Yushchenko, Viktor

Yushchenko, Viktor
▪ 2006

      Following a tumultuous political battle that had lasted for months, Viktor Yushchenko was inaugurated as the new president of Ukraine on Jan. 23, 2005. Speaking to hundreds of thousands of his orange-clad supporters who packed Independence Square in Kiev, he thanked those who had participated in the so-called Orange Revolution, the popular protest movement that helped sweep him into office. While vowing to uphold national sovereignty, the pro-Western politician also wasted little time in declaring that Ukraine's future “is in the European Union and my goal is ‘Ukraine in a United Europe.'” The year 2004 had largely been taken up by the bitter election campaign between Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich. The contest included an apparent assassination attempt on Yushchenko in which a type of dioxin poison left his face disfigured and pockmarked. Mass protests followed a runoff round in which Yanukovich had been declared the winner, and the Supreme Court, after invalidating that result, ordered a second runoff to be held on December 26. In early January 2005 Ukraine's Central Election Commission officially confirmed Yushchenko as the winner of the election by a 52–44% margin over Yanukovich.

      Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko was born on Feb. 23, 1954, in the village of Khoruzhivka in the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine. Both of his parents were schoolteachers. He was educated at the Ternopil Finance and Economics Institute, where he graduated with a degree in economic sciences in 1975. Returning to Sumy, he became an accounting assistant on a collective farm. He briefly served in the Soviet army before accepting a position as an economist at the Sumy branch of the Soviet State Bank in 1976. In the late 1980s he served as deputy chairman of the board of directors at the Agro-Industrial Bank of Ukraine, and from 1990 to 1993 he was the first deputy chairman of the board at Bank Ukraina.

      In 1993 Yushchenko was appointed governor of newly independent Ukraine's national bank. In this position he oversaw the introduction in 1996 of the national currency, the hryvnya. In 1999 Pres. Leonid Kuchma appointed Yushchenko prime minister. Over the next year and a half, many analysts credited Yushchenko with helping Ukraine emerge from a protracted financial and economic crisis. Among other measures, he introduced fiscal restraints and ended the costly practice of issuing subsidies to unprofitable companies. He also made progress with the difficult problem of tax reform. In 2001 Kuchma abruptly dismissed Yushchenko, partly because he feared his growing popularity. Yushchenko responded by forming a broad-based democratic coalition called Our Ukraine, which was victorious in the parliamentary elections later that year and gave him a platform from which to mount a credible challenge to Kuchma and his increasingly corrupt administration.

      As president, Yushchenko encountered turbulence almost immediately. He faced a fuel crisis beginning in May, and in September he replaced his entire cabinet, accusing it of incompetence. He appeared, however, to make some significant first steps toward his goal of forging new ties with the West, addressing the European Parliament and attending a NATO commission meeting in February and making a four-day state visit to the U.S. in April.

David R. Marples

* * *

▪ president of Ukraine
in full  Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko 
born Feb. 23, 1954, Khoruzhivka, Ukraine

      Ukrainian politician, who became president of Ukraine in 2005.

      Yushchenko grew up in the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine. He was educated at the Ternopil Finance and Economics Institute, where he graduated with a degree in economic sciences in 1975. Returning to Sumy, he became an accounting assistant on a collective farm. He briefly served in the Soviet army before accepting a position as an economist at the Sumy branch of the Soviet State Bank in 1976. In the late 1980s he served as deputy chairman of the board of directors at the Agro-Industrial Bank of Ukraine, and from 1990 to 1993 he was the first deputy chairman of the board at Bank Ukraina.

      In 1993 Yushchenko was appointed governor of newly independent Ukraine's national bank. In this position he oversaw the introduction in 1996 of the national currency, the hryvnya. In 1999 Pres. Leonid Kuchma (Kuchma, Leonid) appointed Yushchenko prime minister. Over the next year and a half, many analysts credited Yushchenko with helping Ukraine emerge from a protracted financial and economic crisis. Among other measures, he introduced fiscal restraints and ended the costly practice of issuing subsidies to unprofitable companies. In 2001 Kuchma abruptly dismissed Yushchenko, partly because he feared his growing popularity. Yushchenko responded by forming a broad-based democratic coalition called Our Ukraine, which was victorious in the parliamentary elections later that year and gave him a platform from which to mount a credible challenge to Kuchma, who had been accused of overseeing an increasingly corrupt administration.

