines. He arrived in the Lithuanian SSR in 1985 and worked as a

welder In a broad sense, a welder is anyone, amateur or professional, who uses welding equipment, perhaps especially one who uses such equipment fairly often. In a narrower sense, a welder is a tradesperson who specializes in fusing materials together ...

in the gas industry. He left shortly after for Finland, before returning in 1987, divorcing his Belarusian wife with two

children A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

(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, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the larges ...

, in addition to flourishing enterprises in the food production 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'' (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 5 MEPs. 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 for

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

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) 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 enforcement and interpol. Lithuania had issued an arrest warrant for Uspaskich, who was in Russia, as he was suspected of tax fraud. 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 limtation period and the formal reorganisation of the Labour Party.

Covid-19 curing water

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 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,

Renew Europe Renew Europe (Renew) is a liberal, 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 Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group which exist ...

which, 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 An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

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