Leonid Kuchma, born August 9, 1938, celebrates his birthday today.
The second president of independent Ukraine from July 19, 1994 to to January 23, 2005. Kuchma took office after winning the 1994 presidential election against his rival then-President Leonid Kravchuk. Kuchma won re-election for another 5-year term in 1999, staying in office until Viktor Yushchenko’s inauguration in 2005.
Kuchma’s presidency was surrounded by numerous corruption scandals and the lessening of media freedoms. Corruption accelerated after Kuchma’s election in 1994, but in 2000-2001, his power began to weaken in the face of exposures in the media.
The Kyiv-based Segodnya newspaper writes on Aug. 9 that Kuchma plans on celebrating his birthday this year in Foros, Crimea. Read the Russian-language story here.
