Mykhailo Mykhailovych Podolyak – adviser to the head of the President’s Office (2020 – present).
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on February 16, 1972. As a child, he lived in Lviv and Novovolynsk.
Journalistic activity in Belarus
In the 1990s, Podolyak worked as a journalist for several publications, including FM-Boulevard, Time, Narodnaya Volya and Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta.
In 2002, the chairman of the State Control Committee of Belarus, Anatoly Tozik, filed a lawsuit against him over the article “Confidential” and demanded 120 thousand dollars as compensation for moral damage. In the same year, the Moskovsky District Court of Minsk partially satisfied the claim. The court ruled that the newspaper should pay 54 thousand dollars, and collect 2.7 thousand dollars from Podolyak.
Due to the lack of financial capabilities to pay the fine, the publication could not continue its activities and was forced to close. Podolyak, in turn, said that he considers the lawsuit “a hastily made political order.”
Deportation from Belarus
In 2004, Podolyak served as deputy editor-in-chief of the opposition Belarusian newspaper Vremya. On June 21, officers of the State Security Committee (KGB) of Belarus came to his apartment, who gave him only half an hour to gather.
Podolyak was accused of allegedly “contradicting the interests of national security”, and the publications contain “slanderous fabrications about the real situation in the country” and “calls for destabilization of the political situation”. After that, he was deported to Ukraine and banned from entering Belarus for five years.
Journalistic activity in Ukraine
After his deportation from Belarus, Podolyak continued his journalistic activities in Ukraine.
In 2005, he served as editor-in-chief of the Ukrainska Gazeta.
Since 2006, he began to cooperate with the information portal “Obozrevatel” as a freelancer. At the same time, he became an adviser to the owner of the publication, Mykhailo Brodsky, who headed the State Committee on Regulatory Policy and Entrepreneurship. On December 1, 2011, Podolyak took the position of editor-in-chief.
In June 2011, Podolyak was one of six journalists who received an invitation for the first time to visit Mezhyhirya, the residence of fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych. Prior to that, the public movement “Stop Censorship” insisted on fulfilling the promise that Yanukovych made in 2010, urging him to open the estate to media representatives.
Activities as a political strategist
In 2006, Podolyak founded a consulting company that specialized in “reputation management” and conflict resolution. The main client base of his firm was politicians from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
Work in the Office of the President of Ukraine
In early April 2020, Podolyak became an adviser to the head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak, while simultaneously acting as an “anti-crisis manager”. He explained his decision to join the team by his desire to help create an “effective, compact and at the same time tough state.”
