Lyudmyla Leontiyivna Denisova (born 6 July 1960) is a Ukrainian politician. After twice serving as Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, Denisova worked as Ombudsman for Human Rights in Ukraine from March 2018 to May 2022. Biography Raised by her mother Nina Ivanovna Ankudinova (born 1934) in Arkhangelsk, Denisova graduated from the Arkhangelsk Pedagogical School (1978), Leningrad State University (1989) and the Tavria Institute of Enterprise and Law in Simferopol (1995). Professional career Denisova was a teacher at a preschool in Arkhangelsk from 1979 to 1980. For the next nine years, Denisova held different posts in the Arkhangelsk provincial law court. In 1989, she moved to Ukraine and became the legal adviser of the Crimean Provincial Committee of Ukraine (1990–91). From 1991 she worked in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea's Administration of the pension fund until 1998. Political career In 1998 Denisova became the Minister of Economy and Finances in the Crimean government. In Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea, she served as Minister of Economy, Minister of Finance and head of the Treasury Department. Denisova was named Politician of the Year in 2001. In 2000, Denisova was detained for 24 hours and charged with power abuse. Denisova has stated she was persecuted for refusing to sign a budget document. This criminal case was soon closed. Denisova was a member of Batkivshchyna (Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc) from 2005 to 2014. During the 2006 and 2007 parliamentary elections, she was elected as a deputy to the Verkhovna Rada. Minister On 18 December 2007, Yulia Tymoshenko, with a margin of two votes, was elected Prime Minister, and the second Tymoshenko Government was formed between the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc in which Denisova was elected Minister of Labour and Social Policy. In October 2009 Denisova was ranked 15th in the top 100 of "most influential women in Ukraine" compiled by experts for the Ukrainian magazine Focus (six places lower than non-minister and fellow Batkivshchyna member Natalia Korolevska). 2010 Crimean parliamentary election Denisova headed the electoral list of Batkivshchyna during the 2010 Crimean parliamentary election. Batkivshchyna did not win seats in the Supreme Council of Crimea. 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election Denisova was placed at number 38 on the electoral list of Batkivshchyna during the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election. She was re-elected into the Verkhovna Rada 2nd minister post On 27 February 2014, Denisova became Minister of Labour and Social Policy in the