Mykola Yanovych Azarov (Ukrainian:Микола Янович Азаров;Russian:Николай Янович Азаров,romanized: Nikolay Yanovich Azarov;néPakhlo,Cyrillic: Пахло; born 17 December 1947) is aUkrainian politician who was thePrime Minister of Ukraine from 11 March 2010 to 27 January 2014. He was the First Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister from 2002 to 2005 and again from 2006 to 2007. Azarov also servedex officio as an acting prime minister in theFirst Yanukovych Government whenViktor Yanukovych ran for president at first and then upon the resignation of his government.
Azarov was born inKaluga[10] on 17 December 1947 in theRussian SFSR,Soviet Union,[11] to a half-Russian and half-Estonian father, Jaan Pahlo, and aRussian mother, Yekaterina Pavlovna Kvasnikova, as Nikolay Pakhlo.[12][13] When he married his wife, Lyudmila Azarova, he took her name.[12][13] Azarov attended theMoscow State University where he earned his doctorate in geology andmineralogy in 1973.[10] He worked at theTulaugol coal enterprise until 1976.[10] Azarov moved toDonetsk permanently in 1984 to become deputy director of the Ukrainian State Geological Institute, that he went on to head.[13] In 1984–1995 he was a deputy director and director of Ukraine's State Research and Design Institute of Mining Geology and Geomechanics.[10] In 1991 he was hired as a professor atDonetsk National Technical University.[citation needed]
In 1994 Azarov was elected member of theVerkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) for the first time, representing the Petroskiy electoral district, located in the city ofDonetsk.[citation needed] In 1995–1997 he served as head of the parliament's Committee on Budgets while also sitting on the Verkhovna Rada's presidium.[citation needed] In parliament, he belonged to an inter-regional group of MPs supporting then-President of UkraineLeonid Kuchma.[citation needed] In 1995, while carrying on as an MP, Azarov was appointed an adviser to the currency council of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.[citation needed] In 1996 he became Chairman of the State Tax Administration of Ukraine.
Azarov was a long-term (1996–2002) head of the State Tax Administration.[10][13] During this period tax inspections were used to limit thefreedom of the press in Ukraine.[14][15][16][17] On tapes made during theCassette Scandal Azarov is heard speaking on recordings, secretly recorded in Kuchma's office by Kuchma's bodyguardMykola Melnychenko, about using his position as the head of the tax authority to pressure officials to ensureKuchma's reelection in 1999.[13][18] Critics also stated that the recordings implicated Azarov in other corrupt schemes, including allegedly covering up graft at the state natural gas companyNaftogaz,[13] aiding the demise of the Slaviansk Bank (which was connected toYulia Tymoshenko's natural gas companyUnited Energy Systems of Ukraine)[13] and illegal funding of Kuchma's 1999 election campaign.[19] Azarov has vehemently refuted all these allegations.[13] In 2002, he accused Slavyansk Bank president Borys Feldman of being behind the Cassette Scandal recordings.[13]
In 2001 he became the head of the Party of Regions but resigned from the post in less than a year.[citation needed] In 2003 Azarov was elected chairman of the Party of Regions political council.[10] In 2002, the European Choice parliamentary group nominated him for theprime minister's post.[citation needed] Still, he declined, standing aside forViktor Yanukovych, who assumed both the leadership of the Party of Regions and the Prime Minister's job.[13] Azarov was appointed First Vice Prime Minister andFinance Minister in late November 2002, when thefirst Yanukovych Government took office.[10][20] During the first Yanukovych Government governing the set of economic reforms was implemented including fiscal, tax, pensionary, regulatory reforms. During Azarov's first term as Finance Minister, the annual GDP growth was 9.6% in 2003 and 12.1% in 2004 (cf. 2.7% in 2005) in Ukraine,[21] withcapital investments of 31.3% and 28.0%[22] (cf. 1.9% in 2005[23]).[24]
Azarov first served as acting prime minister from 7 December 2004 to 28 December 2004, after Yanukovych was put on vacation leave by President Kuchma in the midst of theOrange Revolution.[10][25] After the runoff, Yanukovych attempted to resume his duties as prime minister, but effectively unable to do so, announced his resignation on 31 December 2004,[26] and Azarov was named acting prime minister again.[10][25] The Yanukovych Cabinet was officially dismissed on 5 January 2005.[27] Azarov continued as acting prime minister until shortly after theinauguration ofViktor Yushchenko, whenYulia Tymoshenko was appointed prime minister on 24 January 2005.[25][27] Azarov remained a strong political ally of Yanukovych, and again became a member of parliament for the Party of Regions after the2006 Parliamentary elections.[10] When Yanukovych became prime minister again on 4 August 2006, Azarov was elected the First Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister in thesecond Yanukovych Government.[10]
