Vadym Petrovych Hetman (; 12 July 1935 – 22 April 1998) was a Ukrainian statesman, politician, and banker. He is credited with the creation of the

National Bank of Ukraine The National Bank of Ukraine ( ; NBU []) is the central bank of Ukraine. Created in 1991 from the Ukrainian operations of the Soviet Gosbank, the NBU employs over 12,000 people, making it one of the largest employers in the financial sector in ...

, Ukraine's central bank. He was assassinated in April 1998 in his home in Kyiv. According to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, the crime was paid for by former

Prime Minister of Ukraine The prime minister of Ukraine (, , ) is the head of government of Ukraine. The prime minister presides over the government of Ukraine, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of the government of Ukrain ...

Pavlo Lazarenko Pavlo Ivanovych Lazarenko (; born 23 January 1953) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian convicted criminal, international fugitive, and a former politician who served as Prime Minister of Ukraine from 1996 to 1997. Born in 1953 to a peasant family in southe ...

. He was posthumously conferred the title of

Hero of Ukraine A Hero of Ukraine (HOU; ) is the highest national decoration that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the president of Ukraine. The decoration was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma. As of 6 June 2025, the total number of re ...

on 11 July 2005.

Early life and career

Vadym Petrovych Hetman was born in the village of Snityn, located in

Poltava Oblast Poltava Oblast (), also referred to as Poltavshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of central Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Poltava. Most of its territory was par ...

(at the time in the

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

), in 1935. In 1956, he finished the Kyiv Financial-Economic Institute, after which he worked in various financial institutions in

Zaporizhzhia Oblast Zaporizhzhia Oblast (), commonly referred to as Zaporizhzhia (), is an oblast (region) in south-east Ukraine. Its administrative centre is the city of Zaporizhzhia. The oblast covers an area of , and has a population of The oblast is an import ...

. In 1975, Vadym Hetman was named the first vice-president to the Head of the Government Committee of Pricing of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1987, he became the head of the Agricultural-Industrial Bank of the Ukrainian SSR (since 1990 Ukraine Bank).

Chairman of the National Bank

On 24 March 1992, Vadym Hetman was accepted as the Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine. He supervised early monetary reforms in newly independent Ukraine through 1993, when he resigned from his position as the head of the supervisory board of the

. However, he maintained close ties with his successor,

Viktor Yushchenko Viktor Andriiovych Yushchenko (, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. He aimed to orient Ukraine towards Western world, the West, European Union, and N ...

. Hetman's signature appears on the original banknotes of Ukraine's national currency, the hryvnia, which was introduced in September 1996.

People's Deputy of Ukraine

Hetman was also a member of the

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 Deputy (legislator), deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovn ...

from 1990 to 1998. He went for his second term as deputy in 1994 from the Talne electoral district of

Cherkasy Oblast Cherkasy Oblast (, ), also referred to as Cherkashchyna (, ) is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in central Ukraine located along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. The Capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the cit ...

as a

nonpartisan Nonpartisan or non-partisan may refer to: __NOTOC__ General political concepts * Nonpartisanship, also known as Nonpartisanism, co-operation without reference to political parties * Non-partisan democracy, an election with no official recognition ...

. He received 50.97% of the vote in the first round of voting. He ran for a third term in the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary election, but failed to get re-elected, receiving only 21.85% of the vote, 3.87% below the required percentage to win. His opponent was First Deputy Minister of Information Mykhailo Onofryichuk. He is also known to have complained to the then-President

Leonid Kuchma Leonid Danylovych Kuchma (, ; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine, serving from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. The only president of Ukraine to serve two terms, his presidency was marked by demo ...

about voting irregularities within the Verkhovna Rada itself.

Assassination

Hetman was shot by an apparently professional killer in the elevator of his own apartment block in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

on 22 April 1998. The alleged assassin, 29-year-old Serhiy Kulev, a member of the "Kushner gang" from the

Donbas The Donbas (, ; ) or Donbass ( ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. The majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The word ''Donbas'' is a portmanteau formed fr ...

, was only arrested in 2002. He was later sentenced to life imprisonment without bond in April 2003. The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has claimed that the assassination was ordered and paid for by

, a former Prime Minister of Ukraine. Lazarenko has denied responsibility for the killing. Despite the

Luhansk Luhansk (, ; , ), also known as Lugansk (, ; , ), is a city in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be making Luhansk the Cities in Ukraine, 12th-largest city in Ukraine. Luhansk served as the administra ...

City Court's verdict, the case remains far from being certain. In early August 2005, the media reported that the convict filed an appeal to the

Supreme Court of Ukraine The Supreme Court of Ukraine () is the highest judicial body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction in Ukraine.posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award, an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication, publishing of creative work after the author's death * Posthumous (album), ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1 ...

conferred the title of

by President

on 11 July 2005. On 12 July 2005, a memorial plate was established in his honour on House № 13, where Hetman lived and was assassinated. In 2005, The

Kyiv National Economic University The Kyiv National Economic University is a self-governing public university in Kyiv, Ukraine. The university was founded in 1906 as Higher commercial courses. It was ranked #3 by the Ukrainian national ranking of the universities conducted by ...

was renamed in honour of Vadym Hetman, which he attended in the 1950s. On 19 April 2006, the ''Industrial Street'' in Kyiv was renamed in his honour. A

regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wa ...

cup, "Vadym Hetman Cup" bears his name.

References

External links

National Bank of Ukraine
— official website
Vadym Hetman Cup
— official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Hetman, Vadym 1935 births 1998 deaths People from Poltava Oblast Ukrainian bankers Governors of the National Bank of Ukraine Assassinated Ukrainian politicians Deaths by firearm in Ukraine People murdered in Ukraine First convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Second convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Recipients of the title of Hero of Ukraine Kyiv National Economic University alumni Burials at Baikove Cemetery European politicians assassinated in the 1990s Politicians assassinated in 1998