Volodymyr Lytvyn
Encyclopedia
Volodymyr Mykhailovych Lytvyn (born April 28, 1956) is a Ukrainian
politician
and the current Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada
, the Ukrainian parliament
. Having previously served in that position from 2002 until 2006, he was re-elected in December 2008 after his party agreed to join the former coalition of Yulia Tymoshenko
in an expanded capacity. From 1994 to 1999, Lytvyn was the aide to President Leonid Kuchma
and, later, the head of his office.
Raion
of the Zhytomyr Oblast
. Lytvyn graduated from the Kiev University
(Faculty of History) in 1978. In 1984 he defended his dissertation "Efforts of the Communist Party of Ukraine in improving the preparation of teachers in social disciplines".
Mr Lytvyn started his career as a political analyst
within the Central Committee of the Ukrainian SSR's Communist Party (a division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
).
Lytvyn is a correspondent member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Honored Worker of Sciences and Technology of Ukraine. However, in 2002 he was publicly and reasonably accused of plagiarizing a Western scholar when writing his article to Zerkalo Nedeli
newspaper.
He is married to Tetyana Kostyantynivna (born 1960), an economist. Their daughter Olena (born 1982) is a beauty industry
entrepreneur, and their son Ivan (born 1989) is a student.
Lytvyn's hobbies include reading, football, and taking care of dalmatian
dogs.
Leonid Kuchma
. In 1999, he was appointed as the head of the Presidential Administration
. During the Cassette Scandal
audiotapes where released on which Kuchma, Lytvyn and other top-level administration officials are allegedly heard discussing the need to silence Georgiy Gongadze for his online news reports about high-level corruption. Gongadze’s decapitated body was found in the suburbs of Kiev
in November 2000.
("Za edynu Ukrainu"). He became the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada
(speaker
) of the legislature as a compromising figure among the parliamentary factions.
Lytvyn refused to take part in the presidential election of 2004
despite his significant political influence.
Lytvyn's brother, Mykola Lytvyn is the chief of Ukraine's Border Guard
.
Lytvyn is known for his ironic
political expressions. One of his best-known sentences is "I do not protest at forming an artificial majority
in our parliament. But I want this majority to include every member of parliament."
At the parliamentary elections
on March 26, 2006 his Lytvyn's People's Bloc
won 2.44% of the popular vote and no seats since it did not meet the 3 percent threshold. Lytvyn's allies (together with other parties) declared the voting results forged, filing a court suit and starting a public campaign. However, Lytvyn himself avoids press and shows deep disappointment since the results announced. Elected vice-chairman NAN.
In the early parliamentary election
held on September 30, 2007, the Lytvyn Bloc (renamed from Lytvyn's People's Bloc) consisted of the People's Party
and the Labour Party. The bloc placed fifth with 20 out of 450 seats.
, former bodyguard to Kuchma, accused Lytvyn of ordering the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze in 2000. A spokesperson for Lytvyn dismissed the claims as part of the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election
campaign. During the election Lytvyn received 2,35% of the votes.
to use alternative methods" on Gongadze. Lytvyn denies the allegation, alleging that the tape is a fabrication. Independent experts who have analysed the tapes are divided as to their authenticity. Gongadze was found in a shallow grave in 2000. He had been beheaded. Kravchenko died in mysterious circumstances in 2005. Two bullets were found in his head. An official investigation decided he had committed suicide. An investigation concluded that he had ordered Gongadze's murder. Lytvyn stated "The investigation confirmed my innocence in this case, despite the fact that efforts have been, are being and will be taken to make me practically the main person accused [of killing the journalist]".
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and the current Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's unicameral parliament. The speaker presides over the parliament and its procedures. They are elected by secret ballot from the parliament's deputy ranks...
, the Ukrainian parliament
Verkhovna Rada
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a chairman...
. Having previously served in that position from 2002 until 2006, he was re-elected in December 2008 after his party agreed to join the former coalition of Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko , née Grigyan , born 27 November 1960, is a Ukrainian politician. She was the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 24 January to 8 September 2005, and again from 18 December 2007 to 4 March 2010. She placed third in Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful...
in an expanded capacity. From 1994 to 1999, Lytvyn was the aide to President Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma 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...
and, later, the head of his office.
Early biography and private life
Lytvyn was born in Sloboda-Romanivska village in the Novohrad-VolynskyiNovohrad-Volynskyi
Novohrad-Volynskyi is a city in the Zhytomyr Oblast of northern Ukraine...
