Oleh Tatarov

Oleh Yuriiovych Tatarov (Олег Юрійович Татаров; 31 August 1982, Novoukrainka, Kirovohrad Oblast) is a Ukrainian lawyer and administrator.

He began working in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1999, later becoming its deputy head in 2011, before being dismissed from his post in 2014 following the Revolution of Dignity which he had worked to suppress under then Minister of the Interior Vitaliy Zakharchenko.

Between 1999 and 2014, he served in the internal affairs agencies.

In 2003, Tatarov graduated from the National Academy of Internal Affairs.

In 2005, he received a master's degree from the National Academy of Internal Affairs.

In 2010, he graduated from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with a degree in accounting and auditing.

Tatarov graduated from the University of London and obtained a European bar license.

Oleh Tatarov is a Doctor of Law and a Professor.

He is an active member of specialised academic councils for the defence of PhD and doctoral theses.

He is a member of the editorial board of the scientific and practical journal “Bulletin of Criminal Procedure”.

Tatarov is also the author of more than 300 scientific and educational works on criminal procedure and forensic science.

Part-time, Tatarov has taught in law schools such academic disciplines as: “Criminal Procedure”, “International Legal Aid in Criminal Proceedings”, “Evidence in Criminal Proceedings”, “Organisation of Unit Cooperation during Pre-trial Investigations” and “Modern Aspects of Criminal Law and Procedure”.

In 2011, he was appointed as Deputy Head of the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

During this period, he was a member of various working groups on the legal regulation of pre-trial investigation, prosecution and defence.

As the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Yanukovych administration during the Revolution of Dignity, Tatarov was tied to a number of violent events.

On the night of December 11, 2013, police officers made an unsuccessful attempt to break up Euromaidan barricades in Kyiv, in which more than 5,000 security forces took part.

Berkut and Interior Ministry units attempted to violently disperse the protesters.

That night, 42 protesters were injured by the police units.

Tatarov justified this by "the need to guarantee the safe passage of public transport".

On December 25, 2013, journalist and Maidan activist Tetiana Chornovol was severely wounded during an attack.

Chornovol's car was rammed off of the road by a Porsche Cayenne, and two assailants dragged her from her car, beat her, and threw her in a roadside ditch.

The attack took place hours after Chernovol published an article on a posh suburban residence which she said was being built for Minister of Internal Affairs Vitaliy Zakharchenko, Tatarov's boss at the time.

In response to the attack, Oleh Tatarov stated that it could be a staged provocation by the activist herself.

On 22 January 2014, the leader of the Automaidan organization, Dmytro Bulatov, disappeared.

On January 30, he was found alive in the village of Vyshenki near Kyiv and taken to a hospital.

The activist had numerous hematomas, a cut cheek, and part of his right ear was cut off.

Bulatov spoke about torture by kidnappers who spoke with a Russian accent.

Then they took him to the forest and threw him out of the car.

Bulatov was blindfolded during the entirety of his kidnapping.

Following this, Tatarov stated that as one of the leads for Bulatov's disappearance that the investigators were considering was a staged effort for the purpose of provocation.

Tatarov stated that just before his kidnapping, Bulatov had purchased an expensive laptop using donation money from Euromaidan supporters, and had later purchased money from iTunes.

The accusations were refuted by Bulatov, who had denounced the theft of his credit card during his kidnapping.

The three days of 18, 19 and 20 February became the bloodiest of the Revolution of Dignity, with 80 protesters and 13 law enforcement officers being killed.

On 19 February during a press conference, Tatarov stated that police officers did not use firearms on protesters, and that some of the dead protesters had "wounds in the back of their heads, which makes it possible to make a conclusion that the shots were made by nearby individuals that were amid the protesters".

On 18 February 2021, the journalists of the "Schemes: Corruption in Detail" program reported that Tatarov, in the midst of the Revolution of Dignity, received the title of "Honored Lawyer of Ukraine" from Yanukovych on the personal application of the then head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Vitaly Zakharchenko, submitted on 16 December 2013.

Following the conclusion of the Revolution of Dignity, Tatarov was removed from his post.

Following this, he resumed practicing law, working as a managing partner of Tatarov, Farynnyk, Holovko.

In 2020, he made a return to politics after he was nominated Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine by Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Tatarov was born in Novoukrainka in the Kirovohrad Oblast.

He has been involved in Thai boxing since childhood and heads the Kyiv Thai Boxing Federation.