Serhiy Anatolyevich Leshchenko – Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of JSC “Ukzaliznytsia” (2022 – current time), People’s Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of the VIII convocation, Deputy Editor-in-Chief – special correspondent of the online publication “Ukrainska Pravda” (2002-2014).
Place of Birth, Education
He was born in Kyiv on August 30, 1980.
He graduated from the Institute of Journalism of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
In 2012, he completed an internship in the UK as part of the scholarship program of the John Smith Memorial Foundation, and the next year – at Stanford University (USA) as part of the Hills Summer Fellowship and Washington as part of the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowship.
Career
In 2000, he began his career as a journalist, working in the news program “Reporter” on the “New Channel”. Until the spring of 2001, he collaborated with the editorial board of regional news of this TV channel.
At the same time, in September 2000, he joined the team of the online publication Ukrainska Pravda as a correspondent.
From 2002 to 2014, he served as deputy editor-in-chief and special correspondent of Ukrainska Pravda.
In 2015, he began his teaching career, becoming a teacher at the School of Journalism of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU). As part of his work, he taught courses on political reporting, political communications, the art of in-depth interviews and journalistic investigations.
He is the author of two books: “The American Saga of Pavlo Lazarenko” (2013), which is based on the materials of a journalistic investigation into the activities of the former Prime Minister of Ukraine, and “Mezhyhirya Syndrome. Diagnosis of Viktor Yanukovych’s Power” (2014), written in the context of the events of Euromaidan and the analysis of the rule of the fugitive president.
On May 22, 2019, he officially left the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction.
In the early parliamentary elections held in 2019, he ran as an independent candidate in the single-mandate constituency No. 220 of the city of Kyiv. As a result of the voting, he took third place, receiving 12.13% of voter support.
On December 18, he was appointed a member of the Supervisory Board of the Joint Stock Company (JSC) “Ukrzaliznytsia” by the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
On January 27, 2020, Leshchenko became chairman of the Committee on Compliance and Anti-Corruption as part of the Supervisory Board of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia. Together with him, this committee included Adomas Audickas and Anders Aslund. On September 19, 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers decided not to renew the contract with him, but at the end of December it reappointed him to the same position.
However, on December 29, 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers again appointed him to the supervisory board of Ukrzaliznytsia.
On February 2, 2022, Leshchenko received a new position – Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia.
Political Activities
In the fall of 2014, at the early parliamentary elections, he was elected a people’s deputy of Ukraine on the list of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc party. In the Verkhovna Rada , he headed the Subcommittee on International Cooperation and Implementation of Anti-Corruption Legislation, which acted as part of the Committee on Preventing and Combating Corruption.
Marital Status
In 2017, he married DJ Anastasia Topolskaya, who performs under the stage name DJ Nastia. The couple divorced in November 2022.
