Borys Tarasyuk

Borys Tarasyuk Борис Тарасюк
Borys Tarasyuk attending an EPP meeting.
3rd Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
In office 17 April 1998 – 29 September 2000
Preceded by	Hennadiy Udovenko
Succeeded by	Anatoliy Zlenko
6th Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
In office 4 February 2005 – 30 January 2007
Preceded by	Kostiantyn Hryshchenko
Succeeded by	Volodymyr Ohryzko
Personal details
Born	Borys Ivanovych Tarasyuk (1949-01-01) 1 January 1949 (age 68) Dzerzhynsk, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Political party	Batkivshchina (2013-) People's Movement of Ukraine (former Chairman)

Borys Ivanovych Tarasyuk (Ukrainian: Борис Іванович Тарасюк; born 1 January 1949) is a Ukrainian politician who twice served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and is now an MP. He is from Zhytomyr Oblast. Tarasyuk studied international relations and international law at National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, and graduated in 1975. Besides Ukrainian, he is fluent in English, French and Russian. As of 2012, Tarasyuk is a sitting member of the International Honorary Council of the European Academy of Diplomacy.

Tarasyuk served as deputy of foreign minister from 9 March 1992 until 16 September 1995. In 1995 – 1998 he was ambassador in Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Ukraine representative in NATO. He became foreign minister for the first time from 17 April 1998 until 29 September 2000. He later broke with President Leonid Kuchma, and became a foreign relations adviser to Viktor Yushchenko, the main opposition candidate in the 2004 presidential elections. After Ukraine's Orange Revolution, Tarasyuk became foreign minister again on 4 February 2005, and served in the Cabinets of Yulia Tymoshenko, Yuriy Yekhanurov, and Viktor Yanukovych. Tarasyuk favors Ukrainian integration with the European Union.

Tarasyuk was formally dismissed by the Verkhovna Rada on 1 December 2006. He disputed this dismissal in Kyiv Shevchenkivskyi district court, and on 5 December parliament's decision was reversed on the grounds that it violated Ukrainian law. On the same day, Yushchenko issued a decree that Tarasyuk must keep his job.