Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko ( uk, Петро́ Олексі́йович Пороше́нко, ; born 26 September 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. Poroshenko served as the

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

from 2009 to 2010, and as the Minister of Trade and Economic Development in 2012. From 2007 until 2012, he headed the Council of Ukraine's National Bank. He was elected president on 25 May 2014, receiving 54.7% of the votes cast in the first round, thus winning outright and avoiding a run-off. During his presidency, Poroshenko led the country through the first phase of the

War in Donbas War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, pushing the Russian separatist forces into the Donbas Region. He began the process of integration with the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

by signing the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement. Poroshenko's domestic policy promoted the

Ukrainian language Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state lan ...

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

, inclusive capitalism,

decommunization Decommunization is the process of dismantling the legacies of communist state establishments, culture, and psychology in the post-communist countries. It is sometimes referred to as political cleansing. Although the term has been occasionally ...

, and administrative decentralization. In 2018, Poroshenko helped create the

autocephalous Autocephaly (; from el, αὐτοκεφαλία, meaning "property of being self-headed") is the status of a hierarchical Christian church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. The term is primarily used in Eastern O ...

Orthodox Church of Ukraine, separating Ukrainian churches from the Moscow Patriarchate. His presidency was distilled into a three-word slogan, employed by both supporters and opponents: ''armiia, mova, vira'' (English:

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people ofte ...

). As a candidate for a second term in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, Poroshenko obtained 24.5% in the second round, and was defeated by Volodymyr Zelenskyy. There was no true consensus in the expert community on a singular reason for why Poroshenko lost, though various reasons cited are; a rapid decline in the overall quality of life, failure to successfully end the war, failure to stem corruption, several corruption scandals in which Poroshenko or people closely associated with him were involved (that included an investigation publicized during the election campaign, according to which Poroshenko's people created a money laundering scheme in

Ukroboronprom , type = State-owned enterprise , location = , industry = Conglomerate: Defense industry , predecessor = , founded = , founder = , hq_location_city = Kyiv , hq_location_country = Ukraine , num_locations = , num_locations_year = , ...

), a conflict with

Ihor Kolomoyskyi Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoyskyi ( uk, Ігор Валерійович Коломойський, translit=Ihor Valereriyovych Kolomoyskyi; he, איגור קולומויסקי; born 13 February 1963) is a Ukrainian-born billionaire, business magnat ...

which resulted in an anti-Poroshenko campaign by

1+1 Media Group 1+1 Media Group ( doing business as TRK «Studiia 1+1», LLC, uk, ТОВ «ТРК „Студія 1+1“») is one of the largest media conglomerates in Ukraine. The General Director of the Group is Yaroslav Pakholchuk. Structure 1+1 Media Grou ...

(one of the largest media conglomerates in Ukraine), an information campaign supported by Russia against him, an overall fatigue from Ukrainian political elites, a presidential campaign that was focused almost exclusively on the right-wing and nationalistic population and exploited the patriotism topic at the expense of debates about social and economic situation, and lack of understanding and communication with Ukrainian people. Poroshenko is a people's deputy of the Verkhovna Rada and leader of the European Solidarity party. Outside government, Poroshenko has been a prominent Ukrainian oligarch with a lucrative career in acquiring and building assets. His most recognized brands are Roshen, a large-scale confectionery company which has earned him the nickname of "Chocolate King", and his TV news channel ''

5 kanal 5 Kanal ( uk, 5 канал, lit=Channel 5) is a television station in Ukraine formerly owned by businessman and fifth President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.Poroshenko's father died
, Ukrayinska Pravda (16 June 2020) was an engineer and later government official who managed multiple factories in the Ukrainian SSR. Little is known about his mother, Yevhenia Serhiyivna Hryhorchuk (1937–2004), but a Ukrainian newspaper said she was an accountant, who taught at a vocational and technical school of accounting. He also spent his childhood and youth in Tighina (

Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ( ro, Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic: ) was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on 2 August 1940 ...

