Place of Birth. Education. A native of Gorlovka (Donetsk region). Has two higher educations. In 1981 he graduated from the Mendeleev Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology (engineer, chemical technologist), and in 2001 – East Ukrainian University (engineer-economist).
Career. From 1981 to 1999 went from foreman of the production site to the general director of the Zarya chemical plant in Rubizhnoye. From 1999 to 2001 was the general director of JSC Lisichansknefteorgsintez (Lisichansk Oil Refinery). From August 2001 to February 2002 – Chairman of the Board of JSC Ukrtatnafta (Kremenchug Oil Refinery).
On January 31, 2002, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine. From July 2003 to March 2005, he held the post of First Deputy Minister of Fuel and Energy – Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz of Ukraine (Sergey Yermilov – in 2003-2004, Sergey Tulub – in 2004-2005).
Boyko was the chairman of the Republican Party of Ukraine (RPU). In 2006, he ran for the parliament of the 5th convocation on the list of the Opposition Bloc NOT TAK!, created on the basis of the SDPU (o) (the leader was Viktor Medvedchuk, the former head of the Presidential Administration of Leonid Kuchma). The bloc did not get enough votes. Nevertheless, Mr. Boyko still won: on August 4, 2006, he was appointed Minister of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine in the government of Viktor Yanukovych.
In the 2007 early parliamentary elections, he was on the list of the Party of Regions. To do this, I had to give up the powers of the head of the RPU and hand over my party card.
After the formation of a coalition consisting of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense bloc, he left the post of minister. He was replaced by Yuriy Prodan, who received a portfolio under the BYuT quota.
Since March 2010 – Minister of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine in the government of Mykola Azarov. On December 9, the Ministry of Fuel and Energy and the Ministry of Coal Industry were reorganized, and Boyko became head of the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry.
On December 24, 2012, by decree of President Viktor Yanukovych, he was appointed Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine.
On February 27, 2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine dismissed Boyko from the post of Deputy Prime Minister.
In the fall of 2014, in the early parliamentary elections, Boyko was number one on the list of the Opposition Bloc party. In the Rada, he headed the faction of the Opposition Bloc.
On May 27, 2016, at the congress of the Opposition Bloc, Yuri Boyko and Boris Kolesnikov were elected co-chairs of the party.
November 9, 2018 Boyko and leader of the party For Life Vadim Rabinovich signed an agreement on the creation of the Opposition Platform – for life.
November 20, 2018, deputies Yuriy Boyko and Sergei Levochkin expelled from faction opposition bloc in the Verkhovna Rada.
On May 27, 2019, members of the political party Opposition Platform – For Life were unanimously elected as co-chairs of the Party of People’s Deputies Vadim Rabinovich and Yuriy Boyko.
In the early parliamentary elections of 2019, the Opposition Platform – For Life party received in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the IX convocation 37 seats on party lists. Party scored 13.05% the votes of the electorate. On August 29, 2019, Yuriy Boyko was elected co-chair of the Opposition Platform for Life faction.
Views and assessments. During the period of managing Naftogaz, Boyko was credited with improving payments for natural gas by Ukrainian consumers, a significant increase in Naftogaz’s revenues and contributions to the state budget, a breakthrough in solving the problem of paying off gas debts to Russia and Turkmenistan. At the same time, the then opposition, and then the “orange” team that became the authorities, attributed Boyko’s participation in building dubious schemes for the supply of Russian and Central Asian natural gas to Ukraine. Political opponents of the ex-minister and a number of experts believe that he directly had a hand in the emergence of the “Ukrainian-Gazprom” company Rosukrenergo (RUE), which controls the lion’s share of the domestic natural gas market, and which has been subjected to harsh criticism almost from the first day existence. A 45 percent stake in this enterprise belongs to Ukrainian billionaire Dmitry Firtash, who is in close relations with Boyko. So close that during his divorce proceedings, Firtash, according to Ukrainska Pravda, even temporarily entrusted his assets to Boyko so as not to lose part of them.
Boyko had especially tough friction with former head of government Yulia Tymoshenko. So, in early February 2008, at that time, the prime minister called the agreements signed in 2004 by the head of Naftogaz with RUE an example of “the worst corruption” and accused Boyko of all kinds of mortal sins. According to her, Naftogaz took unprofitable loans, has huge debts, signed “wrong” documents, “surrendered” Ukrainian gas storage facilities to RosUkrEnergo at a ridiculous price. As a result, the NSDC instructed law enforcement agencies to investigate possible corrupt practices in signing the agreement with RUE.
In turn, the former minister tirelessly insists that there is nothing criminal in the gas supply scheme with the participation of RUE, and today, due to the more or less “democratic” fuel price, it has no alternative. And he also accuses the new leadership of Naftogaz and the Cabinet of Ministers of unauthorized selection of “foreign” gas from storage facilities and of another aggravation of relations with Russian Gazprom.
Even earlier, after his dismissal from the post of head of Naftogaz, Mr. Boyko was an active critic of the governments of Timoshenko and Yuri Yekhanurov and the new leadership of the NAC for “destabilizing the work of the fuel and energy complex.” The accusations were very loud during the “gasoline crisis” in the spring of 2005, gas negotiations with the Russian Federation and Turkmenistan, and the 2006 parliamentary elections. He criticized Aleksey Ivchenko, the head of Naftogaz under the governments of Timoshenko and Yekhanurov, for bringing the company to the brink of bankruptcy and for breaking gas agreements with Moscow and Ashgabat.
He repeatedly called himself an opponent of the transfer of the Ukrainian gas transportation system to the management of Gazprom, but at the same time he advocated the creation of a consortium by Ukraine, Russia and Germany. It is no coincidence that in April 2007, Boyko was appointed chairman of the gas transportation consortium, an agreement on the creation of which between Ukraine and Russia appeared back in 2002 and to which the German side, represented by Ruhrgas AG, agreed to join in 2004.
Titles, awards. In August 2004, “for the complete settlement of Ukraine’s gas debt to the Russian Federation,” Boyko was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine and the Order of Power. He was also awarded the Order of Turkmenistan for the full repayment of the Ukrainian debt for gas.
Family. The politician is married and has six children.
10.10.2021