Yaroslav Kendzior

Yaroslav-Petro Mykhailovych Kendzior (; born 12 July 1941) is a Ukrainian journalist, human rights activist, and politician who served as a People's Deputy of Ukraine from 1990 to 1998 and from 1999 to 2012. He was previously part of the editorial staff of The Ukrainian Herald, alongside Viacheslav Chornovil and Mykhailo Kosiv.

Early life and career Yaroslav Mykhailovych Kendzior was born in the village of Solonka on 12 July 1941. From 1963 to 1966 he studied at the University of Lviv, where he was a member of the Sixtiers counterculture movement. During the 1972–1973 Ukrainian purge Kendzior protested against the mass arrests of intelligentsia by the KGB; as a result, his home was searched and he was subject to interrogation, but he was not charged with any crime.

Kendzior was removed from Rukh on 25 January 2009, alongside Ivan Stoiko. Kendzior claimed that the move was retaliation by party leader Borys Tarasyuk to their opposition to a political alliance with the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, and stated that the bloc was opposed to the renovation of the Razumovski Palace in Baturyn, recognition of the Holodomor, the Ukrainian language, the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists and Ukrainian Insurgent Army, and the Ukrainian government.

Political positions Kendzior told Stepan Barna in 2011 that the Verkhovna Rada Cultural and Spiritual Committee would not support a bill allowing for the privatisation of the Pochaiv Lavra, supported by the Party of Regions. In response to a 2012 statement by Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev that God is Bulgarian, Kendzior claimed that Jesus Christ was born in Galicia.

Kendzior supported Petro Poroshenko in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election. In particular, he cited decentralisation, the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, reforms to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the language policy, and efforts to achieve membership of NATO and the European Union as his reasons for supporting Poroshenko. He referred to Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a blazen, and contrasted his supporters with Vasyl Stus, who he claimed would not understand why people would support him.

Personal life Kendzior is married, and has two children; one son, Ostap (born 1983), and one daughter, Solomiia (born 1968).