Oleksiy Goncharenko

Biography

Oleksiy Goncharenko is a Member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the VIII and IX convocations. He was a member of the “Petro Poroshenko Bloc” faction (2014–2019). He entered the parliament of the IX convocation in 2019, representing district #137 (Odesa region). He joined the “European Solidarity” faction and the Committee on Budget. He is a figure in a number of anti-corruption investigations. The politician has one of the largest Telegram channels among Members of Parliament, which grew in popularity due to the politician broadcasting sessions from the Verkhovna Rada when no official broadcasts were available.

Goncharenko became the first politician in the history of Ukraine to chair one of the PACE committees.

The MP was previously in the “Party of Regions,” stated that Odesa was not a Ukrainian city, and advocated for the Russian language as a second state language. He left the Party of Regions on 19 February 2014, when citizens were being shot on the Maidan.

(Goncharenko is the son of the former mayor of Odesa, Oleksiy Kostusiev, who was suspected of the unlawful seizure of Odesa International Airport. Kostusiev divorced his wife when his son was three years old and did not pay child support. Goncharenko is the politician’s mother’s maiden name.)

Timeline of Key Events

2025

An investigation was released regarding 35 “Goncharenko Centres” across Ukraine, which offered free courses, training, and scholarships, which could be regarded as indirect voter bribery. According to the CHESNO Movement, one of the donors to these centres was entrepreneur Oleh Bakhmatyuk, who was accused of bribery and has since left Ukraine.

Subsequently, the YouTube channel Bihus.Info published a report based on the materials of this investigation. Following this, Goncharenko demanded that the project’s editorial office provide data on the media outlet’s budget, its donors, and the salaries of its employees. Journalists appealed to the Verkhovna Rada and the National Agency on Corruption Prevention, calling for a reaction to the deputy’s actions, which the editorial board considers pressure on the media and an abuse of office.

In the same year, he became the first deputy to vote against the extension of martial law and mobilisation. The MP also consistently voted against it thereafter.

Following this, he appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Defence with a demand to prohibit employees of Territorial Recruitment Centres (TCCs) from wearing pixel camouflage and to introduce a separate uniform for them “so as not to be confused with the military.” This position was condemned by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the same time, Goncharenko appeared on the air of a Turkish state TV channel wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Putin is terrorist No. 1,” and he was cut from the broadcast.

This year, the politician initiated an ageist scandal related to personnel policy—specifically the tenure of Kateryna Mykhalko, who was 24 at the time, as head of a defence association. Goncharenko wrote: “What do you think one needs to do to hold the position of executive director of the ‘Technological Forces of Ukraine’ defence industry association, which is responsible for arms exports, at 24? Well, I don’t know either.”

In the Verkhovna Rada that same year, he supported the bill on restoring the openness of parliamentary committees (#11321).

He voted against the draft that restricted the powers of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and strengthened the powers of the Prosecutor General (#12414).

He did not vote for the unconstitutional draft regarding a special procedure for the compulsory alienation of land in the Uzhhorod district of the Zakarpattia region (#9549).

He also did not vote for the so-called “Ihor Mazepa Law” (#12089), which provides for the “resetting” of claims against those who grabbed forest and coastal strips if 10 years have passed since the land fell into private hands, nor for the controversial bill by Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, which abolished the Commercial Code of Ukraine (#6013).

2024

He did not vote for the law on banning the activities of religious organisations whose governing centre is located in Russia, in particular the ROC (#8371).

In the same year, he supported the bill on simplifying the procedure for changing the intended purpose of land from agricultural to industrial (#9627), which, according to expert estimates, contains significant corruption risks and makes it possible, in the absence of urban planning documentation during martial law and for five years after its cancellation, to change the intended purpose of land plots—primarily agricultural land—outside settlements for the construction of industrial facilities.

The PACE committee chaired by Goncharenko is responsible for refugees and displaced persons. Previously, the MP, who was elected from an opposition force, claimed that he was not being allowed to travel abroad, particularly to PACE.

A Moscow court in the Russian Federation sentenced Goncharenko in absentia to 10 years of imprisonment for spreading “fakes.” Under the court’s decision, the Ukrainian politician was to spend three years in prison and seven in a correctional colony.

2023

He did not vote for the bill “On the Legalisation of Medical Cannabis,” which allowed the production of medical cannabis in Ukraine. The adoption of the law was advocated by the “Patients of Ukraine” civic organisation.

He supported the decolonisation bill (#7253), which prohibits the propaganda of Russia’s imperial policy and decolonises local names.

