Oleksandr Zinchenko

Oleksandr Oleksiovich Zinchenko (Ukrainian: Олександр Олексійович Зінченко; April 16, 1957 in Slavuta – June 9, 2010 in Kiev) was a Ukrainian politician who was Director-General of the National Space Agency of Ukraine from 2009 to 2010. Oleksandr Zinchenko had a controversial career that includes Soviet Komsomol leadership, business in Russia and Ukraine, participation in the pro-Leonid Kuchma Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united), survival of cancer and joining the anti-Kuchma opposition.

Zinchenko was an Academician of the National TV Academy of Ukraine and has received the Honored Journalist of Ukraine award. He was married to a TV host, Iryna, and had two daughters, Kateryna and Oleksandra.

Zinchenko was born in Slavuta (Khmelnytskyi Oblast, then Ukrainian SSR) on April 16, 1957. He graduated with a degree in physics from Chernivtsi University, where from 1983-1985 he headed the Komsomol youth organization. From 1993-1995 Zinchenko headed Ometa-Merkantail and the joint stock company Balchug in Kiev . In 1996 he was appointed director of the Ukraine-Express information agency and worked as president of Inter TV in 1996 he also joined the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) (SDPU(o)).

Zinchenko became the SDPU(o)’s chief deputy chairman (vice-Speaker) of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) in 1998 and headed the party’s parliament faction. In 2000, he chaired the parliament’s Freedom of Speech and Information Committee, which international media watchdogs criticized for doing little to bolster the freedom of speech in Ukraine. One of the tapes (dated May 2000) recorded by Kuchma's former bodyguard, Major Mykola Melnychenko in President Kuchma office (revealed during the Cassette Scandal) Zinchenko seemed to talk with Kuchma about efforts to co-opt critical journalists and harass media outlets. Zinchenko was re-elected to the Verkhovna Rada in 2002 on a SDPU(o) ticket.

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