, now known as Bender and under ''de facto'' control of the unrecognized breakaway state

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

),All In The Family: The Sequel
, Kyiv Post (7 October 2016) where his father Oleksii was heading a machine building plant and where he learned Romanian. In his youth, Poroshenko practiced

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

and sambo, and was a Candidate for Master of Sport of the USSR. Despite good grades, he was not awarded the normal gold medal at graduation, and on his report card he was given a "C" for his behavior. After getting into a fight with four Soviet Army cadets at the

military commissariat A military commissariat is an institution that is part of military service or law enforcement mechanisms in some European countries. As part of the British Army in the 19th century, military commissariats were used for organisational, accounti ...

, he was sent to army service in the distant

Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic ; kk, Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы) *1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (russian: Республика Казахстан; kk, Қазақстан Республикасы) , linking_name = the ...

. In 1989, Poroshenko graduated, having begun studying in 1982, with a degree in economics from the international relations and law department (subsequently the Institute of International Relations) at the

Kyiv University Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...

. At this university he was friends with Mikheil Saakashvili who he would appoint as

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of the Odessa Oblast (region) in May 2015 and who is a former President of Georgia. In 1984, Poroshenko married a medical student, Maryna Perevedentseva (born 1962). Their first son,

Oleksiy Oleksii, Oleksiy or OleksiĭALA-LC romanization of Ukrainian. ( uk, Олексі́й, Oleksij ) is a Ukrainian male name of Ancient Greek origin. Some people with the given name Oleksiy * Oleksiy Antonov (born 1986), Ukrainian football forward * ...

, was born in 1985 (his three other children were born in 2000 and 2001). From 1989 to 1992, Poroshenko was an assistant at the university's international economic relations department. While still a student, he founded a legal advisory firm mediating the negotiation of contracts in foreign trade, and then he undertook the negotiations himself, starting to supply

cocoa bean The cocoa bean (technically cocoa seed) or simply cocoa (), also called the cacao bean (technically cacao seed) or cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of ''Theobroma cacao'', from which cocoa solids (a mixture of nonfat substance ...

s to the Soviet chocolate industry in 1991. At the same time, he was deputy director of the 'Republic' Union of Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs, and the CEO "Exchange House Ukraine". Poroshenko's brother, Mykhailo, older by eight years, died in a 1997 car accident under mysterious circumstances./(website has automatic

Google Translate Google Translate is a multilingual neural machine translation service developed by Google to translate text, documents and websites from one language into another. It offers a website interface, a mobile app for Android and iOS, and an API ...

option)''
Short bio
, LIGA

Business career

In 1993, Poroshenko, together with his father Oleksii and colleagues from the Road Traffic Institute in Kyiv, created the UkrPromInvest Ukrainian Industry and Investment Company, which specialized in the confectionery and automotive industries (as well as in other agricultural processing later on.) Poroshenko was director-general of the company from its founding until 1998, when in connection with his entry into parliament he handed the title over to his father, while retaining the title of honorary president. Between 1996 and 1998, UkrPromInvest acquired control over several state-owned confectionery enterprises which were combined into the Roshen group in 1996, creating the largest confectionery manufacturing operation in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. His business success in this industry earned him the nickname "Chocolate King". Poroshenko's business empire also includes several car and bus factories, Kuznia na Rybalskomu shipyard, the

5 Kanal 5 Kanal ( uk, 5 канал, lit=Channel 5) is a television station in Ukraine formerly owned by businessman and fifth President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. as well as other businesses in Ukraine. Although not the most prominent in the list of his business holdings, the assets that drew much recent media attention, and often controversy, are the confectionery factory in Lipetsk, Russia, that became controversial due to the

Russian military intervention in Ukraine (2014–present) The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since February 2014. Following Ukraine's Revo ...

, the Sevastopol Marine Plant (Sevmorzavod) that has been confiscated after the 2014 Russian forcible annexation of Crimea and the media outlet

5 kanal 5 Kanal ( uk, 5 канал, lit=Channel 5) is a television station in Ukraine formerly owned by businessman and fifth President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.Rothschild Wealth Management & Trust) since becoming President of Ukraine he has relinquished the management of his businesses, ultimately (in January 2016) to a blind trust.Roshen quits activity of its factory in Lipetsk
, Interfax-Ukraine (20 January 2017)

Billionaires lists rankings

In March 2012, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' placed him on the

