Levko Lukianenko

Levko Hryhorovych Lukianenko (; 24 August 1928 – 7 July 2018) was a Ukrainian Soviet dissident and politician. He was one of the founders of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group in 1976 and was elected a leader of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union in 1988.

Lukianenko is the author of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine.

Early life and career Lukianenko was born on 24 August 1928 in the Khrypivka village of Horodnia Raion, Soviet Union.

Dissident activity In 1959, during the Khrushchev Thaw, he organized a dissident movement in Hlyniany, the Ukrainian Workers and Peasants Union, along with Ivan Kandyba and others. Lukianenko defended the right of secession of Ukraine from the rest of Soviet Union, a right that was theoretically granted by the 1936 Soviet Constitution (Articles 17 and 125). In May 1961, he was expelled from the party, arrested, tried, and sentenced by the Lviv Oblast Court to death for separatism, "undermining the credibility of the CPSU, and defaming the theory of Marxism-Leninism." After 72 days, his sentence was later commuted to 15 years in a prison camp. Lukianenko served his sentence at first in Mordovia (Dubravlag, OLP #10, in Sosnovka, Zubovo-Polyansky District) and then in Vladimir, at the Vladimir Central Prison (infamous for its brutality). Soon after his release in 1976, he moved to Chernihiv and became a founding member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. In protest of government policies, he resigned. ) of the Election Bloc "National Front" and he headed the electoral list of the alliance.

Lukianenko was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine by President Viktor Yushchenko on 19 April 2005.

In 2006, Lukianenko was again elected as a member of the Verkhovna Rada. He was elected with the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko.

Lukianenko was awarded the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (V degree) in 2007.

Controversial remarks In 2005, Lukianenko participated in a conference entitled "Zionism as the Biggest Threat to Modern Civilization," which was controversial for its antisemitic tone and his invitation of the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke. Lukianenko sat next to Duke and gave him a standing ovation. Presenting his own paper, Lukianenko argued that the Holodomor had been carried out by a Satanic government controlled by the Jews. According to Lukianenko, 95% of Soviet people's commissars most military and judicial commissars, and Lenin and Stalin were Jewish and "thus... of the most important administrative positions... 80% were Jews." According to Lukianenko, Ukrainians base their attitudes of other ethnic groups upon "their attitudes towards us."

Honours On 27 October 2022 the Kyiv City Council renamed the (Soviet) Marshala Tymoshenko Street in its Obolonskyi District to Levko Lukianenko Street.

On 22 February 2023 the city council of Dnipro renamed the Vasily Zhukovsky street on Dnipro's Sobornyi District to Levko Lukianenko street.

On 20 May 2024 the Poltava city council renamed a street in its city in honour of Lukianenko.

Personal life Lukianenko was married to Nadiia Buhaievska (born in 1943 ); the couple had no children.