Oleg Tsaryov

Oleg Anatolyevich Tsaryov (Russian: Олег Анатольевич Царёв, Oleg Tsarev; Ukrainian: Олег Анатолійович Царьов, born 2 June 1970) is a Dnipropetrovsk businessman, politician and separatist leader in eastern Ukraine.

Tsaryov is a former People's Deputy of Ukraine elected for the Party of Regions who was expelled from the party on 7 April 2014. He has been wanted by police since June 2014 for promoting separatism and violence.

Tsaryov was born 2 June 1970 in Dnipropetrovsk, in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union.

Tsaryov graduated from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute in 1992 with a degree in engineering and physics.

Tsaryov started his career in 1992 as an engineer for the preparation of production at "Avteks" (Автекс), a specialized small business in Dnipropetrovsk. Then in 1993 he became head of the Ukrainian financial insurance company "Confidence" (Доверие). After leaving Confidence in 1995, he held a succession of senior positions at the Dnipropetrovsk Computer Centre Ltd (Днепропетровский компьютерный центр), a company called Silicon Valley (Кремниевая долина), and then the Dnipropetrovsk Paper Mill (Днепропетровская бумажная фабрика).

His company "Dniprobuminvest" went bankrupt in March 2014.

Tsaryov became a People's Deputy of Ukraine (народний депутат України) in 2002. In 2005 he became head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional branch of the Party of Regions. In 2006, he became a People's Deputy of Ukraine for the Party of Regions.

Tsaryov was a self-nominated candidate in the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election. On 29 March a Party of Regions convention supported Mykhailo Dobkin nomination as a presidential candidate. On 7 April 2014 the political council of that party expelled Tsaryov from the party. On 11 April 2014 Tsaryov traveled to Donetsk and said he was ready to become a leader of the so-called "South-east movement". According to one source quoted by the National Press Agency of Ukraine, Tsaryov also assured separatists in Donetsk that would do everything to disrupt the May 25, 2014 presidential elections. "I'm sure that will be no elections," he said. He then promised that he would create a "central authority" within the center of Donetsk. On 14 April, Oleg Tsaryov was beaten by a mob after an interview in the ICTV building in Kiev. The beating was denied by some, though press agencies published videos of the mob and photos of Oleg Tsaryov half-naked with bruises. After this beating he stated "I am against a third party interfering in the affairs of Ukraine. Until we learn to listen to each other, Ukraine will stand no chance".

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