1. Leonid Kuchma served as Prime Minister of Ukraine between October 1992 and September 1993.
46 Facts About Leonid Kuchma
1. 2.
Leonid Kuchma won re-election for an additional five-year term in 1999.
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Leonid Kuchma's administration began a campaign of media censorship in 1999, leading to arrests of journalists, the death of Georgiy Gongadze, and the subsequent Cassette Scandal and mass protests.
4.
Leonid Kuchma declined to seek a third term in office, instead supporting Party of Regions candidate Viktor Yanukovych for the 2004 election.
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Between 2014 and 2020, Leonid Kuchma was a special presidential representative of Ukraine at the quasi peace talks regarding the ongoing War in Donbas.
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Leonid Kuchma's legacy has proven controversial, and he has been described as authoritarian by various sources.
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Widespread corruption and media censorship under Leonid Kuchma's administration continue to have an impact on Ukraine today, and he has been accused of promoting oligarchism.
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Leonid Danylovych Kuchma was born in the village of Chaikyne in rural Chernihiv Oblast on 9 August 1938.
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Leonid Kuchma attended the Kostobobriv general education school in the neighboring Semenivka Raion.
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At 38 Leonid Kuchma became the Communist party chief at Yuzhny Machine-building Plant and a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine.
11.
Leonid Kuchma was a delegate of the 27th and 28th Congresses of the Communist Party of Soviet Union.
12.
In 1982 Leonid Kuchma was appointed the first deputy of general design engineer at Yuzhmash, and from 1986 to 1992, he held the position of the company's general director.
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From 1990 to 1992, Leonid Kuchma was a member of the Verkhovna Rada.
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Leonid Kuchma resigned a year later, complaining of "slow pace of reform".
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Leonid Kuchma resigned from the position of Prime Minister of Ukraine in September 1993 to run for the presidency in 1994 on a platform to boost the economy by restoring economic relations with Russia and faster pro-market reforms.
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Kuchma won a clear victory against the incumbent President Leonid Kravchuk, receiving strong support from the industrial areas in the east and south.
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In October 1994, Leonid Kuchma announced comprehensive economic reforms, including reduced subsidies, lifting of price controls, lower taxes, privatization of industry and agriculture, and reforms in currency regulation and banking.
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Leonid Kuchma was re-elected in 1999 to his second term.
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Opponents accused him of involvement in the killing in 2000 of journalist Georgiy Gongadze, but Leonid Kuchma has consistently denied such claims.
20.
Leonid Kuchma is believed to have played a key role in sacking the Cabinet of Viktor Yushchenko by Verkhovna Rada on 26 April 2001.
21.
Leonid Kuchma hoped for a free trade treaty with the EU.
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Leonid Kuchma signed a "Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership" with Russia, and endorsed a round of talks with the CIS.
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Leonid Kuchma signed a special partnership agreement with NATO and raised the possibility of membership of the alliance.
24.
In 2005, the press reported that Leonid Kuchma had been unofficially granted immunity from prosecution in return for his graceful departure from office in 2005.
25.
Leonid Kuchma acknowledged in 2003 that his voice was one of those on the tapes, but claimed the tapes had been selectively edited to distort his meaning.
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Leonid Kuchma was urged by Yanukovych and Viktor Medvedchuk to declare a state of emergency and hold the inauguration of Yanukovych.
27.
Leonid Kuchma refused to officially dismiss Prime Minister Yanukovych after the parliament passed a motion of no confidence against the Cabinet on 1 December 2004.
28.
Leonid Kuchma said in October 2009 that he would vote for Victor Yanukovych in the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election.
29.
In September 2011, Leonid Kuchma stated that he believed that Yanukovych was the real winner of the 2004 election.
30.
Leonid Kuchma has been active in politics since his presidency ended.
31.
Leonid Kuchma aligned himself with President Viktor Yushchenko in 2005, but later raised concerns about the president in correspondence with then US Ambassador to Ukraine, John Tefft.
32.
Leonid Kuchma represented Ukraine at negotiations with the armed separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces on 21 June 2014 to discuss President Petro Poroshenko's peace plan.
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On 11 February 2015, Leonid Kuchma was one of the signatories of a draft plan to end the conflict in Donbas.
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In March 2015, Leonid Kuchma delivered an address calling on the west for greater involvement in the region.
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Leonid Kuchma criticized the action of Russian-backed forces in the attempt to seize the town of Debaltseve.
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In September 2015, Leonid Kuchma was again appointed as the representative for Ukraine at the Trilateral Contact Group.
37.
In early 2017, Leonid Kuchma spoke out against the transport blockade of Donbas.
38.
On 2 October 2018, Leonid Kuchma stepped down as Ukraine's representative in the Trilateral Contact Group due to his age.
39.
Leonid Kuchma returned to the talks in June 2019, at the request of newly elected Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and after mediation by Victor Pinchuk.
40.
In November 2023, Leonid Kuchma presented his new book Ukraine is Not Russia: Twenty Years Later.
41.
Leonid Kuchma was an amateur guitar player in his younger years.
42.
Leonid Kuchma was known for his skill at the complicated card game preferans.
43.
Leonid Kuchma was allowed to keep his full presidential salary and all service personnel, along with two state-owned vehicles.
44.
Leonid Kuchma has been commonly referred to as authoritarian, and his attacks on independent media, as well as his economic reforms, have continued to impact Ukraine in the years since he left office.
45.
Leonid Kuchma's detractors have accused him of establishing the Ukrainian oligarchs with his economic reforms, and many oligarchs entered politics during his presidency, among them Leonid Kuchma's son-in-law Viktor Pinchuk, Viktor Medvedchuk, Ihor Bakai, Kostyantyn Zhevago and Heorhiy Kirpa.
46.
Leonid Kuchma was awarded the Azerbaijani Istiglal Order for his contributions to Azerbaijan-Ukraine relations and strategic cooperation between the states by President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev on 6 August 1999.