Viktor Yushchenko
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{{Infobox President
| name = Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko<br /><small>Віктор Андрійович Ющенко<small>
| image = Viktor yushchenko.jpg|300px
| order = [[President of Ukraine]]
| primeminister = [[Yulia Tymoshenko]]<br>[[Yuriy Yekhanurov]]<br>[[Viktor Yanukovych]]<br>[[Yulia Tymoshenko]]
| vicepresident =
| term_start = [[23 January]] [[2005]]
| term_end =
| predecessor = [[Leonid Kuchma]]
| successor =
| order2 = [[Prime Minister of Ukraine]]
| president2 = [[Leonid Kuchma]]
| deputy2 =
| term_start2 = [[22 December]] [[1999]]
| term_end2 = [[29 May]] [[2001]]
| predecessor2 = [[Valeriy Pustovoitenko]]
| successor2 = [[Anatoliy Kinakh]]
| order3 = [[National Bank of Ukraine|Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine]]
| term_start3 = [[January]] [[1993]]
| term_end3 = [[22 December]] [[1999]]
| predecessor3 = [[Vadym Hetman]]
| successor3 = [[Volodymyr Stelmakh]]
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1954|02|23|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Khoruzhivka]], [[Sumy Oblast|Sumy]], [[Ukrainian SSR]], [[Soviet Union]]
| death_date =
| death_place =
| spouse = Svetlana Ivanivna Kolesnyk(div.)<br>[[Kateryna Yushchenko|Kateryna Chumachenko]]
| children = Andriy, Taras,<br>Vitalina, Sophia, Chrystyna
| religion = [[Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate|Ukrainian Orthodox]]
| party = [[Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc|OU-PSD]]
| signature = Viktor_Yushchenko_sign.svg
| website = [http://www.president.gov.ua/en/ www.president.gov.ua]
| alma_mater = [[Ternopil National Economic University|Ternopil Finance and Economics Institute]]
| branch = [[USSR Border Troops|Border Guard]] unit of [[KGB]]
| serviceyears = 1975-1976
| rank = [[Soldier]]
| battles = none
}}
'''Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko''' ([[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]: {{Audio|Juschtschenko.ogg|Віктор Андрійович Ющенко}}) (born [[February 23]] [[1954]]) is the third and current [[President of Ukraine]]. He took office on [[January 23]], [[2005]].
As an informal leader of the [[Our Ukraine|Ukrainian opposition coalition]], he was one of the two main candidates in the October–November 2004 [[Ukrainian presidential election, 2004|Ukrainian presidential election]]. Yushchenko won the election through a revote of the [[runoff election|runoff]] between him and [[Viktor Yanukovych]], the government supported candidate. The [[Supreme Court of Ukraine|Ukrainian Supreme Court]] called for the revote due to widespread [[election fraud]] in favor of Viktor Yanukovych in the original run-off. Yushchenko had won in the revote (52% to 44%). Public protests prompted by the electoral fraud played a major role in that presidential election and led to Ukraine's [[Orange Revolution]].
==Early life==
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko was born on [[February 23]], [[1954]] in [[Khoruzhivka]], [[Sumy Oblast]], [[Ukrainian SSR]], into a family of teachers. His father, Andriy Andriyovych Yushchenko (1919-1992), fought in the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Second World War]], where German forces captured and placed him in numerous concentration camps throughout Poland and Germany, including the [[Auschwitz-Birkenau]] [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camp]] as a [[POW]]. He survived the ordeal. After returning home, Andriy Yushchenko taught [[English language|English]] at a local school. Viktor's mother, Varvara Tymofiyovna Yushchenko (1918-2005), taught physics and mathematics at the same school.
Viktor Yushchenko graduated from the [[Ternopil National Economic University|Ternopil Finance and Economics Institute]], and began his profession as an accountant. After completing his studies (1975), he worked as a deputy to the chief accountant in a [[kolkhoz]], then served as a [[conscript]] in the [[USSR Border Troops|Border Guard]] unit of [[KGB]] on the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]]–[[Turkey|Turkish]] border (1975-1976).
