Leonid Danilovich Kuchma is a Soviet and Ukrainian politician. He was president of Ukraine from 1994 to 2005. The only head of the Ukrainian government who has worked in this position for two terms.
early years
Leonid Kuchma was born on August 9, 1938 in the village of Chaykino, Chernihiv region. His father, Daniil Prokofievich Kuchma (1901 - 1942), was a forester in the Novgorod-Seversky forestry. Mother Praskovya Trofimovna Kuchma (1906 - 1986) worked on a collective farm. At the beginning of World War II, Daniil Prokofievich heroically died in the Leningrad blockade. In addition to Leonid, the family had two more children: an older brother and sister. After the death of her father, Leni's mother raised her children alone. Older children, having matured, worked in mines.
Leonid received his primary education at Kostobobrovskaya secondary school. At school, the boy read a lot and gravitated to the exact sciences. In 1960, the future politician graduated from Dnepropetrovsk State University with a degree in mechanical engineering.
After graduation, Kuchma was sent to work in the rocket and space sphere of the Yuzhnoye design bureau, located in Dnepropetrovsk. After six years of successful work, Leonid Kuchma successfully manages tests at the Plesetsk and Baikonur cosmodromes, and leads the rocket engineering enterprise Southern Machine-Building Plant. He was also the head of the Komsomol, party organizations and a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
Political career
In 1990, Leonid Danilovich was elected People's Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. In the fall of 1992, Kuchma became the Prime Minister of Ukraine. He agreed to this position because of the critical situation in the Ukrainian economy. The country experienced a huge decline in GDP, hyperinflation and a budget deficit.
The main condition for the adoption of the post of Prime Minister Leonid Danilovich set the acquisition for six months of the following powers: to have the right to issue decrees equal to the laws and the independent appointment of heads of regions. His requirements were met. Six months later, the politician insisted on the extension of these conditions, but did not receive the consent of the Verkhovna Rada. Then he resigned. In 1993, Kuchma became president of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Ukraine.
On July 10, 1994, Leonid Danilovich was elected to the post of President of Ukraine, and in November 1999 he was re-elected to the same post. In the mid-nineties, Ukraine was in a difficult economic situation. During the ten-year reign of Kuchma, the economic and social situation in Ukraine has changed for the better.
Under Kuchma, market relations, the development of entrepreneurship were organized, and the economic situation was settled. In 1996, the country introduced the national currency - the hryvnia. Small and medium privatization has appeared in Ukraine, many reforms have been made.
Thanks to such changes, in 2004 GDP growth was increased to 12%. During the years of Leonid Danilovich’s presidency, the average salary of the population has become 2.5 times higher, foreign investments have increased 11 times, and gold and currency reserves in the country have grown 14 times.
All the wages and pensions debts were paid to the residents of Ukraine, and the debt for electricity was closed to the Russian Federation and Turkmenistan. Under Kuchma, natural gas prices were regulated and stabilized between Ukraine and Russia, oil refineries started operating, construction of four power units at nuclear power plants was completed, and railway tracks were repaired. At the end of 2000, by order of L. D. Kuchma, the work of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was stopped.
Leonid Danilovich was always close to the space sphere, so he made it a priority for the country. Thanks to him, international agreements were concluded, as a result of which in Ukraine Ukraine launched its Sich-1 satellite into space with the first astronaut on board - Leonid Kadeniuk. As a result, Ukraine began to be considered one of the ten space states, and in the number of launches into space it was included in the first five.
Like many big politicians, Kuchma’s career has had several political scandals. One of them was the murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze, who was accused of Kuchma. This accusation caused serious damage to the president’s reputation and laid the foundation for many public protests. In addition, Kuchma was charged with illegal arms trafficking, corruption and complicity in beating the Ukrainian politician Alexander Elyashkevich. Thus, Leonid Danilovich Kuchma lost his popularity, and his re-election for a third presidential term was becoming less and less possible.
