Serhiy Arbuzov

Serhiy Hennadiyovych Arbuzov (Сергій Геннадійович Арбузов, Сергей Геннадьевич Арбузов; born 24 March 1976) is a Ukrainian former banker and politician who briefly served as acting Prime Minister of Ukraine from 28 January to 22 February 2014, following the resignation of Mykola Azarov amidst the escalating Euromaidan movement.

In the 2000s, Arbuzov worked as a director of several leading Ukrainian banks, including Privatbank and Ukreximbank.

Arbuzov was born in Donetsk.

He graduated from the Donetsk State University, having specialized in "finance and credit" and qualified as an economist.

At the start of his professional career, Arbuzov worked as an administration chairman of Privatbank in Donetsk and a director of Privatbank in Kostyantynivka.

In 2003-10 he was a director of the Ukrainian Business Bank, previously known as Donechyna.

In 2005 Arbuzov became a member of Our Ukraine and in 2006, unsuccessfully ran for the Donetsk Regional Council as a member of the party.

Upon his appointment, to the National Bank of Ukraine, his political affiliation became uncertain.

In 2010 Arbuzov was appointed chairman of the Supervising Council of UkrEximBank, and in September 2010, he became a deputy chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine.

On 21 December 2010, the President of Ukraine sent a petition to the parliament to replace Volodymyr Stelmakh with Arbuzov.

On 23 December 2010 the Verkhovna Rada approved the petition, making Arbuzov the youngest chairman of a state central bank.

After the appointment, the older son of the President, Oleksandr Yanukovych, bought the All-Ukrainian Bank of Development from Arbuzov.

The bank's chairperson is Arbuzov's mother, Valentyna, who also has extensive experience in the banking business.

He previously served as First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine from 24 December 2012 to 28 January 2014.

In May 2012, the Ukrainian magazine Focus pointed out that Arbuzov has the highest salary among Ukrainian civil servants – ₴140,000 per month (approximately $18,000).

In the same year, another Ukrainian magazine, Korrespondent, placed him among the thirty most influential people in the country.

As the chairman of the National Bank, he was best remembered for a set of measures directed at maintaining the stability of the hryvnia.

In particular, it refers to the imposition of obligation for importers to sell 50% of their foreign currency revenue at the interbank currency market, as well as the reduction of the term of repayment of currency revenue to 90 days.

Alongside this, a slowdown of the inflation rate was secured.

On 24 December 2012, Viktor Yanukovych appointed Arbuzov the First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine by presidential decree.

As the First Vice Prime Minister, he was engaged in European integration issues.

In particular, in October and December 2013, Arbuzov held a series of meetings with the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle in Brussels, where a series of consultations were held on the implementation of the Association Agreement with the European Union.

Arbuzov initiated the preparation of the so-called "road map" document, in which the Association Agreement process was set out on a phased basis.

While in Government, Arbuzov also initiated a series of reforms in the taxation system, streamlining customs procedures, property rights protection, deregulation of business operations, value enhancement, etc. On 29 October 2013 World Bank published another Doing Business rating, where Ukraine rose by 28 positions and ranked 112th among 189 analyzed world economics.

Ukraine ranked 13th for ease in getting credit by businesses in the overall Doing Business rating.

On 27 February 2014, in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity, Arbuzov was dismissed, and Arseniy Yatsenyuk was elected as the new Prime Minister.

After the Revolution of Dignity, Arbuzov fled to Russia, where he resides in the prestigious Rublevka area in Moscow in exile and is wanted by the General Prosecutor of Ukraine.

Arbuzov's defense insists that it is political persecution.

Arbuzov is the former chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine and was the youngest chairman of the National Bank in Europe at the time of his appointment as First Vice Prime Minister.

After weeks of Euromaidan protests and clashes, during which civilians were killed, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov offered his letter of resignation on 28 January 2014.

The same day President Yanukovych accepted the resignation and signed a decree dismissing the second Azarov Government, which decree would not take effect until the Verkhovna Rada approved a new Cabinet.

Hence the second Azarov Government continued as a caretaker government.

And Arbuzov replaced Azarov as Prime Minister of Ukraine.

On 29 March 2014, during a party congress, Arbuzov was expelled from the Party of Regions.

Despite trying to bring about a resolution to the dispute between authorities and opposition, Sergij Arbuzov was bound to leave the country after the change of regime.

Arbuzov is wanted by the General Prosecutor of Ukraine and is believed to be hiding in Russia.

The new Ukrainian government has incriminated Arbuzov in the theft of ₴120 million of profit from the BTB channel, which he has initiated to launch.

But according to Igor Fomin, Arbuzov's attorney for the defense, the proceedings should be ceased because "the channel has not made a profit for the whole period of its existence".

Thus, according to defense, there is an absence of elements of the crime.

The best results were in obtaining construction permits (from 183rd to 41st rating position), and registration of property rights (from 197th to 97th rating position).