Leonid Kravchuk
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- "Kravchuk" redirects here. For the hockey player, see Igor Kravchuk.
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Leonid Kravchuk
Леонід Кравчук |
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 Leonid Kravchuk in 1991. |
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| In office December 5, 19911 – July 19, 1994 |
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| Prime Minister | Vitold Fokin Valentyn Symonenko Leonid Kuchma Yukhym Zvyahilsky |
| Preceded by | post created |
| Succeeded by | Leonid Kuchma |
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| In office July 23, 1990 – December 5, 1991 |
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| Preceded by | Volodymyr Ivashko |
| Succeeded by | Ivan Plyushch |
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| In office May 15, 1990 – December 5, 1991 October 18, 1994 – May 25, 2006 |
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| Born | January 10, 1934 Velykyi Zhytyn, Poland |
| Birth name | Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk |
| Nationality |  Ukrainian |
| Political party | Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) |
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Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine |
| Spouse | Antonina Mykhailivna |
| Children | Oleksandr |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Religion | Ukrainian Orthodox |
| 1Official inauguration was on August 22, 1992. 2 From July 23, 1990 to August 24, 1991, the office was known as the "Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR." |
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Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk (Ukrainian: Леонід Макарович Кравчук) (born January 10, 1934) is a Ukrainian politician, the first President of Ukraine serving from December 5, 1991 until his resignation on July 19, a former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and People's Deputy of Ukraine serving in the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) faction.
After a political crisis involving the President and the Prime Minister, Kravchuk resigned from the Presidency, but ran for a second term as President in 1994. He was defeated by his former Prime Minister, Leonid Kuchma, who served as President for two terms. After his presidency, he was active in Ukrainian politics, serving as a People's Deputy of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada and the leader of Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united)'s parliamentary group (from 2002 to 2006). He is currently politically inactive.[1]
Leonid Kravchuk is the author of books dealing with his career and Politics of Ukraine (some of them were translated into English). Kravchuk is married to Antonina, has a son Alexander and three grandchildren - Andrey, Maria and Ylena Kravchuk, Andrey's daughter.
[edit] Biography
Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk was born in 1934 in the village of Velykyi Zhytyn (Żytyń Wielki) in Poland. The village became part of Rivne Oblast in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic after World War II when he was a child. He joined the Communist Party of Ukraine in 1958 and rose through the ranks of the party and its agitprop department. He became a member of the Ukrainian Politburo in 1989 and the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada in 1990.
With the weakening of the central power in the USSR, Kravchuk became the effective leader of the republic. He left the Soviet Communist Party (CPSU) in August 1991 and began to support the Ukrainian independence movement. He officially declared his support for Ukrainian independence after the August 1991 Soviet coup attempt. Later that year, he was elected the first President of Ukraine after Ukraine's first presidential elections.
[edit] Political portrait
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Leonid Kravchuk's political creed is avoiding conflicts and straightforward declaration of his position. He is widely considered to be cunning, diplomatic, and cautious. He describes himself as a man who refuses to take an umbrella because he hopes to "slip between the raindrops."
Such diplomacy helped Kravchuk to retain and strengthen his power over Ukraine during the transition from Soviet rule to independence. He was third in command in Ukraine's CPSU leadership before the fall of Soviet Union even though he didn't belong to the ruling Dnipropetrovsk group. He avoided inflexible positions towards democratic changes and was a compromise figure for both party conservatives and reformists.
After becoming president of independent Ukraine, Kravchuk successfully attempted to achieve and strengthen formal sovereignty of the country and develop its relations with the West. He withstood the enormous pressure from Russia and refused to retain the common armed forces and currency inside the Commonwealth of Independent States. Another of his stands has been refusal of nuclear weapons based on Ukrainian territory.
Kravchuk's economic policy is often criticized. He failed to avoid corruption in the privatization of country's industry and promote effective financial decisions. Ukrainian annual inflation rates from 1992 to 1994 reached thousands of percents. Millions of loans given by the semi-government banks defaulted. This led to delays of many years in salaries for industry workers, teachers etc. The collapse of the Black Sea Steamship Company became the saddest symbol of the Kravchuk era. This global merchant fleet, the largest in the world (based mostly in Odessa), was covertly sold out to foreign companies, mostly for fake debts. Hundreds of sailors who hadn't received their salaries were trapped for years on board their vessels throughout the world. Kravchuk's own son was later accused of taking part in this fraud.
Shocked by these developments and also by growing tensions with Russia, the voters of industrial and predominantly Russian-speaking southeastern Ukraine supported Kravchuk's main rival, Leonid Kuchma, in the 1994 presidential elections. Kuchma won under the slogans of fighting corruption, reconstruction of the economy, and further integration with Russia. Kravchuk's reliance on bureaucratic pressure, support of pro-Western nationalists, and media bias did not serve him well.
Soon after his defeat in 1994, Leonid Kravchuk joined the powerful business and political group known as Kiev Holding or the Dynamo Group. This group, led by oligarchs Viktor Medvedchuk and Hryhoriy Surkis, is formally organized as the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united). Despite its formal centrist/social-democratic slogans, the party is widely associated with big business, organized crime,[citation needed] corruption, and media bias in favor of President Leonid Kuchma. In 2004, Hryhoriy Surkis was banned from visiting the United States, due to his alleged involvement in irregularities during the Ukrainian presidential election, 2004. The group also took a strongly pro-Russian and anti-Western stand. Analysts say that TV channels and other media controlled by the group have started a sharp anti-U.S./anti-NATO campaign.
Kravchuk has been highly criticized for remaining one of the leaders of SDPU(o), specializing in negotiations and public relations, despite his declared pro-democratic and patriotic position. In November 2004, following the disputed Ukrainian presidential election, he told the media that he was afraid that the resulting crisis would cause the disintegration of the country, intensifying movements for certain regions of Ukraine to join other countries.
[edit] References
- ^ "Kravchuk Not To Run For Snap Rada Elections". ukranews.com. October 25, 2008. http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/158415.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-29.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Vladimir Ivashko |
Chairman of Supreme Soviet of Ukrainian SSR / Chairman of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine 1990–1991 |
Succeeded by Ivan Plyushch |
| Preceded by Mykola Plaviuk |
President of Ukraine 1991–1994 |
Succeeded by Leonid Kuchma |
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