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Ukraine’s parliament reappoints Stepan Poltorak as defense minister

Poltorak proved that I had made the right decision to appoint him as a defense minister, the energy and inspiration with which he started an army reform is impressive, the Ukrainian president said

Stepan Poltorak Nikolay Lazarenko/TASS

Stepan Poltorak

© Nikolay Lazarenko/TASS

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Ukrainian parliament approves appointment of Poltorak as new defense minister

KIEV, December 2 /TASS/. Ukraine’s parliament (Verkhovnaya Rada) appointed Stepan Poltorak as the country’s defense minister by 347 votes out of 226 that were needed on Tuesday.

Poltorak, who was nominated by President Petro Poroshenko, took his office six weeks ago.

“Over that period of time Poltorak proved that I had made the right decision to appoint him as a defense minister. The energy and inspiration with which he started an army reform is impressive,” the Ukrainian president stressed.

Colonel General Stepan Poltorak was born in the Tarutinsky district of the Odessa region, Ukraine, on February 11, 1965. He graduated from the High Military Command School of the USSR Interior Ministry and the Military Academy of Ukrainian Armed Forces.

His military career started in August 1983. Since then he has served as a platoon and company commander; the chief of a battalion’s headquarters; a battalion commander, a regiment commander and a brigade commander. He has headed the Internal Troops Academy of Ukraine’s Interior Ministry since March 2002. Poltorak commanded Ukraine’s internal troops from February 28 to March 13, 2014.

On April 5, 2014, he was appointed to the post of the National Guard commander.

He became Ukraine’s new defense minister on October 14, 2014.

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