      During his campaign for the presidency in 2004, Yushchenko became seriously ill from dioxin poisoning in an apparent assassination attempt; his face was left permanently disfigured and pockmarked. Mass protests, which became known as the Orange Revolution, followed a runoff round in which Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, backed by Kuchma and generally considered pro-Russian and cool toward western Europe as compared with Yushchenko, had been declared the winner. The Supreme Court, after invalidating that result, ordered a second runoff to be held in December 2004. Yushchenko was officially confirmed as the winner the following month.

      As president, Yushchenko quickly encountered difficulties. He faced a fuel crisis beginning in May 2005, and in September he replaced his entire cabinet, accusing it of incompetence. In the 2006 parliamentary elections, Yushchenko's party finished third, and eventually he was forced to approve the nomination of Yanukovych for prime minister. A power struggle between Yushchenko and Yanukovych escalated in early 2007, when parliament passed laws that seriously curtailed Yushchenko's authority. In particular, the new legislation ended the president's right to reject parliament's choice of prime minister. Wanting to end the political tension, Yushchenko called for another round of parliamentary elections—the third general election in three years—to be held in September 2007. Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party finished third, behind Yanukovych's Party of Regions and the party led by Yuliya Tymoshenko (Tymoshenko, Yuliya), a fellow leader of the Orange Revolution who had briefly served as prime minister in 2005. Despite the relatively poor showing of Yushchenko's party, an alliance between it and the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc—the so-called Orange parties—gave them a large enough majority to form a government.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Yushchenko, Viktor —  (1954–) President of Ukraine (2004–); not to be confused with Viktor Yanukovych (1950–) whom he narrowly beat in a runoff election …   Bryson’s dictionary for writers and editors

  • Víktor Yúshchenko — Víktor Andríyovich Yúschenko Віктор Андрійович Ющенко 3.er Presidente de Ucrania …   Wikipedia Español

  • Viktor Yushchenko — Infobox President name = Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko Віктор Андрійович Ющенко caption = Viktor Yushchenko at University of Amsterdam in 2006 order = President of Ukraine primeminister = Yulia Tymoshenko Yuriy Yekhanurov Viktor Yanukovych Yulia… …   Wikipedia

  • Viktor Yanukovich — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Víctor Fedorovych Yanukovych (en ucraniano Віктор Федорович Янукович), (Yenakiieve, Donets k, 9 de julio de 1950) es un político y fue jefe de Gobierno ucraniano. Es el líder del Partido de las Regiones, uno de los… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Viktor Yushchenko — Viktor Iouchtchenko Pour les articles homonymes, voir Iouchtchenko. Viktor Iouchtchenko Віктор Ющенко …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Viktor Youchtchenko — Viktor Iouchtchenko Pour les articles homonymes, voir Iouchtchenko. Viktor Iouchtchenko Віктор Ющенко …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Viktor Yushchenko — Kyrillisch (Ukrainisch) Віктор Андрійович Ющенко Transl.: Viktor Andrijovyč Jušče …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Viktor Medvedchuk — ( uk. Віктор Медведчук) is a Ukrainian politician and business oligarch. In 1998–2001, Medvedchuk was the First Deputy Chairman (First Vice Speaker) of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament). In 2002–04, Medvedchuk served as head of Leonid Kuchma s… …   Wikipedia

  • Viktor — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Viktor hace referencia a: Viktor Frankl, psiquiatra austríaco, fundador de la Logoterapia; Víktor Korchnói, ajedrecista soviético; Víktor Hartmann, arquitecto, escultor y pintor. Víktor Abakúmov, miembro de la… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Viktor Juschtschenko — Kyrillisch (Ukrainisch) Віктор Андрійович Ющенко Transl.: Viktor Andrijovyč Jušče …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”