Leonid Kravchuk
Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk (Ukrainian:
Леонід Макарович Кравчук born
10 January 1934) is a
Ukrainian politician. He was the first
President of Ukraine from early December
1991 to July
1994.
Kravchuk was born in Velyky Zhytyn (now
Volyns'ka oblast'), which was part of
Poland at the time of his birth, but became part of Ukraine 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 Soviet Union, Kravchuk became the effective leader of the republic. He left the Soviet communist party 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
President of Ukraine in Ukraine's first presidential elections.
Kravchuk ran for a second term as President in
1994, but was defeated by his former
Prime Minister,
Leonid Kuchma. He remains active in Ukrainian politics, serving as a member of Verkhovna Rada and the leader of SDPUo parliamentary group (since
2002).
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, has children and grandchildren. His hobbies include reading and
chess. He is also fond of
Moscow patrol dogs.
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
Dnipropetrovs'k 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
CIS. Another of his stands has been refusal of
nuclear weapons based on Ukrainian territory.
Kravchuk's economic policy has often been 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 the world's highest record of 10000%. Millions of loans given by 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 Kravchuk's 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. He 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
United Social Democratic Party of Ukraine or SDPUo (
Ukrainian: Соціал-демократична партія України (об'"днана), С"ПУ (о). Despite formal centrist/
social-democratic slogans, the party is widely associated with big business,
organized crime,
corruption, and media bias in favor of President Leonid Kuchma. In
2004, H. 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 SDPUo, 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.
*
History of Ukraine*
Politics of Ukraine*
President of Ukraine*
FC Dynamo Kyiv