==Central banker==
Yushchenko started a career in banking in 1976. In 1983, he became the Deputy Director for Agricultural Credit at the Ukrainian Republican Office of the USSR State Bank. From 1990 to 1993, he worked as vice-chairman and first vice-chairman of the JSC Agroindustrial Bank ''Ukraina''. In 1993, Yushchenko was appointed Chairman of the [[National Bank of Ukraine]] (Ukraine's [[central bank]]). In 1997, Ukraine's parliament re-appointed him as the bank's head.
As a central banker, Yushchenko played an important part in the creation of [[Ukraine]]'s national [[currency]], the [[hryvnia]], and the establishment of a modern regulatory system for commercial [[banking]]. He also successfully overcame a debilitating wave of [[hyper-inflation]] that hit the country -- he brought inflation down from more than 10,000 percent to less than 10 percent -- and managed to defend the value of the currency following the 1998 [[Russian financial crisis]]. He
In 1998, he wrote a thesis entitled "The Development of Supply and Demand of Money in Ukraine" and defended it in the Ukrainian Academy of Banking. He thereby earned a doctorate in economics.
==Prime Minister==
In December 1999, Ukrainian President [[Leonid Kuchma]] unexpectedly nominated Yushchenko to be the [[prime Minister of Ukraine|prime minister]] after the parliament failed to ratify, by one vote, the previous candidate, [[Valeriy Pustovoitenko|Valeriy Pustovoytenko]].
Ukraine's economy improved during Yushchenko's cabinet service. Soon, his government (particularly, deputy prime minister [[Yulia Tymoshenko]]) became embroiled in a confrontation with influential leaders of the [[coal mining]] and [[natural gas]] industries. The conflict resulted in a 2001 [[no-confidence vote]] by the parliament, orchestrated by the [[Communist Party of Ukraine|Communists]], which had opposed Yushchenko's economic policies, and by centrist groups associated with the country's powerful "[[Business oligarch|oligarchs]]". The vote passed 263 to 69 and resulted in Yushchenko's removal from office.
Many Ukrainians viewed the fall of Yushchenko's government with dismay, and they gathered four million votes on a petition supporting him and opposing the parliamentary vote. Supporters also organized a 10,000-strong demonstration in [[Kiev]], the country's capital. Yushchenko gave a moving speech before the crowd, vowing one day to return.
=="Our Ukraine" leader and political portrait==
In 2002, Yushchenko became the leader of the [[Our Ukraine]] (''Nasha Ukrayina'') political [[coalition]], which received a plurality of [[Constituency|seats]] in the year's [[Elections in Ukraine|election]] to [[Verkhovna Rada]] (Ukrainian parliament) . However, the number of seats won wasn't enough for a majority, and the efforts to form it together with other [[parliamentary opposition|opposition]] parties failed. Since then, Yushchenko has remained the leader and public face of the "Our Ukraine" ("Nasha Ukrayina") parliament [[Political factions|faction]].
Yushchenko was widely regarded as the moderate political leader of the anti-Kuchma opposition, since other opposition parties were less influential and had fewer seats in parliament.
Since the end of his term as prime minister, Yushchenko has become a [[charisma]]tic political figure popular among Ukrainians in the western and central regions of the country. As of 2001–2004, his rankings in popularity polls were higher than those of the president at the time, [[Leonid Kuchma]].
As a politician, Viktor Yushchenko is widely perceived as a mixture of Western-oriented and moderate Ukrainian [[nationalist]]. He also advocates moving Ukraine in the direction of Europe and NATO, promoting free market reforms, reforming medicine, education and the social system, preserving Ukraine's culture, rebuilding important historical monuments, and remembering Ukraine's history, including the Holodomor famine-genocide of 1932-33. His opponents (and allies) sometimes criticize him for indecision and secrecy, while advocates call the same attributes signs of Yushchenko's commitment to teamwork, [[consensus]], and negotiation. He is also often accused of being unable to form a unified team free of inner quarrels.
