Meeting with former Ukraine President Leonid Kuchma
3nd July 2010
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma (Ukrainian: Леонід Данилович Кучма, born 9 August 1938) was the second President of independent Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. Kuchma took office after winning the 1994 presidential election against his rival, incumbent Leonid Kravchuk. Kuchma won re-election for an additional five-year term in 1999. On his watch the Ukrainian economy continued to decline until 1999, whereas growth was recorded since 2000, bringing relative prosperity to some segments of urban residents. During his presidency, Ukrainian-Russian ties began to improve. After a successful career in the machine-building industry of the Soviet Union, Kuchma began his political career in 1990, when he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament); he was re-elected in 1994. He served as Ukrainian Prime Minister between October 1992 and September 1993. Since July 2014, Kuchma has been the representative of Ukraine on the semi-official peace talks regarding the ongoing War in Donbass.
