Andrii Artemenko

Andy Victor Kuchma (Андрій Вікторович Артеменко, born 14 January 1969, Kyiv), formerly Andrii Viktorovych Artemenko, is a former Ukrainian politician and businessman.

Andrii Viktorovych Artemenko was a People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 8th convocation of Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) and chairman of the "Solidarity of Right Forces" party (Ukrainian political party).

Artemenko was born in Kyiv on January 14, 1969.

In 1976, he attended Kyiv school No.43.

Later, attended school No. 178.

It was in school that A. Artemenko showed an interest in history, geography and military training.

He paid special attention to geopolitics and various forms of government.

Later, together with other famous graduates, he provided various welfare assistance to the school No. 178.

In particular, it was assistance in arranging governmental funding for the completion of a second building.

In 1986, Andrii Artemenko entered Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Department of Electric Power Engineering, where he specialized in energy engineering.

From 1987 to 1989 he was conscripted into the Soviet Army as a motorized rifleman and served in various military units throughout the Soviet Union.

In May 1989, he was transferred to the Armed Forces reserves of the USSR.

He worked in various jobs in Belgium during the early 1990s.

After coming back to Kyiv, he continued his studies in Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, at the Computer Science Department and got a master's degree in systems engineering in 1993.

In 1993–1994, Andrii Artemenko founded and operated "Krista" (ПМЖ "Криста"), an export and import operation with raw materials for the light industry.

From 1994 to 1996, he was chairman of the board of CJSC "New Lines" (ЗАО "Новые Линии").

In 1994, he visited the United States for the first time and during this trip attended training courses on "International Sports Law", which prompted him in 1996 to establish a law firm in Ukraine "First Legal Club".

This entity was the first such organization in the post-soviet territory, which served most successful sportsmen from the former Soviet Union and provided legal, consulting and management support, as well as their employment abroad.

From 1996 to 1999, he was president of the law firm "First Legal Club", which represented the majority of the athletes former USSR gaining them employment abroad.

Andrii Artemenko served as Head of Committee on Status of Football players in Football Federation of Ukraine.

During same period, Artemenko also has started selling broadcasting rights to the world's leading sports competitions to Ukrainian central TV channels - such as: UEFA Champions League, World and European football Cups, Boxing world tournaments and others.

In 1996, he founded Ukrainian Trade Union of professional football players, which is now a member of FIFPRO (part of FIFA since 1998).

In 1998, he met the public politician, head of the Kyiv City State Administration, Oleksandr Omelchenko.

That same year, A. Artemenko took part in election campaign of Omelchenko who was elected the Mayor of Kyiv.

Together they founded a political party called "Unity".

Replacing Viktor Topolov in 1999, Andrii Artemenko became the President of the government enterprise of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine football club CSKA Kyiv (later changed to FC Arsenal Kyiv) and held the position until 2000.

In 2000, he was appointed adviser for the Mayor of Kyiv Omelchenko.

In 2001, during a campaign to discredit Omelchenko, Artemenko became a subject of attention by the General Prosecutor's Office because of his close connection to the Mayor.

The General Prosecutor's Office questioned him repeatedly.

In spring 2002, in an attempt to increase the pressure on Omelchenko, Artemenko was arrested.

"It was done deliberately. I was held in different remand prisons (SIZO), sometimes in the same cell with persons sick with pulmonary TB. I was ordered by the heads of security agencies to sign a statement saying that Olexander Omelchenko illegally transferred money from accounts of Kyiv City State Administration to his political project and to a construction project of his son's facilities. Coercion to give false testimony was unacceptable, so I stayed true to my positions and did not perjure."

Artemenko said.

Artemenko left this office in 2004.

On October 22, 2004, Artemenko was released on bail of some MPs. Although all charges against Artemenko were subsequently dropped in 2007 by Kyiv prosecutor Renat Kuzmin (Ренат Кузьмин) and the courts of Ukraine confirmed the illegitimacy of the claims, he had spent 2 years 7 months and 21 days in prison.

During the Orange Revolution (2004) he met Yulia Tymoshenko.

Later, on a request of Yulia Tymoshenko, he became one of the leaders of her election campaign headquarters, where he succeeded in gaining many constituencies.

In 2006, A. Artemenko was elected as a deputy of the Kyiv City Council and led the faction of Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc.

He was also a Deputy Head of Committee for ecological questions of Kyiv City Council.

A. Artemenko has participated in the development and implementation of many environmental and infrastructural programs successfully executed in city infrastructure and still operating nowadays.

Since 2017 Andy Victor Kuchma is a Canadian national and was stripped of Ukrainian citizenship on special order of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.