Leonid Kravchuk

Date of Birth: 01.10.1934

Leonid Makarovich Kravchuk - the first President of Ukraine after the restoration of independence (1991-1994), Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the last Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1990-1991). Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR X-XI Congresses. People's Deputy of Ukraine (1990-1991 and 1994-2006). Hero of Ukraine (2001). Doctor of Economics.

Place of Birth. Education. Born in the city of Veliky Zhitin, Rivne region. In 1958, he graduated from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, economist, lecturer in political economy. Doctor of Economics. Professor at various national and foreign universities.

Career and Public Activity. 1958-1960 - Lecturer at Chernivtsi Financial College.

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1960-1967 - Consultant-methodologist in the House of Political Education, speaker, assistant secretary, head of the department for agitation and propaganda of the regional committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Chernivtsi.

1967-1970 - Graduate student at the Academy of Social Sciences under the CPSU Central Committee.

1970-1988 - Head of sector, inspector, assistant secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, first deputy department head, head of the agitation and propaganda department of the CPSU Central Committee.

1988-1990 - Head of the ideology department, secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, second secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

1989-1990 - Candidate for the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee.

1990-1991 - Member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee (in August 1990 he declared his withdrawal from the CPSU), Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and then of Ukraine. People's Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the X to XI Congresses, People's Deputy of Ukraine of the XII (I) Congress. He relinquished his mandate due to his election as President of Ukraine in December 1991.

In July 1994, Leonid Kravchuk was replaced as President by former Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma.

1994-2006 - People's Deputy of Ukraine of the II-IV Congresses. Was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Relations with the CIS countries of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Member of the Social Market Election faction, Constitutional Center. In the parliaments of the III and IV Congresses, he was on the list of the Social Democratic Party (united). During the IV Congress, he headed the SDPU(o) faction. He was a member of this party.

In the 2006 parliamentary elections, Leonid Kravchuk ran as leader of the opposition block It Is Not So!, whose 'basic element' was the SDPU(o). In the list of the first ten candidates, he met the first state chief Viktor Medvedchuk, his deputies along the party line Nestor Shufrych and Mikhail Papiyev, the head of the Republican Party Yuriy Boyko, football official Grigory Surkis, and football player Oleg Blokhin. The result of the block - 1.01% of the votes required 3% (11th place in the 'overall ranking').

Starting from the year 2000 - President of the Ukrainian Municipal Club. Since 2001 - President of the All-Ukrainian Charitable Organization 'Mission Ukraine Famous'.

On July 30, 2020 Leonid Kravchuk was appointed head of the Ukrainian delegation in the Trilateral Contact Group for the Minsk negotiations on Ukraine.

Awards. Order of the October Revolution, two Orders of the Red Banner of Labour, Silver Medal 'For Loyalty to the Fatherland', full knight of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise. Laureate of the campaign 'Man of the Year - 2001' in the category 'Parliamentarian of the Year'. In 2001, he was awarded the title Hero of Ukraine (with the awarding of the state order).

Books and Publications. Author of the books 'State and Power: Experiences of Administrative Reform' (2001), 'We Have What We Have' (2002), over 500 articles in Ukrainian and foreign publications.

Family. The politician is married. His wife Antonina Mikhailovna is a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics of Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. The couple raised a son named Alexander.

On June 29, 2021, Kravchuk underwent heart surgery. After the operation, he was in intensive care and was connected to a ventilator. He recovered in Germany.

Death. On May 10, 2022, Leonid Kravchuk died at the age of 89 after a long illness.

05.10.2022