Yevgeny Vitalyevich Balitsky (, ; born 10 December 1969) is a Russian and former Ukrainian politician, entrepreneur and former army officer who is currently serving as the governor of Zaporozhye Oblast, one of the

Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine The Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine are areas of southern and eastern Ukraine that are controlled by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War and the ongoing invasion. In Ukrainian law, they are defined as the "temporarily occu ...

, since 2022. Originally suspected to be ''de facto'' mayor of Melitopol by the

Security Service of Ukraine The Security Service of Ukraine ( ; abbreviated as SBU [] or SSU) is the main Internal security, internal security agency of the Government of Ukraine, Ukrainian government. Its main duties include counter-intelligence activity and combati ...

, he was later appointed as Governor of Zaporizhzhia Oblast by Russian authorities on 9 May 2022, amidst the occupation of the southern parts of the oblast by the Russian military. Before that takeover, Balitsky served in the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and

Ukrainian Air Force The Ukrainian Air Force (, PS ZSU) is the air force of Ukraine and one of the eight Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (ZSU). Its current form was created in 2004 by merging the Ukrainian Air Defence Forces into the Air Fo ...

from 1991 to 1995, before entering business, serving as head of a household appliance company in Melitopol. He entered politics in 1998 as an independent member of the

Zaporizhzhia Oblast Council The Zaporizhzhia Oblast Council () is the regional oblast council (parliament) of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast (province) located in eastern Ukraine. Council members are elected for five year terms. In order to gain representation in the council, a p ...

and joined the

Party of Regions A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

in 2004, and had served as a People's Deputy of

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

in the 7th and 8th convocations 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 ...

from 2012 to 2019.

Early life and career

Yevhen Vitaliiovych Balitsky was born in

Melitopol Melitopol is a city and municipality in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, southeastern Ukraine. It is situated on the Molochna River, which flows through the eastern edge of the city into the Molochnyi Lyman estuary. Melitopol is the second-largest city ...

, then in the

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, on 10 December 1969, to a family of military aviators. In 1987, he graduated from high school. In 1991, he graduated from Tambov Higher Military Aviation School as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

. For the next four years, he served in various aviation garrisons, and in 1995 was transferred to the reserves from Melitopol Regiment military transport aircraft with the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. From 1995 to 1997, he was the head of the OlZheKa company, which sold and repaired household appliances in Melitopol. In 1996, OlZheKa established the first FM radio station in Melitopol, called Southern Space. From 1997 to 2007, Balitsky was head of the Melitopol Brewery, and only in 2007 did he sell a controlling stake in this company. Since 2000, he led Melitopol Avtogidroagregat, a tractor parts company. As of 2012, he was deputy director for economics at Melitopol Avtogidroagregat. Both Melitopol Brewery and Avtogidroagregat achieved economic success under Balitsky's leadership.

Regional politics

From 1998 to 2002, Balitsky was a deputy of the

, as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

. In March 2002, Balitsky was seen as a plausible candidate for mayor of

. In 2004, he joined the

, and from 2010 to 2012 he again served as a deputy of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast Council as a member of the party. This time, he served as a member of the Standing Committee on the Budget, as well as the Acting Department Director in the Ministry of Economy and European Integration.

National politics

From 2012 to 2019, Balitsky was 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 ...

, serving in the

7th Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"The Seventh", a second-season ep ...

and

8th Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight. Eighth may refer to: * One eighth, , a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole * Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet) * Octave, an interval b ...

convocation A convocation (from the Latin ''wikt:convocare, convocare'' meaning "to call/come together", a translation of the Ancient Greek, Greek wikt:ἐκκλησία, ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') is a group of people formally assembled for a specia ...

of the

(Ukraine's national parliament). He was elected both times as member of Zaporizhia Oblast district No. 80, a multi-member district comprising Melitopol and

Melitopol Raion Melitopol Raion () is one of the five raions (districts) of Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southern Ukraine. The administrative center of the region is Melitopol. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, the number ...

