Anton Herashchenko
Anton Yuriiovych Herashchenko (, born 10 February 1979) is a current official advisor and a former deputy minister at the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs. He is a former member of the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) (2014–2019). and was the subject of an assassination attempt in part because of his actions. Biography. When Arsen Avakov became the Minister of Internal Affairs in 2014, Herashchenko became his adviser. In this role, Herashchenko briefed journalists about the formation of the Donbas Battalion, the Azov Battalion, and the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Herashchenko was elected to parliament in the  26 October 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, representing the People's Front in the multi-mandate nationwide district, he was placed 21st (as an independent candidate) on the party's election list. Herashchenko was one of the founders of a database of separatists called "Myrotvorets" (Peacekeeper). He was secretary of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's national parliament) Committee on Legislative Support of Law Enforcement. In parliament one of his assistant-consultants (on a voluntary basis) was the future Interior Minister (he was appointed this in July 2021) Denys Monastyrsky. In January 2017, it was announced that the Security Service of Ukraine  (SBU) had prevented an assassination attempt against Herashchenko. The SBU had had the two assassins under surveillance for over a month and arrested them in the act with an explosive device in their possession. The SBU stated that the assassins had been in prison in the Russian-occupied Crimea, until they agreed to assassinate Herashchenko. The SBU claim that the assassins were coordinated by Andrey Tikhonov. Tikhonov currently lives in Belgorod in Russia, and used to be a Ukrainian citizen, who had fought against Ukraine on the side of the Luhansk People's Republic. After the July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary  election, Herashchenko did not return to parliament because he did not take part in the election. On 25 September 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers appointed him one of six or seven deputy ministers at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The minister was Arsen Avakov. After Avakov stept down as Interior Minister on 15 July 2021 Herashchenko became an official advisor for the new minister Denys Monastyrsky. (Although) on 4 August 2021 he was dismissed as deputy minister. Late September 2021 Herashchenko was appointed the coordinator of the new "Office for Business Protection" within the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Anton Herashchenko