Ukraine’s first President Leonid Kravchuk passed away at the age of 88 years old. Here is everything you need to learn about him.
Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk (January 10, 1934 – May 10, 2022) was the first president of Ukraine, serving from December 5, 1991, until July 19, 1994.
He agreed to hand over Ukraine’s nuclear weapons when he signed the Lisbon Protocol in 1992. He is also a former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and People’s Deputy of Ukraine, where he represented the group of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (unified). After a political crisis involving the president and the prime minister, Kravchuk resigned from the presidency but ran for a second term in 1994.
Leonid Kuchma, his former prime minister, and two-term president defeated him. Following his president, Kravchuk remained involved in Ukrainian politics, serving as a People’s Deputy of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada and the parliamentary group leader of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (United) (from 2002 to 2006).
Ukraine’s First President Leonid Kravchuk Passed Away At 88
Leonid Kravchuk, Ukraine’s first president, died Thursday, May 10, after a protracted illness at the age of 88 years old. A source close to his family told Ukrainian News Agency about this.
Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk, the first President of independent Ukraine, died today, May 10, 2022, at 5 p.m. Kyiv time, following a protracted illness.
The Agency’s editorial staff sends heartfelt sympathies to Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk’s family in the wake of their tragic loss.
Leonid Kravchuk Was Married To Wife Antonina Mykhailivna Mishura
Antonina Mykhailivna Kravchuk was Leonid Kravchuk’s wife. In 1957, the pair tied the knot. She seldom accompanied her spouse to official functions.
Oleksandr Leonidovych Kravchuk (born 1959), head of the State Company “Nafkom-Ahro” and former FC Nafkom Brovary, is Kravchuk’s only child.
Kravchuk has one great-granddaughter and two grandkids. After leaving the Ukrainian government, Kravchuk resided in a state-owned dacha in Koncha-Zaspa until his death in 2022.
Leonid Kravchuk Political Background
Leonid Kravchuk’s political philosophy was to avoid disputes and to state his stance clearly. He was known for being astute, diplomatic, and careful. He defined himself as a man who refuses to wear an umbrella with the goal of slipping between the raindrops.
During the transition from Soviet domination to independence, such diplomacy helped Kravchuk maintain and consolidate his control over Ukraine. Even though he didn’t belong to the governing Dnipropetrovsk group, he was third in charge of Ukraine’s CPSU leadership when the Soviet Union fell apart.