, with 54.46% of the votes. In the

2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 28 October 2012.Parli ...

he was elected as a member of the

and in 2014 reelected as a self-nominated candidate,Small biography on Yevgeny Balitsky

Civil movement "Chesno" Chesno () is a Ukrainian public campaign that emerged late 2011 to advance a fair election process. It is widely known for its critical analysis and evaluation of politicians and the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) in Ukraine. The organization provi ...

receiving 47.4% of the vote. In June 2013, Balitsky was among a group of 148 people's deputies of Ukraine who signed the Appeal of deputies from the Party of Regions and the

Communist Party of Ukraine The Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU or KPU) is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 and claimed to be the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine, which had been banned in 1991. In 2002 it held a "unifi ...

to the

Polish Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

with a request to "recognize the

Volyn tragedy Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in Ukraine it is roughly ...

as genocide against the Polish population and condemn the criminal acts of Ukrainian nationalists." This step was described as national treason by the first President of Ukraine,

Leonid Kravchuk Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk (, ; 10 January 1934 – 10 May 2022) was a Ukrainian politician and the first president of Ukraine, serving from 5 December 1991 until 19 July 1994. In 1992, he signed the Lisbon Protocol, undertaking to give up Ukrai ...

. On 16 January 2014, he was one of the deputies who voted for the

Anti-protest laws in Ukraine The Ukrainian anti-protest laws were a group of ten laws restricting freedom of speech and freedom of assembly passed by the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament of Ukraine) on January 16, 2014 (referred to as Black Thursday by its opponents) and signed int ...

. On 14 February 2014, he was elected deputy chairman of the Melitopol chapter of the Party of Regions. In April, Balitsky noted environmental problems at

Molochnyi Lyman __NOTOC__ Molochnyi Estuary, or Molochnyi Lyman (), is an estuary of the Molochna River, located on the north-western coast of the Sea of Azov. About north is the town of Melitopol. Parameters of the water body: * Length 32 km * Width 8&nb ...

. On 3 June 2014, Balitsky left the Party of Regions faction in the Verkhovna Rada, later joining the

Opposition Bloc The Opposition Bloc (, ) was a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine that was founded in 2014 by the merger of six parties that did not endorse Euromaidan. Legally, the party was created by renaming the lesser-known party "Leading Force".

in May 2015. On 2 July 2014, he announced the registration of the deputy group "For peace and stability". On 17 September 2014, deputies of this group attended a meeting of the

State Duma of the Russian Federation The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 1993. The Duma headquarters are located in central Mos ...

. Balitsky was not among them, as he refused the invitation. On 12 July 2016, despite constant media scrutiny of the voting procedure, Balytskyi, in addition to himself, voted for two other fellow MPs who were absent from their seats, hiding behind his jacket. As response to the coverage, he gave his middle finger to a journalist who was filming him during a vote in the Verkhovna Rada. On 18 January 2018, he was one of 36 MPs who voted against the Law on the Recognition of Ukrainian Sovereignty over the Occupied Territories of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions. On 23 April 2019, he was one of the 59 MPs who signed a motion on the basis of which the

Constitutional Court of Ukraine The Constitutional Court of Ukraine (, ) is the sole body of constitutional jurisdiction in Ukraine. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine interprets the Constitution of Ukraine in terms of laws and other legal acts. The Court initiated its ac ...

cancelled the article of the

Criminal Code of Ukraine The legal system of Ukraine is based on civil law, and belongs to the Romano-Germanic legal tradition. The main source of legal information is codified law. Customary law and case law are not as common, though case law is often used in support ...

on illicit enrichment, which required public officials to provide explanations about the sources of their income and the income of their family members. Criminal liability for illicit enrichment was introduced in Ukraine in 2015. This was one of the EU's requirements for the implementation of the Visa Liberalisation Action Plan, as well as one of Ukraine's commitments to the

IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of la ...

, as set out in the Memorandum. In the

2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 21 July 2019. Originally scheduled to be held at the end of October, the elections were brought forward after newly inaugurated President of Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dissolved parli ...