2022

He supported the bill on the liquidation of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv (#5369), the so-called “Vovk court.”

In the same year, he voted for the bill on banning pro-Russian parties (#7172-1).

He did not support the bill on urban planning “reform” (#5655), which was criticised by the media and the civic sector, and the European Parliament warned the president against signing it.

2020

He ran for the Odesa Regional Council as the first candidate on the “European Solidarity” party list. This is a typical election technology that allows a party’s rating in the regions to be pulled up on the image of a national politician. That same year, he did not rule out the possibility of running for mayor of Kyiv. At the time, his advertisement was hung in the capital: “Only chestnuts can be green in Kyiv.” But eventually, the ES party decided not to nominate its own candidate in order to support Vitali Klitschko.

2019

Elected as a People’s Deputy of Ukraine as a non-partisan independent candidate in district #137 (Odesa region). It should be noted that in the Odesa region, being nominated by the Petro Poroshenko Bloc (BPP) would not have added points to Goncharenko. Therefore, it is highly likely that, despite his belonging to Poroshenko’s team, he ran without associations with the ES party brand, but his candidacy in this district was supported by the party congress.

Goncharenko defeated the candidate from the “Servant of the People” party, who took third place. Goncharenko received 28.6% of the vote and, after the election, joined the “European Solidarity” faction and the Committee on Budget.

During the elections, the “OPORA” civic network appealed to law enforcement because Goncharenko, as a candidate, provided free services to voters, which could be regarded as indirect voter bribery. He also actively promoted himself as a district deputy using state subventions allocated for the development of the region.

In the same year, he abstained from voting for the bill on ensuring personal voting by People’s Deputies of Ukraine (on the criminalisation of “button-pushing,” #2148).

2017

He became a figure in a criminal case for hooliganism after writing an inscription on a fragment of the Berlin Wall on the territory of the German Embassy in Kyiv in protest against the German ambassador’s statement that elections in the ORDLO could take place even if Russian troops were present there.

In the same year, the “kidnapping” of the deputy was announced, which subsequently turned out to be a staging and a special operation by the SBU.

2016

He was a candidate from the BPP faction for the position of Minister of Health.

2015

He joined the permanent delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

2014

After the escalation of the confrontation on the Maidan on 19 February, he left the Party of Regions and resigned as First Deputy Chairman of the Odesa Regional Council. On 14 August, he was elected Chairman of the Odesa Regional Council. 74 out of 102 deputies voted for him.

During the presidential election, Goncharenko headed Petro Poroshenko’s regional headquarters.

In the same year, he was elected as a People’s Deputy of Ukraine from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc (No. 40 on the list). In the Verkhovna Rada, he became the secretary of the Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Government. He was Deputy Head of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction.

During the approval of the new composition of the Cabinet of Ministers, he was noticed engaging in non-personal voting (“button-pushing”).

2012

He unsuccessfully ran for the Verkhovna Rada from the Party of Regions in majoritarian district #136, Odesa.

2011

In an interview with Serhiy Leshchenko, he publicly advocated for the introduction of the Russian language as the second state language and stated that “Odesa was not a Ukrainian city.”

In an interview with the website glavcom.ua, he supported the criminal prosecution of Yuriy Lutsenko and Yulia Tymoshenko by Yanukovych and expressed support for the Russian language, stating: “In my lifetime, the Russian language will definitely acquire official status in Ukraine.”

2010

He was elected as a deputy of the Odesa Regional Council from the Party of Regions in district #10 (he was #2 on the party list) and was elected Deputy Chairman of the Odesa Regional Council. At that time, he listed the “Quality of Life” civic organisation, where he was president, as his place of work.

In the same year, he declared $1 million, explaining at first that he had earned it through consulting, and later that he had borrowed it from his father-in-law, who worked as a driver at Gazprom.

2006

He was elected as a deputy of the Odesa City Council from the Party of Regions. In his autobiography, he wrote that the first decision he managed to push through was an amendment to the regulations of the Odesa City Council, under which the Russian language became the language of the council, its executive bodies, and for official statements, alongside the Ukrainian language.

2005

He became the head of the Odesa city organisation of the pro-Russian “Union” party, which was led by his father, Oleksiy Kostusiev. At the end of the year, the Odesa regional and city organisations of the “Union” party merged into the Party of Regions.

In the same year, he graduated from the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

2001

He began his political career as the leader of the youth wing of the “Green Party of Ukraine” in the Odesa region.

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