Ruslan Oleksiyovych Stefanchuk
Official biography
Ruslan Oleksiyovych Stefanchuk is the First Vice-Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, President’s Representative in the Verkhovna Rada — Advisor to the President, Doctor of Law, Professor, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Ukraine, attorney-at-law. Member of Parliament of Ukraine of the IX convocation from the Servant of the People party.
Education
Born in Ternopil in a family of doctors. In 1992, he graduated with honors from school No. 18 in Khmelnytskyi.
Career
- In 1997, he graduated from the Khmelnytsky Institute of Regional Management and Law (now Khmelnytsky University of Management and Law) with a degree in Law. In 1999, he graduated from the Podillia Technological University (now Khmelnytsky National University) with a degree in Production Management.
After graduating from the Khmelnytsky University of Management and Law, he worked as an assistant at the Department of Civil Law Disciplines of the same university, and then entered the postgraduate program at the V.M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
In 2006-2007, he worked as a pro bono assistant to MP and representative of the Our Ukraine — People’s Self-Defense faction Anatoliy Matvienko. - In 2011-2013, he headed the Department of National Legislation Development at the Institute of Legislation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
- 2013 — 2014 — Khmelnytsky University of Management and Law — Head of the Department of Civil Law Disciplines.
- From May 21, 2019 to August 29, 2019 — Advisor to the President — Representative of the President in the Verkhovna Rada.
- Candidate for people’s deputy from the Servant of the People party in the 2019 parliamentary elections, No. 2 on the list.
Since August 29, 2019, he has been a member of the Ukrainian parliament.
It should be noted that this is not Stefanchuk’s first foray into politics. He made an attempt to become a servant of the people back in the mid-2010s, but was not particularly successful. Stefanchuk is a former assistant to BPP MP Anatoliy Matvienko (uncle of the scandalous fraudster Serhiy Berezenko).
Family.
Father — Oleksiy Ivanovych Stefanchuk. Chief orthopedic traumatologist of Khmelnytskyi. Honored Doctor of Ukraine. Author of a number of scientific articles in reputable medical journals, specializes in polytrauma. His mother is a doctor of the highest category, a gastroenterologist at Khmelnytsky Polyclinic No. 1.
Mykola Stefanchuk is his younger brother. He was elected as a member of the Verkhovna Rada of the IX convocation in the 187th majority constituency (Khmelnytskyi) from the Servant of the People party. Member of the same faction. Honored Lawyer of Ukraine, Associate Professor. Since 2016, he has been working as a lecturer at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
His wife is Maryna Stefanchuk. Lawyer, graduated from Khmelnytsky University of Management and Law. Works as a lecturer at economic universities in Kyiv and Ternopil.
The family has two children, a son, Oles, and a daughter, Zlata.
Regalia. In 2000, he defended his dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Law, and in 2008 — his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Law. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws in 2008. He was awarded the academic title of Associate Professor in 2000 and Professor in 2008. In 2009, he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine.
Compromise
According to KV, Stefanchuk and his brother have been assigned Lviv and Khmelnytskyi regions to supervise. On September 17, 2019, Ruslan Stefanchuk submitted to the Verkhovna Rada draft law No. 2148 “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Ensuring Personal Voting by People’s Deputies of Ukraine”, which provides for criminal liability in the form of a fine for “button-pressing”.
On October 3, 2019, before a meeting of the Servant of the People faction at the Parkovy Exhibition and Convention Center, according to Ukrinform, Ruslan Stefanchuk said: “Our number one task is… to develop a completely new Rules of Procedure, which would be a set of procedures that would allow, while preserving the rights of the majority and the opposition, to ensure fast and dynamic consideration of issues. Otherwise, we will turn, again, into a legal jam, where there will be a process for the sake of a process, where any code is introduced and “dies” under five thousand amendments. This should not happen,” and added that the current Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada are a ”blood clot for any issue.”
On December 19, 2019, the law was passed and signed by President Zelensky on January 13, 2020. However, this did not save the Verkhovna Rada from the need to adjust the rules of procedure — on April 16, 2020, the Parliament adopted draft law No. 1043 “On Amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Counteracting Abuse of the Rights of People’s Deputies during the Legislative Procedure.”
The law had to be adopted after MPs submitted more than 16,000 amendments to the so-called “anti-Kolomoisky law” No. 2571-d (which prevents former owners of banks that have been withdrawn from the market or liquidated from seeking to regain their rights to these banking institutions through the courts) and practically spammed the work on it.
At the end of March, the Verkhovna Rada completed the scandalous procedure of adopting draft law No. 2178-10 (the so-called “land market law”). On March 27, at a meeting of the Servant of the People faction, compromise amendments were agreed upon: no more than 100 hectares per person for individual citizens of Ukraine, a ban on foreigners buying land until a referendum is held, and no alienation of state and communal land.
According to KV’s source, Dmytro Razumkov still did not want to get dirty in a dubious story, so it was up to Stefanchuk to finalize the amendments to the law.
“He (Stefanchuk — KV) doesn’t care at all. He and his group in our faction are on the payroll of Andriy Verevsky (MP of the Verkhovna Rada of IV-VII convocations, self-nominated, BYUT, PR; co-owner of Kernel Group; according to KV, a donor to the Dovira parliamentary group). He should press this story,” said the Servant of the People MP.
And so it was. Ruslan Stefanchuk, constantly urging MPs to put on masks, made amendments after amendments, ignoring the fierce attacks of the opponents of the law.
After midnight, parliamentarians from the OPFL and Batkivshchyna repeatedly told Stefanchuk that the deadline for the extraordinary session had passed, as it was already March 31. But the First Deputy Speaker pretended that nothing was happening and stubbornly continued voting on the amendments, after which, ignoring the fact that MPs from the OPFL began to gather near the presidium, he put draft law No. 2178-10 to a vote in the second reading.
