On Thursday, June 4, at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, a decision was made to appoint the former general director of the 1 + 1 Media holding and a member of the Party of the People’s Party, Alexander Tkachenko, to the post of head of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of the country.

“I swore! Well, now we are waiting for a new stage. The Council supported my candidacy for the post of Minister of Culture and Information Policy. Thank you for trusting fellow heroes and the president. Thank you Ukrainians! There are a lot of problems ahead, which, having united, we will overcome, ”Tkachenko wrote on his Facebook page.

He noted that at present, the agency entrusted with such tasks as: restoring funding, complete restructuring, updating the administrative capacity of the ministry and conducting an audit.

“The real figure that needs to be sent to support the country's culture and tourism is 3-4 billion hryvnias. To survive and get back to talking about development. After that, we can move on, ”the official said.

Journalist, producer, deputy

Alexander Tkachenko was born on January 22, 1966 in Kiev. With his words, he took the first steps in journalism already in the eighth grade of school, when he began to write for various publications. In 1983, Tkachenko entered the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev at the Faculty of Journalism, but was forced to interrupt his studies due to military service (then university students were called up for military service).

According to his own recollections, Tkachenko did not plan to engage in political journalism. In his student years, he began working in the youth infotainment program of Ukrainian television "Gart".

By the early 1990s, Tkachenko became a Reuters stringer in Kiev and worked with the agency until 1994. The journalist was interviewed by the Dalai Lama, French President Jacques Chirac, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet.

  • © Press Service of the President of Ukraine

Also in the 1990s, Alexander Tkachenko led the production studio "Nova Mova", which was engaged in the production of programs for Ukrainian TV channels. In 1996, Tkachenko founded the TSN information television program for the 1 + 1 television channel. Later, he headed the Victor Pinchuk holding, which includes the New Channel, ICTV and STB.

In 2008, Tkachenko was deputy general director of the Russian television channel REN TV, but in the same year he took over as general director of the 1 + 1 media group, which includes a number of channels owned by Igor Kolomoisky - “1 + 1”, “2 + 2 ", TET and others.

In 2019, Alexander Tkachenko left the post of general director of the holding and became a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from the party "Servant of the People." He is the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policies, as well as a member of the Verkhovna Rada Temporary Investigation Commission to conduct an investigation into compliance with the requirements of the law when changing owners of information television channels and ensuring counteraction to the information impact of the Russian Federation.

In this post in April 2020, Tkachenko called for the closure of online cinemas to counter “Russian propaganda”. “Now the attention of Ukrainians (drawn . - RT ) on streaming services, and this opens up scope for propaganda,” he said.

Tkachenko was one of those who in 2014 lobbied the ban on films and TV shows in Ukraine promoting the power structures of Russia (the corresponding ban came into force in June 2015).

It is noteworthy that already in 2019, the producer opposed the rejection of films in the filming of which the “forbidden” Russian actors took part in the filming. He emphasized that in Ukraine it is forbidden to show tapes with the participation of 200-300 Russian artists, and most of these prohibitions "look doubtful."

Also Tkachenko is included in the groups on interparliamentary relations with such states as Japan, Norway, Poland, the USA, France and Lithuania.

About work and relations with Zelensky

In an interview with DW Tkachenko in August 2019, he stated that he had not previously thought about “his place in politics”.

“But now this chance, which has appeared today, and this high level of trust in Zelensky, indicates that changes have ripened in society and there is a serious possibility of rebooting the system,” he said.

In May 2019, a few days after the winner of the presidential race was determined, Tkachenko met with Ukrainian journalists. During the conversation, he noted that he was pleased with the outcome of the election. He called the upcoming Zelensky presidency a “window of opportunity” and a “trendsetter story.” 

“Zelensky is a Russian-speaking guy, but a Ukrainian patriot, with European values ​​... is for them (for Russia. - RT ) a more terrible challenge, moreover, he does not belong to the class of people who dealt with the post-Soviet space. He is not an oligarch, although he made himself in business, without factories in Russia and without a political past to which he can cling ... he is much more pragmatic, tolerant and young, with a quick mind, ”Tkachenko said.

Tkachenko worked with Zelensky for many years - the Kvartal-95 studio, the founder and art director of which was the current president of Ukraine, produced content for 1 + 1. At the same time, Tkachenko noted that he considered Zelensky a “comrade”, and not a close friend.

According to the producer, Zelensky should not thank “1 + 1 Media” for the votes, although then the holding subordinate to Tkachenko “may have been a deterrent against Poroshenko’s lies”.

During the same conversation, Tkachenko promised that he would not go to work either in the presidential administration or in the Ministry of Information Policy.

“It is necessary to close it in general (the ministry. - RT ), because I see no sense in it. They send us pieces of paper with enviable regularity that we post some kind of social video. If this is the meaning of the activity of the whole ministry, I don’t understand why it is necessary, ”the future minister noted.

By the way, in 2019, the department was abolished and replaced by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of Ukraine. In March 2020, the name of the department changed to "Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine."