Serhiy Taruta – People’s Deputy of Ukraine of the VIII and IX convocations, Head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on July 23, 1955 in the village of Vynohradne, Donetsk region.
In 1979, he completed his studies at the Faculty of Mechanics and Metallurgy of the Zhdaniv Metallurgical Institute, having received the specialty of mechanical engineer.
In 1999, he received his second higher education at the Donetsk State Academy of Management, where he received the qualification of a manager for foreign economic activity.
Career
Since 1979, he worked at the Azovstal metallurgical enterprise in Mariupol, where he held various positions, including the head of the foreign economic relations department.
In 1995, he became one of the founders of the foreign trade company Azovimpex. At the end of the same year, in December, he was appointed executive director of the newly created corporation “Industrial Union of Donbass” (“ISD”).
In the period from 2004 to 2005, he was a member of the Council of Entrepreneurs under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. He served as co-chairman of the Indian-Ukrainian Trade and Industrial Group.
On March 2, 2014, Acting President of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov appointed Taruta as the head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration (RSA), where he replaced Andriy Shyshatsky. However, in the fall of the same year, on October 10, in accordance with the decree of President Petro Poroshenko, he was dismissed from his post. Oleksandr Kikhtenko became the new head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration.
Political Activities
In 1998, he received a deputy mandate in the Donetsk Regional Council, became a member of the Standing Commission on Land and Natural Resources.
In the fall of 2014, during the early elections to the Verkhovna Rada, he won a deputy mandate as an independent candidate in constituency No. 58, Donetsk region.
In parliament, he did not join any of the factions. He served as Deputy Chairman of the Temporary Special Commission of the Verkhovna Rada on the Future, and also headed the Subcommittee on the Protection of Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Committee on Culture and Spirituality.
During the 2019 presidential election, he submitted his candidacy, but later withdrew it in favor of Yulia Tymoshenko. In the same year, at early parliamentary elections, he was elected a People’s Deputy of Ukraine of the IX convocation on the list of the Batkivshchyna party, where he took 2nd place in the list.
Fortune
Together with his long-term business partner Vitaliy Haiduk, he owned the ISD corporation until the latter decided to sell his share. The largest assets of the corporation included the Alchevsk Metallurgical Plant, the Alchevsk Coke Plant, the Dzerzhinsky Dnipro Metallurgical Plant and the Dnipro Pipe Plant.
In March 2011, Forbes included Taruta and Haiduk in the list of the richest people on the planet, where they shared 428th place. In total, 1062 people from different countries were included in the rating, and the fortune of partners from ISD was estimated at $ 2.7 billion.
In 2011, Focus ranked him 9th among the richest Ukrainians, valuing assets at $2.126 billion.
Marital Status
He is married to Olga Taruta. The couple has two daughters: Kateryna and Tatiana.