Since becoming the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko has been an honorary leader of "Our Ukraine" party. In the latest parliament election in March 2006, the party, led by Prime Minister [[Yekhanurov]] received less than 14% of the national vote and took third place behind the [[Party of Regions]], and the [[Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc]]. <!--- There have been calls for Yushchenko's resignation from the presidency in the light of such a fall in public support. {{fact}} -->
==Presidential election of 2004==
{{main|Ukrainian presidential election, 2004}}
In 2004, as President Kuchma's term came to an end, Yushchenko announced that he was an [[independent (politician)|independent]] candidate for [[president]]. His major rival was [[Prime Minister]] [[Viktor Yanukovych]]. Since his term as prime minister, Yushchenko had slightly modernized his political platform, adding social partnership and other [[liberal]] slogans to older ideas of [[European integration]], including Ukraine's joining [[NATO]], and fighting [[political corruption|corruption]]. Supporters of Yushchenko were organized in the "Syla Narodu" ("Power to the People") electoral coalition, which he and his political allies led, with the [[Our Ukraine]] coalition as the main constituent force.
Yushchenko built his [[political campaign|campaign]] on face-to-face communication with [[voter]]s, since the government prevented most major [[TV]] channels from providing equal coverage to candidates.<ref name="hrw_open_letter">{{cite web|url=http://hrw.org/press/2002/12/ukraine1203ltr.htm|title=Open Letter to the Speaker of the Verhkovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Lytvyn and Deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine|first=Elizabeth|last=Andersen|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|date=[[2002-12-03]]}}</ref><ref name="temniki">{{cite news|url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/archive/2004/july/6/3.shtml|title=Temniki. No comments|date=2004-07-06|publisher=[[Ukrayinska Pravda]]|language=Ukrainian}} Requests from Administration of President Kuchma to media.</ref> Meanwhile, his rival, Yanukovych, frequently appeared in the news and even accused Yushchenko, whose father was a Red Army soldier imprisoned at [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]], of being "a Nazi".<ref name="nazi_billboard">{{cite news|url=http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/2003/460306.shtml|title=Hard lessons for Our Ukraine in Donetsk|first=Jan|last=Maksymiuk|publisher=The Ukrainian Weekly|date=[[2003-11-16]]}}</ref><ref name="auschwitz">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4215101.stm|title=Yushchenko's Auschwitz connection|first=Malcolm|last=Haslett|publisher=BBC News|date=[[2005-01-28]]}}</ref>
===Dioxin poisoning===
The campaign was often bitter and violent. Yushchenko became seriously ill in early September 2004. He was flown to [[Vienna]]'s [[Rudolfinerhaus]] clinic for treatment and diagnosed with [[acute pancreatitis]], accompanied by interstitial edematous changes, due to a serious viral infection and chemical substances that are not normally found in food products. Yushchenko claimed such poisoning to be the work of government agents. After the illness, his face became heavily disfigured: grossly jaundiced, bloated, and pockmarked.
Though there was much speculation in the first weeks after the poisoning, soon it became apparent to experts around the world that the signs on Yushchenko's face were due to chloracne, which can only be the result of dioxin poisoning.
After seeing Yushchenko's deformed face on the evening news, the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] [[toxicologist]] Bram Brouwer contacted the Rudolfinerhaus to test some of Yushchenko's blood at the [[Free University of Amsterdam]] for [[Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins|dioxin]]. According to Dr. Michael Zimpfer, president of the Rudolfinerhaus, these tests provided conclusive evidence that Yushchenko's condition resulted from high concentrations of dioxin, most likely orally administered.
This hypothesis had also been suggested by British toxicologist [[John Henry (toxicologist)|Prof John Henry]] of [[St Mary's Hospital (London)|St Mary's Hospital]] in [[London]].
On [[December 11]], Austrian doctors confirmed Yushchenko had been poisoned with [[Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins|TCDD dioxin]], and had more than 6,000 times the usual concentration in his body.<ref>{{cite news |first=Jill |last=Dougherty |title=Doctors: Yushchenko was poisoned |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/12/11/yushchenko.austria/index.html |work=[[CNN]] |publisher= |id= |date=[[December 11]], [[2004]] |accessdate=2007-04-02 |language=English |quote= }}</ref>
This was the highest dioxin level ever measured in a human.
Since 2005, Yushchenko has been treated by a team of doctors led by Professor Jean Saurat at the University of Geneva Hospital. Saurat has recently published academic papers on the metabolism of dioxin in the human body.