Balitsky failed to get reelected in district No. 80, this time for the party

. In this election he gained 29.5% of the votes in the constituency, while winner

Serhii Minko Serhiy Anatoliyovych Minko (born September 20, 1973, Pavlodar, Kazakh SSR, USSR) is a Politics of Ukraine, Ukrainian politician, businessman, public figure and philanthropist who served as Mayor of Melitopol from 2015 to 2019. He previously serv ...

won with 33.13%. In the

2020 Ukrainian local elections The 2020 Ukrainian local elections took place on Sunday 25 October 2020.Ukrai ...

Balitsky was again elected as a deputy of the

for the party

Collaboration with Russian forces

President_Vladimir_Putin_celebrating_with_Russian-installed_leaders_of_the_four_regions_3

Following the

capture of Melitopol A military engagement took place between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Armed Forces of Russia in the city of Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, on the southern front of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces entered the city on 2 ...

by Russian forces during the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Balitsky assisted in the establishment of a new, pro-Russian government in the city. The

(SBU) has claimed that Balitsky is the

grey eminence ''Grey Eminence: A Study in Religion and Politics'' is a book by Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley ( ; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction ...

of the occupation in Melitopol. On 9 May 2022, it was reported that Balitsky was appointed

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia Oblast. Balitsky became a member of the

United Russia The All-Russian Political Party United Russia (, ) is the Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Russia, political party of Russia. As the largest party in the Russian Federation, it holds 325 (or 72.22%) of the 450 seats in the St ...

political party on 26 September 2022. On 30 September 2022, Balitsky and the other pro-Russian occupation heads,

Denis Pushilin Denis Vladimirovich Pushilin (born 9 May 1981) is a Russian politician who has served as the Head of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) since 2018. He has held the position in an acting capacity ever since the Russian annexation of the DPR in ...

Leonid Pasechnik Leonid Ivanovich Pasechnik (; ; born 15 March 1970) is a Russian politician who has served as head of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) since 2017. He holds the position in acting capacity ever since the Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson ...

and

Volodymyr Saldo Vladimir Vasilyevich Saldo (, ; born 12 June 1956) is a Ukrainian and Russian politician serving as the acting collaborationist governor of the annexed Kherson Oblast since 4 October 2022. A member of the ruling United Russia, he previously ...

, attended the ceremony in Moscow during which

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

formally announced the

annexation Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held t ...

of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. In January 2023, Balitsky and the administration established the Pavel Sudoplatov Battalion and Balitsky's son joined it as a soldier.

Sanctions

On December 25, 2018, he was included in the sanctions list of Russia, (excluded from the list by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of November 26, 2022 No. 2151). On 21 July 2022, he was included in the sanctions list of all EU countries because he " cooperated with Russian authorities in the Ukrainian city of Melitopol, supported the appointment of

Galina Danilchenko Galina Viktorovna Danilchenko (born 5 July 1964) is a Russian and Ukrainian accountant and politician who was installed by Russia as the acting mayor of Melitopol during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, following the kidnapping of Ivan Fed ...

as mayor of Melitopol after the abduction of the legitimate mayor". On 15 September 2022, he was included in US sanctions lists, because he "oversees the removal of Ukrainian grain from the Zaporizhzhia region". He was sanctioned by the UK government in 2022 in relation to the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

Awards

* 2013 –

Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

, Third degree * 2022 –

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" () is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree 442. Until the re-establishment of the Order of St. Andrew in 1998, it was the highest order of ...

, Third degree

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balitsky, Evgenij 1969 births People from Melitopol Living people Russian nationalists Seventh convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Eighth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Party of Regions politicians Opposition Bloc politicians Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class Russian individuals subject to United Kingdom sanctions Ukrainian collaborators with Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine United Russia politicians Pro-Russian people of the war in Donbas Anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Ukraine Russian individuals subject to U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List Russian individuals subject to European Union sanctions