The scoreboard showed 259 votes in favor, and on the anniversary of the first round of the presidential election, Volodymyr Zelenskyy fulfilled a key point of his economic program announced last September: launching a “land market.”
The salary of the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada in January was less than that of his deputy
In January, Razumkov earned less than Stefanchuk.
In January, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Dmytro Razumkov, earned 37,800 hryvnias, while his first deputy, Ruslan Stefanchuk, earned 53,600 hryvnias. This is stated in the response of the Verkhovna Rada apparatus to the request of Ukrainian News.
Razumkov’s salary in January amounted to UAH 37,816.01.
Stefanchuk received UAH 53,583.48 in January.
“Homeless” MPs received over UAH 3 million in housing compensation
MPs are compensated for rent or hotel room payments if they are not provided with housing in Kyiv or are registered more than 30 km from the city limits.
First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk filed his annual declaration for 2018 as deputy director of the state organization National Intellectual Property Office. According to his declaration, Stefanchuk has been living in a 101.8-square-meter apartment since 2012, which belongs to Tetiana Sytaruk. Before the marriage, Stefanchuk’s wife had the surname Sytaruk, as evidenced by social media. Also, according to journalists, Tetiana Sytaruk is the mother-in-law of the First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament. In a commentary to Chesno, Ruslan Stefanchuk confirmed that he still lives in this apartment.
Russian sanctions
As previously reported, the latest version of the list includes: the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Dmytro Razumkov, his first deputy Ruslan Stefanchuk, and the head of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE, Yelyzaveta Yasko.
Tyshchenko closes Stefanchuk’s laptop during a parliamentary session.
During a session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Thursday, June 3, MP Mykola Tyshchenko from the Servant of the People party closed the laptop of First Deputy Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk. After that, the politician returned to the parliamentary hall, high-fiving several of his colleagues on the way.
The incident occurred a minute before the MPs voted on draft law No. 4651, which restores imprisonment for lying in declarations. Photos and videos of the incident were taken by Apostrophe’s photojournalist Roman Petushkov.
It is noted that during the “servant’s” prank, some MPs supported Tyshchenko, joyfully shouting: “Kolya, Kolya!”. The MP himself was smiling as he closed Stefanchuk’s laptop.
Stefanchuk was unable to explain how the “Zelenskyi poll” would be financed in the elections
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that the poll on Election Day will not be conducted at the expense of the state budget.
According to Ukrinform, the First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, the President’s representative in the parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, said this on the air of the Right to Power program.
“This is not a question of the state budget, but who will pay for it. I think you will have the opportunity to ask the same question when the President is in the Parliament. This is the prerogative of the President of Ukraine. I can’t say at whose expense it will be,” Stefanchuk said when asked about the source of funding for the poll.
The President’s representative in parliament assured that both the method of conducting the all-Ukrainian poll proposed by the President for October 25, 2020, and, accordingly, the method of financing will be done “in full compliance with the law.” At the end of the program, he did not rule out that the President would pay for the poll himself.
“This is a possible option,” Stefanchuk said.
The Lyashko scandal on the Freedom of Speech show
In Ukraine, almost every episode of a political show ends with a scandal or a fight between MPs. This time, the leader of the Radical Party, Oleh Lyashko, decided to make a name for himself, quarreling with two politicians during the Savik Shuster Freedom of Speech program in one evening.
The second person Lyashko argued with on the show was First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk. The leader of the Radical Party spoke about “suitcases of money” that are delivered to each “Servant of the People” on a monthly basis.
— I am not afraid (of my words). You and your faction will take a polygraph. There are 246 MPs. (All of them) take money every month. At least 8-10 million dollars a month. It turns out to be 200 million dollars a year,” Lyashko said.
In response, Stefanchuk asked Lyashko about his lottery winnings.
The whole family in politics
MP Mykola Stefanchuk’s brother became the first deputy speaker of parliament. In the parliamentary elections on July 21, Ruslan Oleksiyovych was second on the party list of the Servant of the People, and his brother Mykola was second in the 187th district in Khmelnytskyi. Both became MPs. And today, Ruslan Stefanchuk was elected First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament with 330 votes. All of the elected representatives from Khmelnytskyi voted in favor. The only exception is his brother Mykola, who, according to the roll call vote published on the Verkhovna Rada website, did not vote.
The Verkhovna Rada paid UAH 20 million for air taxis for Razumkov and Stefanchuk
Declaration
According to the 2018 income statement, the politician owns two land plots — one in Khmelnytskyi region and the other in Kyiv region.
The MP also listed in the document two apartments in Khmelnytskyi, a collection of jewelry, scientific literature, and an ancient icon.
Stefanchuk drives a modest car by MP standards — a 2012 Renault Koleos. The MP’s wife drives a 2015 Renault Captur.
In 2018, Ruslan Oleksiyovych earned 700 thousand hryvnias, and Maryna Stefanchuk earned 70 thousand hryvnias. The main income of the spouses is from business and teaching.
According to the financial statement, none of the Stefanchuks have any bank deposits. However, they keep money in cash — 96 thousand hryvnias, 22 thousand euros, and 64 thousand dollars.
Summary
The impudence of the Servants of the People knows no bounds. Ruslan Stefanchuk, living in his mother-in-law’s apartment, receives compensation from the state for housing, pretending to be homeless. In addition, despite the prohibition of “nepotism” in politics, Ruslan Stefanchuk, along with his brother Mykola, are “servants of the people” and this problem is being ignored.