There was much unprofessional speculation in Ukraine and abroad about the source of Yushchenko's poisoning. Yushchenko's subsequent chief of staff Oleg Ribachuk incorrectly suggested that the poison used was a [[mycotoxin]] called [[T-2 mycotoxin|T-2]], also known as "Yellow Rain", a Soviet-era substance reputedly used in [[Afghanistan]] as a [[chemical weapon]]{{Fact|date=April 2008}}. Others named ricin as a possible cause, but the symptoms were entirely different.
Many have linked Yushchenko's poisoning to a dinner with a group of senior Ukrainian officials, including the head of the Security Service of Ukraine ([[Security Service of Ukraine|SBU]]), Ihor Smeshko, and the Deputy Head Volodymyr Satsiuk, on the evening before Yushchenko fell ill. In connection to that, theories of links to the Russian [[FSB (Russia)|FSB]] arose. Victor Medvechuk, President Kuchma's Chief of Staff during the time of the poisoning, and Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, a close ally of Kuchma's close friend Oleksandr Volkov, Yulia Timoshenko and David Zhvaniya, were also named as possible co-conspirators in the case. Currently, Satsiuk and two others present at the dinner have fled to Russia where they remain in hiding from Ukraine authorities. It is rumored they have received Russian citizenship.
====Poisoning controversy====
On [[September 28]], [[2004]] a report issued by the [[Reuters]] news agency based on a faxed statement assumed to be from Vienna's Rudolfinerhaus Hospital has claimed that "the information disseminated about an alleged poisoning (of Ukrainian presidential candidate Victor Yushchenko) is absolutely unfounded in medical terms". On [[October 3]], [[2004]] the administration of the Rudolfinerhaus hospital issued an official statement signed by Prof. Dr. [[Michael Zimpfer]], President of the Hospital and Prof. Dr. [[Lothar Wicke]], Managing Director and Chief Doctor of the hospital that revealed this initial report was falsified as part of a black political PR campaign. It was learned that disinformation was circulated by the "Trimedia" PR Agency - but this agency got it from another PR company [[Euro RSCG]] (reported to be linked with Kuchma's daughter [[Elena Franchuk]] <ref name="ft_secretpolice">{{cite news|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/562812c6-4f8d-11d9-86b3-00000e2511c8.html|title=Yushchenko links poison to meal with secret police|first=Tom|last=Warner|work=[[Financial Times]]|date=2004-12-16|accessdate=2006-12-25}}</ref>).<ref name="unian_054">{{cite news|url=http://unian.net/products/d_detail.php?id=53567|title=Issue №054|work=Election-2004|format=Word|publisher=[[UNIAN]]|date=2004-10-05|accessdate=2006-12-25}}</ref><ref name="fake_letter">{{cite news|url=http://www.jamestown.org/publications_details.php?volume_id=401&issue_id=3098&article_id=2368647|title=Fake letter from Yushchenko's doctor questions poisoning claim|first=Taras|last=Kuzio|publisher=The Jamestown Foundation|date=2004-10-06|accessdate=2006-12-25}}</ref>
During Yushchenko's third visit to Vienna on [[December 8]], [[2004]] (about two weeks before the runoff elections), Dr. [[Nikolai Korpan]] claimed in a press conference that there was certain proof that his patient had been poisoned.<ref name="times_whopoisoned">{{cite web|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1393172,00.html|title=Who poisoned Yushchenko?|first=Jeremy|last=Page|publisher=[[The Times]]|date=2004-12-08|accessdate=2006-12-25}}</ref> The next day, however, Prof. Dr. Lothar Wicke (who had disagreed with Korpan's statement, and the manner in which it was issued) was removed from his post as medical director. Wicke subsequently sued the Rudolfinerhaus for substantial damages, claiming that he was forced out of his job for refusing to go along with the poisoning diagnosis. The case was scheduled to be heard in March 2005.
"There is no doubt whatsoever that this was a very serious case of dioxin poisoning ... there is no other way that that amount could have got into his body by accident," [http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=f59a6d56-8205-4d2f-a2e8-64d21de8905d said Professor Jean-Hilaire Saurat].
