Viktor Tikhonov (politician)

Viktor Tykhonov
Віктор Тихонов
Ambassador to Belarus
In office
1 June 2011 – 26 November 2012
Preceded byRoman Bezsmertnyi
Succeeded byMykhailo Yezhel
Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine
In office
11 March 2010 – 1 June 2011
Prime MinisterMykola Azarov
Chairman of the Luhansk Oblast Council
In office
24 April 1998 – April 2006
Preceded byLeonid Dayneko
Succeeded byValeriy Holenko
Deputy Governor of Luhansk Oblast
In office
November 1995 – April 1998
GovernorHennadiy Fomenko
Member of the Verkhovna Rada
In office
15 May 1990 – 10 May 1994
In office
25 May 2006 – 27 November 2014
Personal details
Born(1949-03-05)5 March 1949[1]
Died29 August 2020(2020-08-29) (aged 71)
Simferopol, Crimea
PartyParty of Regions

Viktor Mykolayovych Tikhonov, also spelled Viktor Tykhonov (Ukrainian: Віктор Миколайович Тихонов; 5 March 1949 – 29 August 2020) was a Ukrainian politician.

Early life

Tikhonov was born on 5 March 1949 in Shchotove, which was then part of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union.[2] He was ethnically Russian.[2] After graduating secondary school, he worked at the "Voroshylovhradteplovoz" plant, before completing his mandatory military service with the Soviet Armed Forces in Odesa.[2] In 1978, he graduated from the Voroshilovgrad Machinebuilding Institute, before returning to work at Voroshylovhradteplovoz, where he held various engineering and trade unionship leadership roles until 1990.[2] He later received a degree in law from the Luhansk Institute of Internal Affairs, and was granted the title of Candidate of Legal Sciences in 2003.[2]

Political career

For a year before the collapse of the Soviet Union, he served as First Secretary of the Luhansk City Committee (or mayor of the city).[2]

Tikhonov served in the Verkhovna Rada from 1990 to 1994 for electoral district 52 in Luhansk[3] and again from 2006[4] to 2014 as a member of the Party of Regions.[5] He also served as the First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine from 11 March 2010 until 1 June 2011, with the Cabinet of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.[6]

Additionally, Tikhonov was chairman of the Luhansk Regional Council in eastern Ukraine from 1998 to 2006.[6] He also served as the ambassador to Belarus from 2011 to 2012.[6]

In 2004, he was a participant in the Sievierodonetsk Congress, which called for an autonomous south-eastern republic from Ukraine if Viktor Yanukovych was not ceritifed as President of Ukraine.[7] For this, in 2005, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a case against him under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, but the case did not proceed.[7]

In September 2014, following his departure from Ukraine following the events of Euromaidan, the Ministry of Internal Affairs opened a criminal case again him for participating in a plenary session of the Russian State Duma, during which he met with Speaker of the Duma, Sergei Naryshkin.[8]

Personal life

In a 2016 interview, Tikhonov stated that he now permanently lived in Russian-occupied Crimea.[6]

Viktor Tikhonov died from pneumonia in Simferopol on 29 August 2020, at the age of 71.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Офіційний портал Верховної Ради України". static.rada.gov.ua. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Тихонов Віктор Миколайович". dovidka.com.ua. Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  3. ^ "Офіційний портал Верховної Ради України". static.rada.gov.ua. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  4. ^ "Офіційний портал Верховної Ради України". itd.rada.gov.ua. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  5. ^ "Офіційний портал Верховної Ради України". itd.rada.gov.ua. Retrieved 2024-03-02.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Азаров: Помер колишній віце-прем'єр України". Ukrayinska Pravda. 2020-08-29. Archived from the original on 2020-08-31. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
  7. ^ a b "Тихонов Віктор Миколайович — Біографія, Балотування, Фракції, Політична Агітація | ПолітХаб". www.chesno.org (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 17 February 2026.
  8. ^ "МВС порушило кримінальну справу проти 24 депутатів". LB.ua. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2026.