Forbes list of billionaires ''The World's Billionaires'' is an annual ranking by documented net worth of the wealthiest billionaires in the world, compiled and published in March annually by the American business magazine ''Forbes''. The list was first published in March ...

at 1,153rd place, with US$1 billion. As of May 2015, Poroshenko's net worth was about US$720 million (

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and m ...

estimate), losing 25 percent of his wealth because of Russia's ban of Roshen products and the state of the Ukrainian economy. According to the annual ranking of the richest people in Ukraine, published in October 2015 by the Ukrainian journal '' Novoye Vremya'' and conducted jointly with Dragon Capital, a leading investment company in Ukraine, president Poroshenko was found to be the only one from the top ten list whose asset value grew since the previous year's ranking. The estimate of his assets was set at US$979 million, a 20% growth, and his ranking increased from 9th to 6th wealthiest person in Ukraine. The article observed that Poroshenko remained one of the only two European leaders who owned a business empire of such scale, with Silvio Berlusconi of Italy being the other. A total of €450 million is kept in an Amsterdam-based company registered in Cyprus, as a result of which his effective tax rate is 5% rather than the statutory tax rate of 18% in Ukraine. The company is likely to be worth much more, as the annual accounts published by the Dutch Chamber of Commerce only contain the book value of the shares, which is very likely to be lower than the market value. After his election, Poroshenko lost the billionaire status as his net worth dropped by 40% to reach $705 million.

Associated businesses

A number of businesses were once part of the which Poroshenko headed in 1993–1998. The investment group was dissolved in April 2012. Poroshenko has stated that upon beginning his political activity he passed on his holdings to a trust fund. * Bogdan group (Poroshenko sold his share in connection with the collapse of its production after the financial crisis of 2007–2008 in 2009), centered in

Cherkasy Cherkasy ( uk, Черка́си, ) is a city in central Ukraine. Cherkasy is the capital of Cherkasy Oblast ( province), as well as the administrative center of Cherkasky Raion (district) within the oblast. The city has a population of C ...

* Roshen group *

5 Kanal 5 Kanal ( uk, 5 канал, lit=Channel 5) is a television station in Ukraine formerly owned by businessman and fifth President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.Priamyi television channels (he denies property relations with Priamyi). * Kuznia na Rybalskomu shipyard in Kyiv *International Invest Bank, owned through a trust and along with Ihor Kononenko *Ukrprominvest-Agro, an agrarian holding **Zoria Podillia, an agrarian company near Haisyn, specializing in sugar production from sugar beets **Podillia **MAS-Agro **Ahrofirma "Dniproahrolan" **Ahrofirma "Ivankivtsi" * Sevastopol Shipyard (lost in 2015 due to a

corporate raid In business, a corporate raid is the process of buying a large stake in a corporation and then using shareholder voting rights to require the company to undertake novel measures designed to increase the share value, generally in opposition to th ...

by the Russian occupational authorities in Crimea)

Early political career

Poroshenko first won a seat in the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) in 1998 for the 12th single-mandate constituency. He was initially a member of the United Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (SDPU), the party led by

Viktor Medvedchuk Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk ( uk, Віктор Володимирович Медведчук, ; born 7 August 1954) is a Ukrainian lawyer, business oligarch, and politician who is since September 2022 living in exile after being handed over ...

and loyal to president Leonid Kuchma at the time. Poroshenko left SDPU(o) in 2000 to create an independent left-of-

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

faction and then a party, naming it Party of Ukraine's Solidarity (PSU). In 2001 Poroshenko was instrumental in creating the Party of Regions, also loyal to Kuchma; the Party of Ukraine's Solidarity having merged into the Party of Regions, Poroshenko launched a new party with a similar name, the party " Solidarity.

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council

In December 2001, Poroshenko broke ranks with Kuchma supporters to become campaign chief of

Viktor Yushchenko Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko ( uk, Віктор Андрійович Ющенко, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. As an informal leader of th ...

