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BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, Apr 17, 2004
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Loenid Kuchma (Reuters)
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Leonid Kuchma, the second president of independent Ukraine, is expected to
step down after the presidential election scheduled for 31 October 2004.
Ukraine's Constitutional Court ruled last December that he may stand for
another term in office, despite the fact that the Ukrainian constitution
prohibits one person from serving more than two consecutive presidential
terms. The court argued that this provision of the constitution passed in
1996 does not apply to Kuchma, who was first elected president in 1994.
Kuchma, however, has said on several occasions that he would not stand for
president again.
Kuchma was born into a poor northern Ukrainian family in 1938. His father
was killed by the Nazis in World War Two. In 1960, Kuchma graduated from
university in Dnipropetrovsk - a city from which he would step into big
politics, like Leonid Brezhnev decades before him. Kuchma devoted much of
his life to designing and manufacturing missiles.
In 1960s-80s, he worked at the Pivdenne design bureau and was director of
the Pivdenmash (Yuzhmash) missile manufacturer. In 1990, Kuchma was
elected to parliament. He was prime minister in 1992-93. In 1994, the
post-Soviet industrial elite nominated him for president.
In a hotly contested election in July 1994, Kuchma defeated the first
president of independent Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk. Kuchma ran for president
on promises of civil peace, friendship with Russia, economic reform, and
tough measures against corruption. Ukraine has remained one of the few
post-Soviet states not plagued by ethnic strife; and Russia has become, for
better or for worse, Ukraine's main strategic partner.
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Loenid Kuchma (AP)
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Economic performance has, however, been uneven. The five-digit inflation of
1994 was tamed, but economic reform has been slow, and corruption has
plagued all spheres of life, as Kuchma himself admitted on several
occasions. A few people from Kuchma's inner circle - known as "the
oligarchs" - have reportedly accumulated enormous wealth over a short
period, using legal loopholes and nontransparent privatization methods.
Kuchma's second term in office, since 1999, has been marred by scandals.
Kuchma's former bodyguard, Mykola Melnychenko, accused him of ordering the
kidnapping of opposition journalist Heorhiy Gongadze, who disappeared in
September 2000. Fragments of conversations which Melnychenko claimed to
have secretly recorded in Kuchma's office implicated the president in abuse
of
office, election fraud and physical intimidation of political opponents.
Kuchma flatly denied the accusations.
An international scandal erupted in 2002, when the USA claimed that Kuchma
authorized the sale of hi-tech radar stations to the regime of Saddam
Husayn. Washington then cut aid to Ukraine and distanced itself from Kiev.
Ukrainian radar sets, however, have never been found in Iraq.
When in 2003 Kiev agreed to send troops to support the US-led occupation
forces in Iraq, Washington was mollified. However, reports about corruption
and freedom of speech violations in Ukraine under Kuchma have prevented
Washington from developing closer ties with Kiev.
Though not running for president again, Kuchma is set to be an active player
in this year's election race. A candidate of the ruling elite will not be
able to do without the backing of Kuchma - a man who for 10 years managed
to balance the interests of rival regional groups, "oligarchs", and ethnic
communities in a country deeply divided along linguistic, cultural,
religious, and political lines.
Opposition claims that the real goal of the political reform aimed at
transferring some powers from the president to the prime minister in
parliament, which Kuchma launched last year, is to allow Kuchma steer
the country after the presidential election, possibly as a strong prime
minister.
Kuchma, speaking on his retirement plans on 25 February 2004, said
the following: "I have almost organized my own presidential fund and will
turn my hand to calm politics, where I will have the full and free chance to
say what I think and about everyone."
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