In June 2008 David Zhvania, a former political ally of Yushchenko, an ex-minister in the cabinet of [[Yulia_Tymoshenko]] and a chief suspect in the case, has claimed again in an interview with BBC <ref>http://unian.net/eng/news/news-254731.html</ref> that presidential candidate Yushchenko was not poisoned in 2004, and the results of expertises on the case were falsified. Zhvaniya, who is suspected to have falsified information in order to obtain Ukrainian citizenship in the mid-1990s, and who has been accused of receiving foreign sources of money during the 2004 campaign from Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, is now suspected to have also worked with Russian Security Services.
===Unprecedented three rounds of voting===
{{main|Orange Revolution|Post-election developments in Ukraine, 2004}}
[[Image:Wiktor Juschtschenko.jpg|thumb|166px|Viktor Yushchenko seen during the [[Orange Revolution]].]]
The initial vote, held on [[October 31]], [[2004]], saw Yushchenko obtaining 39.87% in front of Yanukovych with 39.32%. As no candidate reached the 50% [[margin]] required for outright victory, a second round of [[run-off voting]] was held on [[November 21]], [[2004]]. Although a 75% [[voter turnout]] was recorded, [[observation|observer]]s reported many irregularities and abuses across the country, such as organized multiple voting and extra votes for Yanukovych after the polls closed. [[Exit poll]] results put Yushchenko ahead in the western and central provinces of the country.
The alleged [[electoral fraud]], combined with the fact that the exit polls recorded a result (an 11% margin of victory for Yushchenko in one poll) so radically different from the final vote tally (a 3% margin of victory for Yanukovych), prompted Yushchenko and his supporters to refuse to recognize the results.
After thirteen days of massive popular protests in [[Kiev]] and other Ukrainian cities, that became known as the [[Orange Revolution]], the election results were overturned by the [[Supreme Court of Ukraine|Supreme Court]] and a re-run of the run-off election was ordered for [[December 26]]. Yushchenko proclaimed a victory for the opposition and declared his confidence that he would be elected with at least 60% of the vote. He did win the third round, but with 51.99% of the vote.
==President==
{{Update}}
===Inauguration===
<!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: [[Image:VRU Jan23 2005 results.jpg|thumb|250px|Viktor Yushchenko taking the [[oath of office]] in the [[Verkhovna Rada]] on [[January 23]], [[2005]].]] -->
On [[January 23]], [[2005]], 12pm ([[Eastern European Summer Time|Kiev time]]), the [[inauguration]] of Viktor Yushchenko as the [[President of Ukraine]] took place. The event was attended by various foreign dignitaries, including:
* [[Arnold Rüütel]], [[President of Estonia]]
* [[Adrienne Clarkson]], [[Governor General of Canada]]
* [[Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga]], [[President of Latvia]]
* [[Vladimir Voronin]], [[President of Moldova]]
* [[Aleksander Kwaśniewski]], [[President of Poland]]
* [[Traian Băsescu]], [[President of Romania]]
* [[Ivan Gašparovič]], [[President of Slovakia]]
* [[Ferenc Mádl]], [[President of Hungary]]
* [[Artur Rasizade]], [[Prime Minister of Azerbaijan]]
* [[Jan Peter Balkenende]], [[Prime Minister of the Netherlands]]
* [[Jaap de Hoop Scheffer]], [[Secretary General of NATO]]
* [[Nino Burjanadze]], Speaker of the [[Parliament of Georgia]]
* [[Artūras Paulauskas]], Speaker of the [[Seimas]] (Parliament of [[Lithuania]])
* [[Colin Powell]], [[United States Secretary of State]]
*Special guest [[Václav Havel]], former [[President of the Czech Republic]]
===Presidency===
[[Image:Yushchenko and Bush April 2005.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Yushchenko meeting [[United States|American]] President [[George W. Bush]] at an April 2005 press conference.]]
