Yuriy Fedorovych Kravchenko , was a Ukrainian

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...

 police officer and statesman. In 2000, while a Minister of Internal Affairs, Kravchenko became directly involved in the murder case of Georgiy Gongadze

Georgiy R. Gongadze

Georgiy Ruslanovich Gongadze was a Ukrainian journalist of Georgian origin who was kidnapped and murdered in 2000.The circumstances of his death became a national scandal and a focus for protests against the government of the then President, Leonid Kuchma...

 and subsequent 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...

. Later he was the governor of Kherson Oblast

Kherson Oblast

Kherson Oblast is an oblast in southern Ukraine, just north of Crimea. Its administrative center is Kherson. The area of the region is 29000 km², its population is 1.12 million.Important cities in the oblast include:...

 (December 2001 to April 2002) and Head of the State Tax Administration of Ukraine  (December 2002 to June 2003).

Early biography

Born in Oleksandriia

Oleksandriia

Oleksandriia is a city located in the Kirovohrad Oblast in central Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Oleksandriiskyi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast....

, Kirovohrad Oblast

Kirovohrad Oblast

Kirovohrad Oblast is an oblast of Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Kirovohrad.-Geography:The area of the province is , its population is 1.1 million....

, Kravchenko was a police officer that made the top-possible career in Ukrainian police. Minister of Internal Affairs from 1995 until sacking in March 2001.

Gongadze Case and Cassette Scandal

See also: "Eagles of Kravchenko".

Suspicious death

Kravchenko was found dead in his apartment near 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....

 on March 4, 2005. He was at that time called as a witness in the murder case of Gongadze. It was claimed that Kravchenko committed suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

, some news reports have suggested that he suffered two gunshot wounds to the head.

See also

• 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...
  
  
• Ukraine without Kuchma
  Ukraine without Kuchma
  Ukraine without Kuchma! or UbK was a mass protest campaign preceding the Orange Revolution that took place in Ukraine in 2000–2001. Unlike the Orange Revolution the UbK was effectively extinguished by the government enforcement units followed by numerous arrests of the opposition and the...
  
  
• Politics of Ukraine
  Politics of Ukraine
  Politics of Ukraine take place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Cabinet. Legislative power is vested in the parliament...
  
  
• Government of Ukraine
  Government of Ukraine
  Government of Ukraine is often associated with the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. However it should be considered that Ukraine is a country under a semi-presidential system with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government...
  
  
• Multiple gunshot suicide
  Multiple gunshot suicide
  Multiple gunshot suicide occurs when a person commits suicide by inflicting multiple gunshots on himself or herself before becoming incapacitated. It excludes suicides where the firearms are operated by other people, such as suicide by cop....
  
  

External links

The Key Witness in the Gongadze Case Dead (March 2005 Ukrayinska Pravda

Ukrayinska Pravda

Ukrayinska Pravda is a popular Ukrainian internet newspaper, founded by Georgiy R. Gongadze in April, 2000...

article on the death of Kravchenko, analysing also his role in Gongadze case - includes fragments of the Melnychenko recordings featuring Kravchenko)