's Our Ukraine Bloc opposition faction. After parliamentary elections in March 2002 in which Our Ukraine won the biggest share of the popular vote and Poroshenko won a seat in parliament, Poroshenko served as head of the parliamentary budget committee, where he was accused of "misplacing ₴47 million" (US$8.9 million). As a consequence of Poroshenko's Our Ukraine Bloc membership tax inspectors launched an attack on his business. Despite great difficulties, UkrPromInvest managed to survive until Yushchenko became President of Ukraine in 2005. Poroshenko was considered a close confidant of Yushchenko, who is the godfather of Poroshenko's daughters. Poroshenko was likely the wealthiest oligarch among Yushchenko supporters, and was often named as one of the main financial backers of Our Ukraine and the

Orange Revolution The Orange Revolution ( uk, Помаранчева революція, translit=Pomarancheva revoliutsiia) was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate afterm ...

. After Yushchenko won the presidential elections in 2004, Poroshenko was appointed Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. Petro Poroshenko (2005 )

In September 2005, highly publicized mutual allegations of corruption erupted between Poroshenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko involving the privatizations of state-owned firms. Poroshenko, for example, was accused of defending the interests of

Viktor Pinchuk Victor Mykhailovych Pinchuk ( uk, Віктор Михайлович Пінчук, ''Viktor Mykhailovych Pinchuk''; born 14 December 1960) is a Ukrainian businessman and oligarch. As of January 2016, ''Forbes'' ranked him as 1,250th on the list o ...

, who had acquired state firm Nikopol Ferroalloy for $80 million, independently valued at $1 billion. In response to the allegations, Yushchenko dismissed his entire

cabinet of ministers A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the executive branch's top leaders. Members of a cabinet are usually called cabinet ministers or secretaries. The function of a cabinet varies: in some countrie ...

, including Poroshenko and Tymoshenko. State prosecutors dismissed an abuse of power investigation against Poroshenko the following month, immediately after Yushchenko dismissed Sviatoslav Piskun,

General Prosecutor of Ukraine The prosecutor general of Ukraine (also procurator general of Ukraine, uk, Генеральний прокурор України) heads the system of official prosecution in courts known as the Office of the Prosecutor General ( uk, Офіс ...

. Piskun claimed that he was sacked because he refused to institute criminal proceedings against Tymoshenko and refused to drop proceedings against Poroshenko. In the March 2006 parliamentary election, Poroshenko was re-elected to the Ukrainian parliament with the support of Our Ukraine electoral bloc. He chaired the parliamentary Committee on Finance and Banking. Allegedly, since Poroshenko claimed the post of Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament for himself, the

Socialist Party of Ukraine The Socialist Party of Ukraine ( uk, Соціалістична Партія України, translit=Sotsialistychna Partiia Ukrayiny, SPU) was a social democratic and democratic socialist political party in Ukraine. It was one of the oldest par ...

chose to be part of the Alliance of National Unity because it was promised that their party leader,

Oleksandr Moroz Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Morozrussian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Моро́з, translit=Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Moroz (born 29 February 1944) is a Ukrainian politician. He was the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada twice, ...

, would be elected chairman if the coalition were formed. This left Poroshenko's Our Ukraine and their ally Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc out of the

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

. Poroshenko did not run in the September 2007 parliamentary election. Poroshenko started heading the Council of Ukraine's National Bank in February 2007. Between 1999 and 2012 he was a board member of the National Bank of Ukraine.

Foreign Minister and Minister of Trade

George Papandreou and Petro Poroshenko 2009

Ukrainian President Yushchenko nominated Poroshenko for Foreign Minister on 7 October 2009. Poroshenko was appointed by the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) on 9 October 2009. On 12 October 2009, President Yushchenko re-appointed Poroshenko to the National Security and Defense Council. Poroshenko supported Ukrainian NATO-membership, and said NATO membership should not be a goal in itself. Although Poroshenko was dismissed as foreign minister on 11 March 2010, President

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of D ...

expressed hope for further cooperation with him. In late February 2012, Poroshenko was named as the new Minister of Trade and Economic Development in the Azarov Government; on 9 March 2012, President Yanukovych stated he wanted Poroshenko to work in the government in the post of economic development and trade minister. On 23 March 2012, Poroshenko was appointed economic development and trade minister of Ukraine by Yanukovych.
The same month he stepped down as head of the Council of Ukraine's National Bank. Poroshenko claims that he became Minister of Trade and Economic Development to help bring Ukraine closer to the EU and get Yulia Tymoshenko released from prison. After he took the post, tax inspectors launched an attack on his business.

