KYIV. Feb 4 (Interfax-AVN) - President Viktor Yushchenko signed a decree appointing Anatoly Hrytsenko Ukrainian defense minister on Friday.
Hrytsenko was born in 1957 in the Cherkassk region. He has a diploma in military engineering and is a candidate of technical sciences. He also graduated from the U.S. Defense Ministry's Foreign Languages Institute and the Ukrainian Armed Forces Academy.
From 1984-1992, Hrytsenko lectured at the Kyiv Higher Aviation Engineering Academy. From 1992-1994, he served as head of the analytic department at the Ukrainian General Staff's research center.
From January 1996 to September 1997, Hrytsenko headed the military problems and construction department at the Ukrainian Security Research Center, after which, he headed the analytic service of the Ukrainian National Defense and Security Council until 1999.
In December 1999, Hrytsenko was appointed president of the Ukrainian Razumkov Economic and Political Research Center. In November 2000, he joined the Public Council of experts on interior policy issues. He joined the working group on the development of the Ukrainian political system reform concept in March 2001.