The first 100 days of Yushchenko's term, [[January 23]], [[2005]], through [[May 1]], [[2005]], were marked by numerous dismissals and appointments at all levels of the executive branch. [[Yulia Tymoshenko]] was ratified by the [[Verkhovna Rada]] as the Prime Minister. [[Oleksandr Zinchenko]] was appointed the head of the presidential secretariat with a nominal title of the Secretary of State. [[Petro Poroshenko]], a cutthroat competitor of Tymoshenko for the post of the Prime Minister, was appointed the Secretary of the [[National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine|Security and Defense Council]].
In August 2005, Yushchenko joined with Georgian President [[Mikheil Saakashvili]] in signing the Borjomi Declaration, which called for the creation of an institution of international cooperation, The [[Community of Democratic Choice]], to bring together the democracies and incipient democracies in the region around the Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. The first meeting of presidents and leaders to discuss the CDC took place on December 1-2, 2005 in Kiev.
===Dismissal of other Orange Revolution members===
On [[September 8]], [[2005]], Yushchenko fired his government, led by [[Yulia Tymoshenko]], after resignations and corruption claims.
On [[September 9]], acting [[Prime Minister of Ukraine|Prime Minister]] [[Yuriy Yekhanurov]] tried to form a new government.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4228650.stm Ukraine leader to build new team] 9 September 2005</ref> On September 22, Mr. Yekhanurov was ratified by the parliament on second attempt (289 ayes). In the first attempt (September 20), Mr. Yekhanurov fell short of 3 votes (223 ayes, 226 needed).
Also in September, former president of Ukraine [[Leonid Kravchuk]] accused exiled Russian tycoon [[Boris Berezovsky]] of financing Yushchenko's presidential election campaign, and provided copies of documents showing money transfers from companies he said are controlled by Berezovsky to companies controlled by Yushchenko's official backers. Berezovsky has confirmed that he met Yushchenko's representatives in London before the election, and that the money was transferred from his companies, but he refused to confirm or deny that the companies that received the money were used in Yushchenko's campaign. Financing of election campaigns by foreign citizens is illegal in Ukraine.
In August 2006, he appointed his onetime opponent in the presidential race, [[Viktor Yanukovych]], to be the new Prime Minister. This was generally regarded as synonymous with a move by Ukraine back into the Russian fold.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5242860.stm Ukraine comeback kid in new deal] 4 August 2006</ref>
===Dissolution of Verkhovna Rada===
{{main|2007 Ukrainian political crisis|Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2007}}
On [[April 2]], [[2007]], Yushchenko signed an order to dissolve Parliament and call early elections.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/02/europe/web0204-kiev.php|title=Ukraine president dissolves Parliament and calls for elections|publisher=[[International Herald Tribune]]|date=[[2007-04-02]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://zakon1.rada.gov.ua/cgi-bin/laws/main.cgi?nreg=264%2F2007|title=On stopping ahead of schedule powers of Verhovna Rada of Ukraine|work=Order of President of Ukraine|date=[[2007-04-02]]|language=Ukrainian}}</ref> Some consider the dissolution order illegal because none of the conditions spelled out under [[s:Constitution of Ukraine#Article 90|Article 90]] of the [[Constitution of Ukraine]] for the president to dissolve the legislature had been met. Yushchenko's detractors argue that he is attempting to usurp the functions of the [[Constitutional Court of Ukraine|Constitutional Court]] by claiming constitutional violations by the [[Verkhovna Rada]] as a pretext for his action; the Verkhovna Rada is taking this to the Constitutional Court itself and promises to abide by its ruling. In the meantime, competing protests are being staged and this crisis is escalating. The Verkhovna Rada continues to meet and has banned the financing of any [[Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2007|new election]] pending the Constitutional Court's decision.
==Family and private life==
Yushchenko is married to [[Kateryna Yushchenko-Chumachenko]] (his second wife). She is a [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]]-[[United States|American]] born in [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]] who received a degree in Economics from Georgetown University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. She also studied at the Ukrainian Institute at Harvard University. Her resume includes working at the Ukrainian Congress Committeee of America, the Bureau for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs at the [[United States Department of State|U.S. State Department]], the Reagan White House, US Treasury Department and Joint Economic Committee of Congress. In Ukraine she first worked with the US-Ukraine Foundation, then as Country Director for KPMG Barents Group.
