Oleh Bohdanuk Petrenko

His Excellency Oleh Bohdanuk Petrenko
Олег Богданюк Пєтренко
Hetman of Zamorodna
Incumbent
Assumed office November 17, 2021
Preceded by	Yvan Zynovuk Chortomlyk
Osavul of Pyvnychny Bolota
In office September 6, 1992 – December 20, 2015
Personal details
Born	(1954-08-06) August 6, 1954 Barabanopol, Pvn. Bolota, Zamorodna
Spouse(s)	Sofya Lavrynuks'ka Shchyrkyva (m. 1983; died 2018)
Children	4
Parents	Bohdan Yluk Petrenko (father) Ulyana Mykytuks'ka Nosach (mother)
Residence	Zolotyy Palats, Kostyanopol
Alma mater	Baraban Academy Ariminum College
Military service
Years of service	1980-1990 2019-present
Rank	Hetman
Command	Zamorodnian Combined Militia

Oleh Bohdanuk Petrenko (born August 6, 1954) is a Zamorodnian starost, politician, and the incumbent Hetman of the Zamorodnian Hetmanate, serving since 2019. Prior to his appointment by Koshovyy Otaman Volodymyr Matvyyuk Nesterenko, Petrenko was the Osavul of Pyvnychny Bolota between 1992 and 2015, having abdicated his role after Hanukkah 2015. In the intervening years, Petrenko had involvement with a number of non-profits and maintained positions on several corporate boards. Petrenko's nomination was accepted on November 17, 2021, and he assumed office immediately.

Hetman Petrenko's tenure as Hetman has been markedly laissez-faire, notably taking few strong stances on foreign affairs, though he has worked closely with Otaman Nesterenko and the Diplomatic Corps to foster public and private commercial relationships with Zamorodna abroad. Domestically, Petrenko has been noted as a conservative who has placed particular emphasis on the principle of minarchic restraint. Following concerns about a possible recession in Zamorodna toward the end of 2022, Petrenko called for austerity and authorized budget cuts for public education.

Early life, education, and military service

Oleh Bohdanuk Petrenko was born in the WBR Health Centre in Barabanopol in 1954. His father, Bohdan Yluk Petrenko, was the Osavul of Pyvnychny Bolota whose position he would assume upon his passing in 1992. Petrenko's younger brother was born in 1959 and the two siblings were close growing up. As a child, Petrenko attended the Kollavik Scholars' Institute in Velikoslavia, returning in 1972 at 18 years old.

Petrenko deferred customary military service to attend university at the Baraban Academy in Barabanopol, during which he spent a semester at the King David University in Yisrael. In 1974, Petrenko earned a Baccalaureat in Economics from the Baraban Academy and subsequently enrolled in the philosophy department at the Ariminum College in Latium, obtaining a second Baccalaureat in 1977 and a Masters in 1980.

Following the completion of his education, Petrenko returned to Pyvnychny Bolota and was commissioned as a junior officer in the Barabanopol Air Force where he learned to fly GSRW Gi-24 attack helicopters. He was married in 1983 to his wife, Ulyana Mykytuks'ka Nosach, from a Nerovyan starost family. The couple had three children. Over his ten-year career in the military, Petrenko rose to the rank of Sotnyk, commanding a squadron of helicopters. While the country never saw war for the duration of his service, he participated in multiple joint exercises and disaster relief operations, including the 1986 Upper Potyk Mine disaster.

Political career

Osavulship

Petrenko retired from the military in 1990 at the age of 36 after his father had an extended period of illness. As the heir apparent of the osavulship, Petrenko began working more closely with his father in administering the region with his cabinet. When Bohdan Ylyuk passed away in 1992, Oleh Bohdanuk transitioned smoothly into the leadership role.

Petrenko's administration as osavul began by continuing several of his late father's projects, ranging from road infrastructure expansion in the capital of Barabanopol to tax reform to make the region more friendly to post-industrial businesses. The latter endeavour saw Pyvnychny Bolota emerge as a technology centre in Zamorodna in the mid-1990s.

Petrenko's administration also faced some difficulties in the aftershocks of the Ostrozavan declaration of neutrality, which had led diverted a significant portion of east-to-west commerce past Zamorodna and onward to the more industrialized Ostrozava over the Kupalnitsa. Despite this, Pyvnychny Bolota managed to maintain levels of foreign investment close to those in 1989.

Throughout the early 2000s, Petrenko worked to suppress the informal economy which is especially prevalent in rural areas of Zamorodna. By 2007, Pyvnychny Bolota had increased its gross domestic product by more than 33%. This increase was primarily attributed to more accurate recording of economic activity in the stanytsa.

In 2015, Petrenko abdicated his osavulship shortly before his 61st birthday. His last act in that role was the appointment of three new judges in Pyvnychny Bolota. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Osyp. In retirement, Petrenko accepted a number of corporate board positions within Pyvnychny Bolota and across Zamorodna. In addition to his post-political involvement with commercial interests, he championed a number of charitable causes, including the Red Lake Foundation and the Kostyanopol-based Life Institute.

Hetmanship

Petrenko's candidacy for the hetmanship was advanced by Volodymyr Matvyyuk Nesterenko, an elder statesman in the Starshyna Rada and former osavul of Shchytsyn, who supported Petrenko from the outset of his campaign for the otamanship. The first public event with Nesterenko and Petrenko was held in July 2019 with the unveiling of a park space dedicated to Petrenko's late wife in Barabanopol. Nesterenko's experience and Petrenko's laissez-faire reputation and uncontroversial history made the two a clear consensus choice for the 2021 appointments in Zamorodna. Nesterenko was officially elected by the Starshyna Rada on November 15, 2021, and Petrenko was officially nominated and confirmed as hetman on November 17.

The first year Petrenko's term as hetman saw assurances of stability in response to the end of official Ostrozavan neutrality in 2020. While Petrenko had been vocally critical of the Ostrozavan Socialists, the Zamorodnian foreign affairs office maintained a number of summits to ensure economic and political normalization through Ostrozava's political transition.

In November 2022, the Zamorodnian economy began to face a recession. Interest rates dropped and Petrenko also responded by calling for austerity and authorizing budget cuts in key sectors under his purview.

Political positions

During his tenure as osavul, Petrenko maintained a pro-business philosophy during his rule. While heading the government, Petrenko slashed budgets for a number of public services, including parks and education. In 1994, waste collection was privatized under the auspices of promoting local businesses and market solutions to waste disposal issues and pollution. In 2002, state childcare subsidies were cut as well. Despite this, Petrenko's tenure also saw some investment in major projects in coordination with local construction firms. These investments saw the revitalization of Pyvnychny Bolota's rail and highway networks. Internet and technology infrastructure also saw significant development under Petrenko.

As hetman, Petrenko has continued his policies of fiscal restraint. Faced with the 2022 recession, Petrenko enforced austerity where possible in his office's purview and credited this and the Koshovyy Otaman's policies for averting greater disaster.

In terms of social politics, Petrenko has been characteristically hands-off, though his personal politics are known to be conservative. In 2010, as osavul Petrenko refused a petition to decriminalize same-sex unions within the osavulship. Despite this, he maintained the informal policy of not prosecuting violations of Pyvnychny Bolota's anti-LGBTQ+ laws.

Petrenko has also been a vocal supporter of the Combined Militia, through his membership, tenure as osavul, and as hetman. Specifically, Petrenko has advocated for greater integration and standardization of equipment through modernization processes. However, Petrenko has decried the autarkist movement within the Zamorodnian military, instead advocating for the acquisition of foreign military equipment.