Oleg Tsaryov

Early life

Tsaryov was born 2 June 1970 in Dnipropetrovsk, in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union.

Tsaryov graduated from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute in 1992 with a degree in engineering and physics.

Business career

Tsaryov started his career in 1992 as an engineer for the preparation of production at "Avteks" (Автекс), a specialized small business in Dnipropetrovsk. Then in 1993 he became head of the Ukrainian financial insurance company "Confidence" (Доверие). After leaving Confidence in 1995, he held a succession of senior positions at the Dnipropetrovsk Computer Centre Ltd (Днепропетровский компьютерный центр), a company called Silicon Valley (Кремниевая долина), and then the Dnipropetrovsk Paper Mill (Днепропетровская бумажная фабрика).

His company "Dniprobuminvest" went bankrupt in March 2014.

Political career

Tsaryov became a People's Deputy of Ukraine (народний депутат України) in 2002. In 2005 he became head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional branch of the Party of Regions. In 2006, he became a People's Deputy of Ukraine for the Party of Regions.

Tsaryov was a self-nominated candidate in the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election. On 29 March a Party of Regions convention supported Mykhailo Dobkin nomination as a presidential candidate. On 7 April 2014 the political council of that party expelled Tsaryov from the party. On 11 April 2014 Tsaryov traveled to Donetsk and said he was ready to become a leader of the so-called "South-east movement". According to one source quoted by the National Press Agency of Ukraine, Tsaryov also assured separatists in Donetsk that would do everything to disrupt the May 25, 2014 presidential elections. "I'm sure that will be no elections," he said. He then promised that he would create a "central authority" within the center of Donetsk. On 14 April, Oleg Tsaryov was beaten by a mob after an interview in the ICTV building in Kiev. The beating was denied by some, though press agencies published videos of the mob and photos of Oleg Tsaryov half-naked with bruises. After this beating he stated "I am against a third party interfering in the affairs of Ukraine. Until we learn to listen to each other, Ukraine will stand no chance".

Tsaryov withdrew his presidential candidacy on 29 April. He claimed to so because it was dangerous for him to continue his presidential campaign and meet with voters in Kiev (earlier that month Tsaryov said he had been beaten by pro-Western radical Ukrainian activists in Kiev). Tsaryov called on "all presidential candidates representing Ukraine's eastern and southeastern regions" (namely) Petro Symonenko, Mykhailo Dobkin, Serhiy Tihipko and Renat Kuzmin to boycott the election; because "An election that is being held while a civil war is unfolding must be boycotted". He added that if they did not withdrew they would be "playing into the hands of the illegitimate authorities and legitimizing not only them but also their decision to start a civil war against the eastern regions". After the elections Tsaryov refused to recognize the election as legitimate; as he claimed "it was a choice only of half of Ukraine".

On May 13, 2014 Tsaryov was sanctioned by the European Union for calling for the creation of Federal State of Novorossiya. Also in May 2014, a recording of a death threat phone call allegedly made to Tsaryov by the governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and owner of PrivatBank, Ihor Kolomoisky, began circulating in social media. In the call Kolomoisky tells Tsaryov that there is a bounty of $1 million on his head, and to stay in Moscow if he doesn't want to be killed. Tsaryov said that the call was authentic.

On 3 June 2014 Tsaryov was stripped of his parliamentary immunity by the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) who also sanctioned his arrest. Tsaryov is now wanted for making "public calls to overthrow the existing constitutional system in Ukraine, change its state borders and stage acts of disobedience, which entailed grave consequences and caused many casualties among law enforcers and peaceful civilians".

On 26 June 2014 Tsaryov became Speaker of the "Unity Parliament" of the self-proclaimed confederation of Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic (in eastern Ukraine) Novorossiya.

Russian prosecutors refuse to extradite Tsaryov to Ukraine and (according to Ukraine falsely) state that they have not received such a request from Ukraine.

On 20 May 2015 Tsaryov announced the termination of the Novorossiya confederation. He stated this was done because the confederation did not comply with the Minsk II accords.

Family life

Tsaryov is married to Larissa (born in 1968) and has a teenage daughter (born in 1999) and son (born in 1995) who both study in the United Kingdom a daughter born in 2003.

Political views

As a People's Deputy of Ukraine of the Party of Regions Tsaryov was known as one of the party's members most against closer relations between Ukraine and the European Union.

On 9 December 2013 Tsaryov requested to the Security Service and Foreign Ministry of Ukraine to deport or/and ban foreign organizers and political consultants of the Euromaidan-protests, document scans of which he posted (and later removed) on his Facebook account. Among those named in the document notably included Andreas Umland, Stanislav Belkovsky, Taras Kuzio, Gleb Pavlovsky, and former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, among others.

Tsaryov expressed satisfaction with the adoption of the anti-protest laws in January 2014. He approved of the requirement for non-governmental organizations receiving foreign funds to register as "foreign agents," arguing that such funding primarily served the interests of the United States.