Kateryna Yushchenko heads up the Ukraine 3000 Foundation, which emphasizes promoting civil society, particularly charity and corporate resposibiltiy. The Foundation implements programs in the areas of children's health, integrating the disabled, improving education, supporting culture and the arts, publishing books, researching history and particularly Ukraine's famine genocide of 1932-33. From 1995 to 2005, she worked closely with "Pryately Ditey" an organization that helps Ukrainian orphans.
Criticized for her US citizenship by her husband's opponents, Kateryna became a Ukrainian citizen on March 2005, and renounced her US citizenship, as required by Ukrainian law, in March 2007. During the 2004 election campaign, Kateryna was accused of exerting the influence of the U.S. government on her husband's decisions, as an employee of the U.S. government or even a [[CIA]] agent. A [[Russia]]n state television journalist had earlier accused her of leading a U.S. project to help Yushchenko seize power in Ukraine; in January 2002, she won a libel case against that journalist. Ukraine's then anti-Yushchenko ''Inter'' TV channel repeated the allegations in 2001, but in January 2003 she won a libel case against that channel as well.
Yushchenko has five children and two grandchildren: sons Andriy (1985) and Taras (2004), daughters Vitalina (1980), Sophia (1999) and Chrystyna (2000), grandchildren Domenika (2000) and Victor (2005).
A practicing member of the [[Ukrainian Orthodox Church]],<ref>[http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/2006/200607.shtml "UOC-MP threatens sanctions against President Yushchenko"] ''UkrWeekly'' 14.05.2006</ref> Yushchenko often emphasizes the deep role of his religious convictions in his life and worldview.
His main hobbies are [[Ukrainians|Ukrainian]] traditional culture (including [[folk art|art]] [[Ceramics (art)|ceramics]] wood working and [[archaeology]]), [[mountain climbing]] and [[beekeeping]]. He is keen on painting, collects antiques, objects of folk-customs and Ukrainian national clothes, and restores objects of [[Cucuteni culture|Trypillya culture]].
Each year he climbs [[Hoverla]], Ukraine's highest mountain. After receiving a checkup in which doctors determined he was healthy despite the previous year's dioxin poisoning, he successfully climbed the mountain again on July 16, 2005.
==See also==
* [[List of national leaders]]
* [[Orange Revolution]]
* [[Politics of Ukraine]]
* [[Ukrainian presidential election, 2004]]
* [[Ukrainization]]
* [[Victims of poisoning]]
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
* [http://www.rol.org.ua/eng/newsitem.cfm?unid=20. Сandidate Viktor Yushchenko wins first round of Ukraine election] ([[10 November]] [[2004]]). ''Rule of Law Foundation''.
==External links==
{{Commons|Viktor Yushchenko}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{wikinewshas|News related to this article|
* [[Wikinews:Ukraine political crisis|Ukraine political crisis]]
* [[Wikinews:Ukraine opposition candidate Yushchenko is suffering from a Dioxin intoxication, doctors say|Yushchenko is suffering from a Dioxin]]
* [[Wikinews:Ukrainian opposition leader calls for police and army to join revolution|Yushchenko calls for army to join revolution]]
* [[Wikinews:Yushchenko claims victory in re-run|Yushchenko claims victory in re-run]]
}}
<div class="references-small">
:'''Web sites and pages'''
* [http://www.yuschenko.com.ua/eng/ My Ukraine] — Personal website of Viktor Yushchenko
* [http://www.president.gov.ua/en/ President of Ukraine] — Official website
* [http://www.razom.org.ua/ razom.org.ua] — Nasha Ukrayina website