Return to parliament

Poroshenko returned to the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) after the

2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election The Ukrainian parliamentary election of 2012 took place on 28 October 2012.single-member district number 12 (

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

wins a parliamentary seat) located in Vinnytsia Oblast. He did not enter any faction in parliament
and became member of the committee on European Integration. Poroshenko's father Oleksii did intend to take part in the elections too in single-member district number 16 (also located in Vinnytsia Oblast), but withdrew his candidacy for health reasons. In mid-February 2013, Poroshenko hinted he would run for

Mayor of Kyiv The Head of Kyiv City ( uk, Київський міський голова, translit=Kyivskyi miskyi holova), unofficially and more commonly the Mayor of Kyiv ( uk, Мер Києва, translit=Mer Kyieva), is a city official elected by popular ...

in the 2013 Kyiv mayoral election. In 2013, the registration certificate of Solidarity was cancelled because it had not participated in any election for more than 10 years. Poroshenko then launched and became leader of the National Alliance of freedom and Ukrainian patriotism "OFFENSIVE" (NASTUP), which was renamed "All-Ukrainian Union Solidarity" (BOS).

2014 Ukrainian revolution

Secretary Kerry Poses for a Photo With Ukranian Opposition Leaders in Munich

Poroshenko actively and financially supported the Euromaidan protests between November 2013 and February 2014, leading to an upsurge in his popularity, although he did not participate in negotiations between then President Yanukovych and the Euromaidan parliamentary opposition parties

Batkivshchyna The All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" ( uk, Всеукраїнське об'єднання "Батьківщина", translit=Vseukrains'ke obiednannia "Bat'kivshchyna") referred to as Batkivshchyna (), is a political party in Ukraine led by Pe ...

, Svoboda and

UDAR The Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform ( uk, Український демократичний альянс за реформи Віталія Кличка; the acronym UDAR ( uk, УДАР) translates to "strike" or "punch", en, Ukrainian ...

. In an interview with Lally Weymouth, Poroshenko said: "From the beginning, I was one of the organizers of the Maidan. My television channel — Channel 5 — played a tremendously important role. ... At that time, Channel 5 started to broadcast, there were just 2,000 people on the Maidan. But during the night, people went by foot — seven, eight, nine, 10 kilometers — understanding this is a fight for Ukrainian freedom and democracy. In four hours, almost 30,000 people were there." The

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

reported, "Mr Poroshenko owns 5 Kanal TV, the most popular news channel in Ukraine, which showed clear pro-opposition sympathies during the months of political crisis in Kiev." Poroshenko refused to join the Yatseniuk Government (although he introduced his colleague Volodymyr Groysman, the mayor of Vinnytsia, into it), nor did he join any of the two newly created parliamentary factions

Economic Development In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and ...

and Sovereign European Ukraine. On 24 April 2014, Poroshenko visited

Luhansk Luhansk (, ; uk, Луганськ, ), also known as Lugansk (, ; russian: Луганск, ), is a city in what is internationally recognised as Ukraine, although it is administered by Russia as capital of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). A ...

, at the time not controlled by Ukrainian authorities. Just like previously in Crimea he was met by a blockade of hundreds of pro-Russian locals at

Luhansk Airport Luhansk International Airport ( uk, Міжнародний аеропорт "Луганськ") was an airport in Luhansk, Ukraine . The airport was located 20 km (12 miles) south of the city center, 9 km to the city limit. Since 11 Jun ...

. Poroshenko later claimed: "When I traveled to Luhansk Oblast, my car was fired at and there was an attempt to take our entire group hostage."

