Leonid Kravchuk

Leonid Kravchuk Леонід Кравчук
Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk in 2013
1st President of Ukraine
In office 24 August 1991 – 19 July 1994 Acting: 24 August 1991 – 5 December 1991
Prime Minister	Vitold Fokin Valentyn Symonenko (Acting) Leonid Kuchma Yukhym Zvyahilsky (Acting) Vitaliy Masol
Preceded by	office created2
Succeeded by	Leonid Kuchma
9th Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada
In office 23 July 1990 – 5 December 1991
Preceded by	Volodymyr Ivashko
Succeeded by	Ivan Plyushch
Member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of Ukraine
In office 1988–1990
Personal details
Born	(1934-01-10) 10 January 1934 (age 83) Żytyń Wielki, Rowno powiat, Wołyń Voivodeship, Poland (since 1945 the town has been called Velykyi Zhytyn and belonged to Rovno Oblast, Ukrainian SSR)
Nationality	Ukrainian
Political party	Independent (1991-1994, while president) Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1958–1991 Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) 1994–2009
Spouse(s)	Antonina Mykhailivna Mishura
Children	Oleksandr
Residence	Koncha-Zaspa, Kiev, Ukraine
Alma mater	Kiev State University (1958) of CPSU (1970)
Occupation	Politician
Religion	Ukrainian Orthodox
Signature
2Mykola Plaviuk, the 4th President of Ukrainian People's Republic in exile terminated his authority on 22 August 1992 when he formally ceded his authority to Kravchuk recognizing Ukraine as a successor of the Ukrainian People's Republic. 3From July 23, 1990 to August 24, 1991, the office was known as the "Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR."

Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk (Ukrainian: Леонід Макарович Кравчук; born 10 January 1934) is a former Ukrainian politician and the first President of Ukraine, who served from 5 December 1991, until his resignation on 19 July 1994. He is also a former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and People's Deputy of Ukraine serving in the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) faction.

After a political crisis involving the President and the Prime Minister, Kravchuk resigned from the Presidency, but ran for a second term as President in 1994. He was defeated by his former Prime Minister, Leonid Kuchma, who served as President for two terms. After Kravchuk's presidency, he was active in Ukrainian politics, serving as a People's Deputy of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada and the leader of Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united)'s parliamentary group (from 2002 to 2006). He is currently retired from politics.

Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk was born in 1934 in the village of Velykyi Zhytyn (Żytyń Wielki) to a peasant family. At that time the village was located in Aleksandrija gmina, Rowno powiat in Poland. The village became part of Rivne Oblast in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic after the Soviet invasion in 1939 when Kravchuk was a child. His father served in the Polish cavalry in the 1930s, and later he and his wife worked for the local osadniks (Polish colonists). During World War II Kravchuk's father perished on the front lines.

Kravchuk married math teacher Antonina Mykhailivna Mishura in 1957.First Lady of the United States from 1989-93, Barbara Bush (wife of the 41st President of the United States George H. W. Bush), described Antonina in her memoirs: "She was the nicest young woman, a math teacher with absolutely no interest in politics".