* [http://www.rada.gov.ua/zakon/skl4/6session/STENOGR/23010506_UZ.htm Verbatim Account of the Inaugural Ceremony, January 23, 2005] — Official site of the parliament {{uk icon}}
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI36gCtLHEE youtube.com] — video file of Viktor Yushchenko speaking to the Ukrainian nation] {{uk icon}}
:'''News and articles'''
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4035789.stm BBC News profile]
* [http://www.newstin.com/us/viktor-yushchenko Viktor Yuschenko in news]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1393172,00.html ''Who poisoned Viktor Yushchenko?''] (from the Times Online)
* [http://pravda.com.ua/news/2005/9/26/33856.htm ''Approval of Yekhanurov: The Price of the Deal''] (''[[Ukrayinska Pravda]]'''s critical article on the agreement between Yushchenko and Yanukovych; September 2005) {{uk icon}}
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{{s-off}}
{{Succession box |title=Chairman of the [[National Bank of Ukraine]] |before=[[Vadym Hetman]] |after=[[Volodymyr Stelmakh]] |years=1993 – 1999}}
{{Succession box |title=[[Prime Minister of Ukraine]] |before=[[Valeriy Pustovoitenko]] |after=[[Anatoliy Kinakh]] |years=1999 – 2001}}
{{Incumbent succession box |title=[[President of Ukraine]] |before=[[Leonid Kuchma]] |start=2005}}
{{end box}}
{{UkrainePresidents}}
{{UkrainianPMs}}
{{2004 presidential election candidates, Ukraine}}
<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
{{Persondata
|NAME= Yushchenko, Viktor
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION= 3rd [[President of Ukraine]]
|DATE OF BIRTH= [[February 23]], [[1954]]
|PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Khoruzhivka]], [[Sumy Oblast]]
|DATE OF DEATH=
|PLACE OF DEATH=
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yushchenko, Viktor}}
[[Category:1954 births]]
[[Category:Presidents of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Prime ministers of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Ukrainian politicians]]
[[Category:Ukrainian economists]]
[[Category:Ukrainian bankers]]
[[Category:Ukrainian Eastern Orthodox Christians]]
[[Category:Ukrainian Orthodox Christians]]
[[Category:People from Sumy Oblast]]
[[Category:Current national leaders]]
[[Category:Beekeepers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Ukrainian democracy activists]]
<!-- Interwiki -->
[[ang:Victor Iusccenco]]
[[ar:فيكتور يوشتشينكو]]
[[be:Віктар Андрэевіч Юшчанка]]
[[be-x-old:Віктар Юшчанка]]
[[bg:Виктор Юшченко]]
[[ca:Víktor Iúixtxenko]]
[[cs:Viktor Juščenko]]
[[da:Viktor Jusjtjenko]]
[[de:Wiktor Juschtschenko]]
[[et:Viktor Juštšenko]]
[[el:Βίκτορ Γιούστσενκο]]
[[es:Víktor Yushchenko]]
[[eo:Viktor Juŝĉenko]]
[[fa:ویکتور یوشچنکو]]
[[fr:Viktor Iouchtchenko]]
[[ga:Viktor Yushchenko]]
[[gd:Viktor Yushchenko]]
[[gl:Viktor Yushchenko]]
[[ko:빅토르 유셴코]]
[[io:Viktor Yushchenko]]
[[id:Viktor Yushchenko]]
[[it:Viktor Juščenko]]
[[he:ויקטור יושצ'נקו]]
[[ka:ვიქტორ იუშჩენკო]]
[[la:Victor Iuscenco]]
[[lv:Viktors Juščenko]]
[[lt:Viktoras Juščenka]]
[[hu:Viktor Andrijovics Juscsenko]]
[[mk:Виктор Јушченко]]
[[mr:व्हिक्टर युश्चेन्को]]
[[nl:Viktor Joesjtsjenko]]
[[ja:ヴィクトル・ユシチェンコ]]
[[no:Viktor Jusjtsjenko]]
[[nn:Viktor Jusjtsjenko]]
[[oc:Viktor Iushchenko]]
[[pl:Wiktor Juszczenko]]
[[pt:Viktor Yushchenko]]
[[ro:Viktor Iuşcenko]]
[[ru:Ющенко, Виктор Андреевич]]
[[scn:Viktor Yushenko]]
[[simple:Viktor Yushchenko]]
[[sk:Viktor Juščenko]]
[[sr:Виктор Јушченко]]
[[sh:Viktor Juščenko]]
[[fi:Viktor Juštšenko]]
[[sv:Viktor Jusjtjenko]]
[[vi:Viktor Yushchenko]]
[[tr:Viktor Yuşçenko]]
[[uk:Ющенко Віктор Андрійович]]
[[war:Viktor Yushchenko]]
[[zh:維克多·安德烈耶維奇·尤先科]]