Vyacheslav Leonidovych Konstantinovsky (born 11 November 1960) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as a

People's Deputy of Ukraine A people's deputy of Ukraine (, ) is a member of parliament and legislator elected by Direct election, popular vote to the Verkhovna Rada, the parliament of Ukraine. They are often referred to simply as "deputies". Prior to 1991, the Verkhovna R ...

from Ukraine's 220th electoral district from 2014 until his resignation in 2017.

Early life, business and military career

Vyacheslav Leonidovych Konstantinovsky was born in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. In childhood he was engaged in classical

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

and held the rank of Master of Sports. He has a twin brother, Alexander. He entered the catering business in the mid-1980s. He lived in the United States for seven years and then return in Ukraine in 1997. Later he took part in the

Orange Revolution The Orange Revolution () was a series of protests that led to political upheaval in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005. It gained momentum primarily due to the initiative of the general population, sparked by the aftermath of the ...

and

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 ...

. Criminal Leonid "Lenya Long" Roitman was convicted in the United States in 2006 for ordering the murder of Vyacheslav Konstantinovsky. He was released in 2014. He and his brother own the Kyiv-Donbas holding, the Kyiv Donbas Development Group, and

Carte Blanche A blank cheque or blank check in the literal sense is a cheque that has no monetary value written in, but is already signed. In the figurative sense, it is used to describe a situation in which an agreement has been made that is open-ended or va ...

restaurant networks. In 2013, their fortune was estimated at $355 million. In 2014, following the beginning of the

War in Donbas The war in Donbas, or the Donbas war, was a phase of the Russo-Ukrainian War in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine. The war Timeline of the war in Donbas (2014), began in April 2014, when Russian separatist forces in Ukraine, Russian para ...

, Konstantinovsky joined the

Kyiv-1 Police Battalion The First Company of the Special-Purpose Kyiv Regiment (), formerly known as the Kyiv-1 Battalion () is a company of the National Police of Ukraine's Special Police Forces. History The Kyiv-1 Police Battalion was founded in April 2014 as ...

. In summer 2014, he announced that he was selling his Rolls-Royce Phantom to donate the money to the Ukrainian army. On August 8, Konstantinovsky announced that he had received $180000 for the car, which he donated to the Army’s cause against the separatist movement in eastern Ukraine.

Political career

In September 2014, he announced to run for 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). In early parliamentary elections on 26 October, he won in Ukraine's 220th electoral district, gaining almost 33% of the vote. On 17 June 2015, Konstantinovsky left the People's Front parliamentary faction. On 13 July 2017, Vyacheslav Konstantinovsky wrote a statement to renounce his deputy mandate. On his Facebook page, he posted that three years in parliament were the darkest of his life. Konstantinovsky plans to continue doing business.

Income

According to an electronic declaration for 2015, Konstantinovsky was the wealthiest member of the Verkhovna Rada. He declared $14.7 million, €500,000, and ₴6,778,776 in cash. The deputy had two land plots in the Kyiv region (with 1500 m² and 647 m²), a house with an area of 649 m², an apartment of 84.4 m² and four garages. Konstantinovsky owned Land Rover Sport (2012), a 2002 Harley-Davidson V-Rod muscle, a Toyota Highlander (2016). He also indicated six Rolex watches and a gun among the valuable property.

Philanthropy

* He and his brother were producers of "Orange love" (2005), the first Ukrainian movie about

. * On the end of February 2014, brothers transformed their restaurant Kureni into base of volunteer rapid response unit (70 persons) to maintain peace and order in Kyiv. Later this squad acted near

Slovyansk Sloviansk is a city in Donetsk Oblast, northern part of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. The city was known as ''Tor'' until 1784. While it did not actually belong to the raion itself, Sloviansk served as the administrative center of the S ...

under the command of SBU. * He donated $50000 to Nataliya Yusupova, who helped Kyiv military hospital after selling Rolls-Royce in 2014. Other money millionaire spent on military equipment for Kyiv-1, one of

Territorial defense battalions (Ukraine) Territorial defence battalions () were volunteer military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine under the auspices of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence in 2014–2015. They should not be confused with the volunteer units of Special Tasks Patrol ...

Personal life

Konstantinovsky is married to top model Yuliana Dementieva. They have two children: daughter Stefania and son Maximilian Konstantinovsky, who is a United States citizen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Konstantinovsky, Vyacheslav 1960 births Living people Eighth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Businesspeople from Kyiv National University of Ukraine on Physical Education and Sport alumni People's Front (Ukraine) politicians People of the Orange Revolution People of the Euromaidan Politicians from Kyiv Ukrainian billionaires Ukrainian expatriates in the United States Pro-Ukrainian people of the war in Donbas