Olexandr Maselsky

Oleksandr Stepanovych Maselsky (; 7 December 1936 – 12 April 1996), was a Soviet and Ukrainian politician who had served as the first governor of Kharkiv Oblast from 1995 until his death.

In 2006, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine, with the Order of the State.

From the beginning of the 1980s until his death, he held a number of senior positions in the state authorities of the Kharkiv Oblast: the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Kharkiv Regional Council of People's Deputies from 1983 to 1992, the Chairman of the Kharkiv Oblast Council from 1991 to 1992 and 1994 to 1996), and Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Kharkiv Oblast from 1992 to 1995.

He was a candidate of agricultural sciences, social and political activist. He was a Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR of the 11th convocation. He was the Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine in from 1986 to 1991. He was the People's deputy of the USSR in from 1989 to 1991.

Biography

Oleksandr Maselsky was born on 7 December 1936 in the village of Khmelove, Kirovohrad Oblast, to the family of a collective farmers, to his father, Stepan Ivanovych, and his mother Okeksandra Artemivna (nee Zaporozhets). In addition with Oleksandr, the family had three more sons and two daughters.

In 1954, Maselsky began his career, becoming a collective farmer, then from 1955 to 1957 (according to other sources - 1958), he served in the Air Force of the Soviet Armed Forces. and was a member of the XIX All-Union Conference of the CPSU.

From January 1991 and April 1992, he was the Chairman of the Kharkiv Regional Council of People's Deputies and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Kharkiv Regional Council of People's Deputies.

From 21 May - 29 October 1991, Maselsky was the Vice Prime Minister of the Ukrainian SSR (Ukraine) (for agriculture) in the government of Vitold Fokin.

In 1992, Maselsky became the Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Kharkiv Oblast.

In 1994, he became the Chairman of the Kharkiv Regional Council of People's Deputies.

In July 1995, the office was changed as Maselsky became the first Governor of Kharkiv Oblast.

Death

In January 1996, Maselsky's health began to deteriorate, as he "was often sick, even went to the hospital." Only people close to him knew about the deterioration in Maselsky’s health, who associated this with the stress experienced during the aftermath of the accident at the Dikanevsky wastewater treatment plant in June 1995. But starting from the second half of March, Maselsky's health improved and he returned to work.

A few days before his death, Maselsky gave an interview to the Panorama publication, and on the day of his death, on April 12, until 14:00, he led a meeting of the Kharkov Regional Council (at which he spoke), after the end of the meeting, he worked for some time in his office in the Gosprom building, in At 17:00, he went to one of the districts of the Kharkiv region in a company car, and died on the way back home.

According to the "Conclusion on the causes of death of Oleksandr Stepanovych Maselsky", which was signed by the head of branch No. 1 of the Kharkiv Regional Bureau of Forensic Medical Examinations Yu. "atherosclerosis of the aorta, complicated by rupture of its wall and hemorrhage into the cavity of the heart sac against the background of hypertension."

On April 4, 1996, President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma issued a Decree “On organizing the funeral of the chairman of the Kharkiv Regional Council, Chairman of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration A. Maselsky”, according to which the “State Commission for Organizing the Funeral of the Chairman of the Kharkiv Regional Council, Chairman of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration Oleksandr Stepanovych Maselsky” under the chairmanship of Yevhen Marchuk, which also included: Volodymyr Baibikov, Vasyl Durdynets, Oleh Domino, Anatoliy Epifanov, Valeriy Efremov, Mykola Zaludyak, Pavlo Lazarenko, Valeriy Pustovoitenko, Vasyl Ryabokon, Volodymyr Semynozhenko, Stanyslav Sivokon, Mykola Sukhomlin, Dmytro Tabachnyk, and Vasyl Tatsiy.

The farewell ceremony and funeral of Maselsky took place on Tuesday, 16 April. He was buried on the central alley of the Kharkiv City Cemetery No. 2 on Pushkinskaya Street, later, next to Maselsky, the mayor of Kharkiv (1990-1996) and the chairman of the Kharkov Regional State Administration, Yevhen Kushnarov, and the 5th Mayor of Kharkiv (2010-2020) Hennadiy Kernes (1959-2020).

At the farewell ceremony, among those present were: President Kuchma, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleh Dyomin, Kharkiv Mayor Yevhen Kushnarev, Chairman of the Kirovograd Regional State Administration Mykola Sukhomlin, Governor of the Belgorod Oblast Yevgeny Savchenko, Head of the Kharkiv Military Garrison Volodymyr Tolubko and Metropolitan of Kharkiv and Bogodukhovsky Nicodemus.

Also among those who expressed their condolences were: ex-Prime Minister of Ukraine Vitaliy Masol, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for Political and Legal Affairs, Oleksandr Yemets, Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Valeriy Shmarov, Minister of Agriculture and Food of Ukraine, Pavlo Gaydutsky, Minister of the Environment and of Nuclear Safety of Ukraine, Yuriy Kostenko, Chairman of the State Customs Committee of Ukraine, Leonid Derkach, Chairman of the Kyiv City State Administration Leonid Kosakovsky, Chairman of the Zaporozhye Regional State Administration Vyacheslav Pokhvalsky, Chairman of the Ternopil Regional State Administration Borys Kosenko, Mayor of Poltava Anatoliy Kukoba, ex-Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Lviv of the Regional Council of People's Deputies Mikhaylo Kirey, Governor of the Moscow Region Anatoly Tyazhlov, Governor of the Rostov Region Vladimir Chub, Abmbasseesor of Georgia in the Imereti Region and Mayor of Kutaisi Teimuraz Shashiashvili, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Ukraine Robert Serry, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Petro Tronko.

Personal life

With his wife Sofiyia, he raised his daughter Iryna, who was married to Kharkiv businessman Oleksandr Yaroslavsky and grandson Oleksandr.

One of the nephews of Oleksandr was Stepan Maselsky, who from 2004 to 2005, like his uncle, headed the Kharkiv Regional State Administration.

Memory

On 7 December 1996, on the 60th anniversary of Maselsky, on the facade of the 8th entrance of Gosprom, in which Maselsky worked from 1979 to 1996, a memorial plaque was opened, and on the same day another memorial plaque was opened - on the facade of the house No. 17 on Girshman Street, where Maselsky lived, and a tombstone at the Kharkiv City Cemetery No. 2.

In 2003, according to one of the Decrees of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Valkovsky Lyceum was named after A. S. Maselsky. The construction of the lyceum began in 1995 under the personal supervision of Maselsky, and its opening was planned in 1997. However, after Maselsky's death, the construction was frozen, and the first stage of construction was completed only in 2001. An appeal regarding the presentation of the Maselsky Lyceum was drawn up by the teaching staff immediately after his death in 1996. On the basis of the school, a corner in Maselsky's memory was created, in which personal belongings, memories and archival materials about him were collected.

On 29 April 2004, the Kharkiv metro station "Industrialnaya" was renamed "Named after A.S. Maselsky".

In March 2006, a memorial plaque was unveiled on the facade of the building of the Valkovsky District Council in memory of Maselsky.