Raion
Raion
A raion is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet countries. The term, which is from French rayon 'honeycomb, department,' describes both a type of a subnational entity and a division of a city, and is commonly translated in English as "district"...
of the Zhytomyr Oblast
Zhytomyr Oblast
Zhytomyr Oblast is an oblast of northern Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Zhytomyr.-History:The oblast was created as part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on September 22, 1937....
. Lytvyn graduated from the Kiev University
Kiev University
Taras Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv , colloquially known in Ukrainian as KNU is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is the third oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and Kharkiv University. Currently, its structure...
(Faculty of History) in 1978. In 1984 he defended his dissertation "Efforts of the Communist Party of Ukraine in improving the preparation of teachers in social disciplines".
Mr Lytvyn started his career as a political analyst
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
within the Central Committee of the Ukrainian SSR's Communist Party (a division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
).
Lytvyn is a correspondent member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Honored Worker of Sciences and Technology of Ukraine. However, in 2002 he was publicly and reasonably accused of plagiarizing a Western scholar when writing his article to Zerkalo Nedeli
Zerkalo Nedeli
Zerkalo Nedeli , usually referred to in English as the Mirror Weekly, is one of Ukraine’s most influential analytical newspapers published weekly in Kiev, the nation's capital. It was founded in 1994, and as of 2006 its print circulation was 57,000. It offers political analysis, original...
newspaper.
He is married to Tetyana Kostyantynivna (born 1960), an economist. Their daughter Olena (born 1982) is a beauty industry
Beauty salon
A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment dealing with cosmetic treatments for men and women...
entrepreneur, and their son Ivan (born 1989) is a student.
Lytvyn's hobbies include reading, football, and taking care of dalmatian
Dalmatian (dog)
The Dalmatian is a breed of dog whose roots are often said to trace back to Dalmatia, a region of Croatia where the first illustrations of the dog have been found. The Dalmatian is noted for its unique black- or brown-spotted coat and was mainly used as a carriage dog in its early days...
dogs.
Political career
In 1994, Lytvyn became the aide to the newly-elected PresidentPresident of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma 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...
. In 1999, he was appointed as the head of the Presidential Administration
Secretariat of the President of Ukraine
The Presidential Administration or unofficially Bankova is an administrative body set up to assist the President of Ukraine, Ukraine's head of state. The main purpose of the Administration is to provide administrative, advisory, analytical, and legal assistance to the President...
. During the Cassette Scandal
Cassette Scandal
The Cassette Scandal , also known as "Tapegate" and "Kuchmagate", erupting in 2000, was one of the main political events in Ukraine's post-independence history...
audiotapes where released on which Kuchma, Lytvyn and other top-level administration officials are allegedly heard discussing the need to silence Georgiy Gongadze for his online news reports about high-level corruption. Gongadze’s decapitated body was found in the suburbs of Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
in November 2000.
Parliamentary career
In 2002, Lytvyn was elected to Verkhovna Rada as the head of the party bloc For United UkraineFor United Ukraine
For United Ukraine was a political alliance and an electoral bloc in Ukraine founded in December 2001 to participate in the parliamentary election in held on March 30, 2002.-2002 parliamentary election:...
("Za edynu Ukrainu"). He became the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's unicameral parliament. The speaker presides over the parliament and its procedures. They are elected by secret ballot from the parliament's deputy ranks...
(speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
) of the legislature as a compromising figure among the parliamentary factions.
Lytvyn refused to take part in the presidential election of 2004
Ukrainian presidential election, 2004
The Ukrainian presidential election, 2004 was held on October 31, November 21 and December 26, 2004. The election was the fourth presidential election to take place in Ukraine following independence from the Soviet Union...
despite his significant political influence.
Lytvyn's brother, Mykola Lytvyn is the chief of Ukraine's Border Guard
State Border Guard Service of Ukraine
State Border Guard Service of Ukraine is the border guard of Ukraine. It is an independent law enforcement agency of special assignment, the head of which is subordinated to the President of Ukraine...
.
Lytvyn is known for his ironic
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
political expressions. One of his best-known sentences is "I do not protest at forming an artificial majority
Majority
A majority is a subset of a group consisting of more than half of its members. This can be compared to a plurality, which is a subset larger than any other subset; i.e. a plurality is not necessarily a majority as the largest subset may consist of less than half the group's population...
in our parliament. But I want this majority to include every member of parliament."