Followinghis election asPresident of Ukraine,[28][29]Viktor Yanukovych offered three candidates forprime minister on 21 February 2010:Sergei Tigipko,Our Ukraine faction memberArseniy Yatsenyuk and Azarov.[28] Azarov had headed Yanukovych's election campaign during the2010 Presidential elections.[13] The Verkhovna Rada appointed AzarovPrime Minister of Ukraine on 11 March 2010.[30][31] Of the 343 lawmakers registered in the session hall, 242 voted in favor of the appointment.[30] The following month he was elected head of theParty of Regions.[32] In28 October 2012 parliamentary election he was (re)-elected into parliament heading the party list of Party of Regions.[33][34] Following Azarov's resignation as prime minister on 3 December 2012 (after several cabinet members including Azirov were elected to parliament in the previous election, something which obliged them to give up their ministerial mandates[35]) his cabinet stayed on ascaretaker government from 3 December 2012.[36] On 5 December President Yanukovych stated "Azarov has good chances of remaining prime minister, (but) a lot will depend on whom he brings to his team".[37] On 9 December Yanukovych nominated him for a new term as prime minister.[38] This nomination was approved by parliament on 13 December 2012.[39] On 24 December 2012 thesecond Azarov Government was appointed by President Yanukovych.[40]
Azarov resigned on 28 January 2014 amidheavy riots and theEuromaidan protests.[4] According to his cabinet, Azarov was quoted saying that "To create additional opportunities for socio-political compromise, for the sake of the peaceful settlement of the conflict, I have made a personal decision to ask the Ukrainian president to accept my resignation from the post of Ukrainian prime minister".[41]Yevhen Murayev toldDmitry Gordon that he took the fleeing Azarov out of Ukraine fromKharkiv toBelgorod during the events of Maidan.[42] Azarov flew toAustria to join family members in a private jet hours after quitting.[43] As of 23 February 2014 Azarov has been residing in Russia.[44] On 29 March 2014, during a party congress, Azarov was expelled from theParty of Regions.[45]
On 3 August 2015, Azarov announced the creation of theUkraine Salvation Committee (Комитет спасения Украины) set up outsideUkraine (inMoscow), seeking to have "all citizens, political parties, labor union and social movements to unite and restore order in our home by joint efforts"[46] and to change Ukraine's leadership.[47][48] The committee's chairman and its choice forPresident of Ukraine is Volodymyr Oliynyk.[47] Azarov claimed he could not name all members of the committee because some lived in Ukraine and it would be dangerous to disclose their names.[47]
As of 12 January 2015, Azarov has had anInterpol Red Notice issued,[49] along with ex-PresidentViktor Yanukovych and former Minister of FinanceYuriy Kolobov,[50] on charges of 'Misappropriation, embezzlement or conversion of property by malversation, if committed in respect of an especially gross amount, or by an organized group.'[51]
Since 3 July 2014, Azarov is in the international wanted list for abuse of power.[52][53]
In April 2014, Austrian authorities began an investigation of Oleksiy Azarov, among several other Ukrainians close to the former government, on money-laundering suspicions. Austrian banks reported suspicious capital flows earlier in 2014.[56]
Azarov speaksUkrainian poorly.[25][57][58] Still, he assured his constituents in early March 2010 thathis government would be speaking Ukrainian.[58] Nevertheless his attempts to speak Ukrainian in public have led to the humorous term "Azirivka" for his blunders. In April 2011, he stated: "I feel one hundred percent Ukrainian".[59] In an 11 March 2010 article the UK dailyThe Guardian labeled him the mostRussophile member of the new cabinet. In the same article, an anonymous Ukrainian official noted, "He's extremely boring and anti-populist".[60] A November 2010Razumkov Centre nationwide survey showed that only 13.2 percent of respondents fully supporthis government while 45 percent stated they did not.[61]
On 13 December 2012, during the parliamentary discussion of Azarov's candidacy for thePrime Minister of Ukraine,People's Deputy of UkraineIryna Farion publicly asked for clarification on the reason for Azarov's inability to master the state language.[nb 2] On that the candidate to the prime minister of Ukraine replied that he agreed to improve hisUkrainian.[63]
Azarov had the Prime Ministerial office blessed by a priest fromKyiv Pechersk Lavra soon after he was elected prime minister in 2010.[64] Azarov stated in March 2010 there were no female ministers in theAzarov Government because "Reforms do not fall into women's competence", while adding that he greatly respects women.[64] After criticism from female politicians at home and abroad, Azarov explained that he meant he would not wish any woman, especially if she has children, to work more than 15 hours a day as a Ukrainian minister does.[65] In responseUkrainian women's rights groups filed differentcourt cases against him.[65] Azarov stated in May 2010 thatcorruption was one of the biggest problems of Ukraine, "We must combat not just instances of corruption, but totally corrupt systems".[66]
^During the parliamentary debateIryna Farion quotedSocrates: "Talk, and I will see you". She went on to claim: "The whole country is mastering the comicality of your speech. What can help you in this issue to learn, at least at an elementary level, the Ukrainian language? As a pedagogue with 20 years of experience, I see this problem in two aspects: the inability to learn the language shows either that the person is politically biased or mentally challenged. Thus, in which system of coordinates are you actually situated?"[62]
^Azarov also claimed that prior to 1939Western Ukrainebecame part of theUSSR "there was no industry or social infrastructure. And look at what has been created in Western Ukraine for several decades of independence."[67]
^abМикола Азаров став прем'єр-міністром [Mykola Azarov became prime minister] (in Ukrainian). Gazeta.ua. 12 March 2010.Archived from the original on 9 August 2011. Retrieved31 August 2010.
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