Longtime MP from Odesa region who supported dictatorial laws dies

Yuriy Borisovich Kruk, a longtime MP and creator of Ukraine's maritime policy, has passed away. He was 81 years old.

This was announced by Vitaliy Barvinenko, Chairman of the Odesa District Council.

"He seemed to be eternal. Yuriy Kruk played a special role in my life. To a large extent, he was the author of my political career, a teacher and a senior comrade. He represented the Danube region in the Parliament for 20 years. A neighbor in the district, in the parliamentary seat, a senior friend in life. His scale has not yet been realized in the parliamentary history of Ukraine. He is the elder of the entire Nadezhda corps from our region and just a unique person," Barvinenko wrote.

Yuriy Kruk, a Ukrainian politician, was born on June 2, 1941 in Kherson. Throughout his life, he held a number of important positions in the maritime industry and was involved in the development of the transport system of independent Ukraine. From 1994 to 2014, he was elected as a Member of Parliament of Ukraine six times in a row.

He chaired committees of the Verkhovna Rada, was deputy chairman of the parliamentary committees on transport and communications, and chairman of the subcommittee on maritime and river transport. Mr. Kruk was an Honored Worker of Transport of Ukraine, an academician of the Transport Academy of Ukraine, held senior positions in fish processing and maritime infrastructure, headed the Black Sea Fishing Port, was Deputy Minister of Transport of Ukraine, and was Vice Governor of Odesa Region for the Maritime Complex.

It was he who represented Ukraine in 1994 when it joined the International Maritime Organization, signing the founding documents on behalf of the state. The politician also went down in history as one of those who supported the adoption of the scandalous Kivalov-Kolesnichenko "language law," which was later declared unconstitutional, and voted for the "dictatorial laws" on January 16, 2014.

Ірина Глухова