At the parliamentary elections
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2006
The Ukrainian parliamentary election took place on March 26, 2006. Election campaigning officially began on July 7, 2005. Between November 26 and December 31, 2005 party lists of candidates were formed....
on March 26, 2006 his Lytvyn's People's Bloc
Lytvyn's People's Bloc
The Lytvyn Bloc, formerly Lytvyn's People's Bloc, is a centrist political alliance in Ukraine led by Volodymyr Lytvyn. According to Lytvyn the party had 400,000 members in October 2009....
won 2.44% of the popular vote and no seats since it did not meet the 3 percent threshold. Lytvyn's allies (together with other parties) declared the voting results forged, filing a court suit and starting a public campaign. However, Lytvyn himself avoids press and shows deep disappointment since the results announced. Elected vice-chairman NAN.
In the early parliamentary election
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2007
Early parliamentary elections in Ukraine took place on 30 September 2007. The date of the election was determined following agreement between the President Viktor Yushchenko, the Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Moroz on 27 May 2007, in an attempt...
held on September 30, 2007, the Lytvyn Bloc (renamed from Lytvyn's People's Bloc) consisted of the People's Party
People's Party (Ukraine)
The People's Party is a political party in Ukraine. It was previously named as the Agrarian Party of Ukraine . The party is led by Volodymyr Lytvyn...
and the Labour Party. The bloc placed fifth with 20 out of 450 seats.
2010 Ukrainian presidential election
On December 6, 2009 Mykola MelnychenkoMykola Melnychenko
Mykola Melnychenko was a bodyguard of the former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma.Between 1998 and 2000 Melnychenko allegedly recorded numerous conversations that took place in the office of the Ukrainian leader before fleeing abroad with the secretly taped recordings...
, former bodyguard to Kuchma, accused Lytvyn of ordering the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze in 2000. A spokesperson for Lytvyn dismissed the claims as part of the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election
Ukrainian presidential election, 2010
The Ukrainian presidential election of 2010 is Ukraine's fifth presidential election since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The first round was held on January 17, 2010...
campaign. During the election Lytvyn received 2,35% of the votes.
Gongadze murder
In 2000 Melnychenko released a secretly taped recording allegedly of a conversation between Kuchma and Lytvyn in which the two discussed getting rid of Gongadze. Lytvyn is alleged to have said that Kuchma should "let loose [Interior Minister] KravchenkoYuriy Kravchenko
Yuriy Fedorovych Kravchenko , was a Ukrainian police officer and statesman. In 2000, while a Minister of Internal Affairs, Kravchenko became directly involved in the murder case of Georgiy Gongadze and subsequent Cassette Scandal...
to use alternative methods" on Gongadze. Lytvyn denies the allegation, alleging that the tape is a fabrication. Independent experts who have analysed the tapes are divided as to their authenticity. Gongadze was found in a shallow grave in 2000. He had been beheaded. Kravchenko died in mysterious circumstances in 2005. Two bullets were found in his head. An official investigation decided he had committed suicide. An investigation concluded that he had ordered Gongadze's murder. Lytvyn stated "The investigation confirmed my innocence in this case, despite the fact that efforts have been, are being and will be taken to make me practically the main person accused [of killing the journalist]".
Family
- Father - Mykhailo Klymovych (1930)
- Mother - Olha Andriivna (1929)
- Brothers
- Mykola Lytvyn (1961), General of the ArmyGeneral of Army of UkraineGeneral of the Ukrainian Army is a general officer and is the highest possible rank in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. General of Army of Ukraine ranks immediately above a Colonel General and has no equivalent Navy rank.-References:*...
, Border TroopsState Border Guard Service of UkraineState Border Guard Service of Ukraine is the border guard of Ukraine. It is an independent law enforcement agency of special assignment, the head of which is subordinated to the President of Ukraine...
commander - Petro Lytvyn, a commander of the Southern Operational Command of Ukrainian Ground ForcesUkrainian Ground ForcesThe Ukrainian Ground Forces are the land force component of the Military of Ukraine. They were formed from Soviet Army formations, units, and establishments, including three military districts , that were on Ukrainian soil when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990-92.Between the fall of the USSR and...
- Mykola Lytvyn (1961), General of the Army