[1] He entered politics in 1994 after creating RIO, a syndicate of enterprises engaged in beverage sales, the production of cured meats and taxi service.

[3] In August 2009, Ratushnyak was alleged to have beaten a female campaigner of fellow presidential candidate, Arseniy Yatseniuk (Front of Change)[7] A criminal case was soon opened against Ratushniak, he was accused of hooliganism, abuse of office and the violation of racial and national equality of citizens,[8] Ratushniak denies the claims.

[9] In late December 2009, Ratushniak called on President Viktor Yushchenko to declare war on Somalia; referring to the taking hostage of Ukrainian sailors by Somali pirates.

[10] Ratushniak also stated that Americans should atone for killing native Indians before meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs.

[10] His election platform included taxing the rich, develop nuclear arms and oblige all Ukrainians to learn another foreign language, apart from Russian.

[13] In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Ratushniak stood again as an independent candidate in the same single-member districts as in 2012; but this time he placed fifth with 7.71% of the votes (winner Robert Horvat of Petro Poroshenko Bloc got 21.58%).