Svyatoslav Vakarchuk

Svyatoslav Ivanovich Vakarchuk is a musician, the leader of the rock band OkeanElzy, a politician.

Brief biography

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk was born on May 14, 1975 in Mukachevo, Transcarpathian region.

Vakarchuk received his higher education at the physical faculty of the Lviv National University, from which he graduated in 1996.

In 1994 Svyatoslav Vakarchuk joined the band "Clan of Silence", which a few months after his joining changed its name to the famous "Okean Elzy".

The debut album of "Okean Elzy", titled "There de nem us no" appeared only four years later, in 1998.

In 1999 he supported Leonid Kuchma at the presidential elections in Ukraine.

In 2004 Sviatoslav Vakarchuk supported Viktor Yushchenko and took part in the Orange Revolution.

In 2005 Svyatoslav Vakarchuk became a UN Goodwill Ambassador to Ukraine.

Vakarchuk took part in the early parliamentary elections in 2007 after the Ukrainian political crisis. He was elected to the Verkhovna Rada on the lists of the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc, but stepped down in 2008 after the start of another political crisis.

He took an active part in the Revolution of Dignity. The song "Get Up" by Sviatoslav Vakarchuk and the band "Ocean Elzy" became the very first unofficial anthem of the revolution and Euromaidan.

In 2018, Vakarchuk unexpectedly declared that hewas"ready to change Ukraine." His fans and admirers urged Vakarchuk to run for president of Ukraine and even held a nationwide online flashmob "Vakarchuk President." However, despite the protracted intrigue, Sviatoslav Vakarchuk did not become a presidential candidate in the 2019 elections.

Sviatoslav Vakarchuk's songs

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk with Okean Elzy recorded a total of nine albums and twenty-four singles. According to listeners and critics, Vakarchuk's best songs are:

• "Taka yak ti."

• "My Car."

• "Merry, brother, the hour has come...".

• "Embrace."

• "Get up."

• "Don't go."

• "It's cold."

• "Strilyay."

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk and the "Golos" party

After the presidential election, shortly after President Zelensky's decree to dissolve the Verkhovna Rada and appoint early parliamentary elections, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk announced that he was going to the parliament.

This time Vakarchuk created and led a full-fledged political party "Golos". It is known that Sviatoslav Vakarchuk's party "Golos" is a pro-European, center-right political force, which declares the separation of finance from politics and the use of purely democratic approaches.

The "Golos" party team

• Yulia Klimenko - former Deputy Minister of Economy.

• Yaroslav Yurchyshyn - former head of Transparency International.

• Yuri Sokolov - Doctor of Medicine.

• Andrei Sharaskin ("Boheme") - veteran of the ATO, one of the "cyborgs", defenders of the DAP.

• Solomiya Bobrovska - activist and volunteer, acting head of the Odessa regional state administration from 2016 to 2017.

The Verkhovna Rada and giving up the mandate

In 2019, "Golos" took part in the elections to the Verkhovna Rada. According to the voting results, the party won 20 seats in the parliament of the ninth convocation.

On June 11, 2020, Vakarchuk gathered a press conference at which he announced that he had decided to resign his mandate as a people's deputy of Ukraine.

Personal life

The singer is married. Sviatoslav Vakarchuk's wife is Lyalya Fonareva. The couple is raising a daughter from his wife's first marriage.

Key theses of the politician

• In the Ukrainian society we need to return real morality. There are two ways to do this: the improvement of society through education and enlightenment, and the elected authorities give an example to the people by their actions.

• The receipt by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine of the Tomos of autocephaly is a historical event that will have far-reaching consequences for all Ukrainians.

• Ukraine needs "people of the future" to implement reforms ; it is their aspiration that should make our country just.

• It is not a person who can change this country, but the rules. And I am going to do everything I can to change those rules. And we are going to do it.

• Only Russia can end the war in Donbass urgently. This is beyond the control of any Ukrainian politician. The only likely method for Ukraine to end the fighting alone now is to admit defeat, which means losing part of Independence. Therefore, the only way for our state to survive is to become strong.