Viktor Yanukovych

Author: Newsmaker added 25-02-2013, 22:32

Viktor Yanukovych is a famous Ukrainian politician who was elected President of Ukraine in February 2010.

He was born on 9 July 1950 in the village Zhukovka situated in Donetsk region. His mother Olga Semyonovna was a nurse and she died when he was two. His father Fedor Vladimirovich was a Belarusian locomotive driver originated from the village Yanuki in Vitebsk region (Belarus). Yanukovych was brought up by his Polish paternal grandmother originated from Warsaw.

His surname has a Belarusian origin. The canonical name Ioann gave us two forms: the Orthodox Ivan and the Catholic Yan. Different variations appeared from the Catholicname, one of them is Yanuca. It is important to say that his surname is equivalent to Russian Ivanov, Ukrainian Ivanenko and English Johnson.

Yanukovych started his political career in 1996 when he was appointed as a Vice-Head of Donetsk Region Administration. He was also the Head of Donetsk Region Council between May 1999 and May 2001.

He was appointed to the post of Prime Minister of Ukraine by President Leonid Kuchma. He began his term as Prime Minister on 21 November 2002 and finished it on 31 December 2004.

Yanukovych took part in the Ukrainian presidential election as the Party of Regions candidate. He took the second position after opposition leader Viktor Yuschenko in the first round of voting. The Supreme Court of Ukraine annulled the second round of the election. Yuschenko with 51.9 percent won the repeated round of the election.

After the presidential election he lost the post of Prime Minister and continued to lead the Party of Regions.

His Party of Regions won the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election and he was served as Prime Minister for a second time from 4 August 2006 to 18 December 2007.

The years from 2008 to 2009 were difficult for Yanukovych. He and his party lost popularity among the Ukrainians. But the political crises in Ukraine helped him to return to a big policy.

Yanukovych took part at 2010 presidential election. He got most votes in the first round of the elections and won Yulia Tymoshenko in the second round of the election. As he was elected President he left the leadership of the party to Mykola Azarov in March 2010.

Yanukovych is known to be a friend of Belarus. He visited the village Yanuki in 2003 and 2006. After visiting this place he noticed that Yanuki is his small homeland.

Viktor Yanukovych