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David ZhvaniyaUkrainian entrepreneur and politician
Date of Birth: 20.07.1967
Country:  Ukraine |
Content:
- Biography of David Zhvania
- Early Life and Career
- Entrepreneurship and Politics
- Controversies and Accusations
Biography of David Zhvania
David Zhvania is a Ukrainian entrepreneur and politician. He served as the Minister of Emergency Situations of Ukraine from February to September 2005 in the government of Yulia Tymoshenko.
Early Life and Career
David Zhvania was born in Ukraine and grew up in a family acquainted with Badri Patarkatsishvili, a former Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky's associate. Zhvania served in the border troops from 1986 to 1988. In 1991, he graduated from the Faculty of Economic Planning at Tbilisi State University. He fled from Georgia during the reign of Zviad Gamsakhurdia and lived in Slovenia, Austria, and Russia before obtaining Cypriot citizenship.
Entrepreneurship and Politics
In 1995, Zhvania arrived in Ukraine and registered the Brinkford company, which united enterprises in the oil and gas, machinery, and shipbuilding industries. He participated in the privatization of the Kerch Shipyard "Zaliv." Zhvania was referred to as the "financier of the Yushchenko team" in Ukraine.
Zhvania actively supported Viktor Yushchenko but became upset with him when he did not share spheres of influence. As a member of the block "Our Ukraine," Zhvania served in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) from 2002. He chaired the subcommittee on combating organized crime and corruption. Prior to that, he had no involvement in emergency situations.
Controversies and Accusations
On May 23, 2008, during a live broadcast of the TV show "Freedom of Speech," Zhvania accused the wife of the Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Kateryna Klyuyeva-Chumachenko, of holding dual citizenship and violating Ukrainian laws. He stated, "I acquired Ukrainian citizenship by renouncing my Georgian citizenship. But Yushchenko's wife, after becoming a citizen of Ukraine, remained a citizen of the United States."
On June 22, 2008, Zhvania claimed that the poisoning of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko in 2004 was falsified. He also mentioned the individuals behind the falsification but did not disclose their names.
Zhvania arrived in Ukraine in the early 1990s and has since been an influential figure in the country's business and political landscape.
