Petro Poroshenko

5th President of Ukraine

Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko (Ukrainian: Петро Олексійович Порошенко; born 26 September 1965 in Bolhrad[1]) is a Ukrainian billionaire businessman. He became President of Ukraine on 7 June 2014. He lost his re-election in 2019 to comedian Volodymyr Zelensky.

Petro Poroshenko
Петро Порошенко
5th President of Ukraine
In office
7 June 2014 – 20 May 2019
Prime MinisterArseniy Yatsenyuk
Volodymyr Groysman
Preceded byOleksandr Turchynov (Acting)
Succeeded byVolodymyr Zelensky
2nd Minister of Trade and Economic Development
In office
23 March 2012 – 24 December 2012
Prime MinisterMykola Azarov
Preceded byAndriy Klyuyev
Succeeded byIhor Prasolov
9th Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
9 October 2009 – 11 March 2010
Prime MinisterYulia Tymoshenko
Oleksandr Turchynov (Acting)
Preceded byVolodymyr Khandohiy
Succeeded byKostyantyn Gryshchenko
4th Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council
In office
8 February 2005 – 8 September 2005
PresidentViktor Yushchenko
Preceded byVolodymyr Radchenko
Succeeded byAnatoliy Kinakh
Personal details
Born
Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko

(1965-09-26) 26 September 1965 (age 59)
Bolhrad, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations
Solidarity (2001–present)
Social Democratic Party
(Before 2001)
Our Ukraine-People's Self-defence Bloc (2002–2012)
Spouse(s)Maryna Poroshenko
ChildrenOlexiy
Yevheniya
Oleksandra
Mykhaylo
Alma materNational University of Kyiv
Signature

Poroshenko was the People's Deputy of Ukraine of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th and 9th convocations (1998-2014, since 2019). He is a founder of the Solidarity Party of Ukraine and one of the co-founders of the Labor Solidarity Party of Ukraine, which later changed its name to the Party of Regions. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (2009-2010) in the second government of Yulia Tymoshenko and Minister of Trade (2012) in the government of Mykola Azarov. He was a member of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine (2007-2014).

Elected President of Ukraine in May 2014, winning 54.7% of the vote in the first round. During his presidency, he suspended active Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine and gained Ukraine's foreign policy support from Western (Europe and North America) countries. Under his presidency, Ukraine received a visa-free regime with the EU (2017).[2][3] He contributed to the granting of autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (2018-2019). He initiated unprecedented reforms in the army, education, medicine, public administration, etc. He ran in the 2019 presidential election, but lost to producer and showman Volodymyr Zelensky in the second round.[4][5]

In addition to his political activities, Poroshenko is engaged in business and is considered one of the Ukrainian oligarchs;[6] regularly ranks in the rankings of the wealthiest Ukrainians. He is partly the owner of the Roshen[7] confectionery corporation, several automobile and bus factories, the 5 TV channel, etc.

Biography

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The Poroshenko family is documented in the 1835 census in Safyany, Izmail County, Bessarabian Province. The family belongs to the community of Ukrainian burghers.[8] The family lived on the lands of the Ust-Danube Budzhak Cossack army.

References

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  1. "Petro Poroshenko Net Worth". The Richest. Archived from the original on 22 August 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  2. "Безвізовий режим для України підписали у Стразбурзі". 24 Канал (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  3. "Майже півмільйона українців встигли скористатися безвізом". ukraine.segodnya.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  4. "Зеленський: Порошенко привітав із перемогою". Радіо Свобода (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  5. Zaxid.net. "Порошенко привітав Зеленського з офіційними результатами виборів". ZAXID.NET (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  6. "Profile: Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko". BBC News. 2014-06-07. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  7. "У Roshen підтвердили, що Порошенко переоформлює кондитерський бізнес на сина Олексія". nv.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  8. "26 вересня | «ГРОМАДА Схід» | Для людей, про людей" (in Ukrainian). 2020-09-25. Archived from the original on 2021-01-20. Retrieved 2020-12-14.