2014 presidential campaign

Following the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and the resulting removal of

from the office of President of Ukraine, new presidential elections were scheduled to take place on 25 May 2014.
In pre-election polls from March 2014, Poroshenko garnered the most support of all the prospective candidates, with one poll conducted by SOCIS giving him a rating of over 40%. On 29 March he stated that he would run for president; at the same time Vitali Klitschko left the presidential contest, choosing to support Poroshenko's bid. On 2 April, Poroshenko stated, "If I am elected, I will be honest and sell the Roshen Concern." He also said in early April that the level of popular support for the idea of Ukraine's joining NATO was too small to put on the agenda "so as not to ruin the country." He also vowed not to sell his

5 Kanal 5 Kanal ( uk, 5 канал, lit=Channel 5) is a television station in Ukraine formerly owned by businessman and fifth President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. On 14 April, Poroshenko publicly endorsed the campaign of Jarosław Gowin's party

Poland Together Poland Together ( pl, Polska Razem, PR or PRZP), formally Poland Together United Right (''Polska Razem Zjednoczona Prawica''), was a conservative-liberal political party in Poland. The party was founded on 7 December 2013 by former Minister of ...

of neighboring Poland in that year's elections to the European Parliament, thanking Gowin's party colleague Paweł Kowal for supporting Ukraine. Poroshenko's election slogan was: "Live in a new way – Poroshenko!". On 29 May, the Central Election Commission of Ukraine announced that Poroshenko had won 25 May presidential election, with 54.7% of the votes.
During his visit in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, Poroshenko stated that Russian separatists in the Donbas "don't represent anybody. We have to restore law and order and sweep the terrorists off the street." He described as "fake" the planned 11 May Donbas status referendums.

Presidency

When it became clear he had won the election on election day evening (on 25 May 2014) Poroshenko announced his "first presidential trip will be to Donbas", where armed pro-Russian rebels had declared the separatist republics Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic and control part of the region. Poroshenko also vowed to continue the military operations by the Ukrainian government forces to end the armed insurgency claiming: "The anti-terrorist operation cannot and should not last two or three months. It should and will last hours." He compared the armed pro-Russian rebels to

Somali pirates Somali may refer to: Horn of Africa * Somalis, an inhabitant or ethnicity associated with Greater Somali Region ** Proto-Somali, the ancestors of modern Somalis ** Somali culture ** Somali cuisine ** Somali language, a Cushitic language ** Somali, ...

. Poroshenko also called for negotiations with Russia in the presence of international intermediaries. Russia responded by saying it did not need an intermediary in its bilateral relations with Ukraine. As president-elect, Poroshenko promised to return Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in March 2014. He also vowed to hold new parliamentary elections in 2014.

Inauguration

Poroshenko was inaugurated in the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) on 7 June 2014.

In his inaugural address he stressed that Ukraine would not give up Crimea and stressed the unity of Ukraine. He promised an amnesty "for those who do not have blood on their hands" to the separatist and pro-Russia insurgents of the

2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine From the end of February 2014, demonstrations by pro-Russian and anti-government groups took place in major cities across the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity, which resulted in the succe ...

and to the Ukrainian nationalist groups that oppose them, but added: "Talking to gangsters and killers is not our path". He also called for early regional elections in Eastern Ukraine. Poroshenko stated that he would sign the economic part of the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement and that this was the first step towards full Ukrainian EU Membership. During the speech, he stated he saw " Ukrainian as the only state language" but also spoke of the "guarantees fthe unhindered development of Russian and all the other languages". Part of the speech was in Russian.

The inauguration was attended by about 50 foreign delegations, including

US Vice President The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice pr ...

Joe Biden,

President of Poland The president of Poland ( pl, Prezydent RP), officially the president of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), is the head of state of Poland. Their rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Pola ...

Bronisław Komorowski Bronisław Maria Komorowski (; born 4 June 1952) is a Polish politician and historian who served as President of Poland from 2010 to 2015. Komorowski served as Minister of Defence from 2000 to 2001. As Marshal of the Sejm, Komorowski exercis ...

, President of Belarus

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лукашенко, Aleksandr Grigoryevich Luk ...

, President of Lithuania

Dalia Grybauskaitė Dalia Grybauskaitė (; born 1 March 1956) is a Lithuanian politician who served as the eighth President of Lithuania from 2009 until 2019. She is the first woman to hold the position and in 2014 she became the first President of Lithuania to be ...

, President of Switzerland and the

OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...

Chairman-in-Office Didier Burkhalter, President of Germany

Joachim Gauck Joachim Wilhelm Gauck (; born 24 January 1940) is a German politician and civil rights activist who served as President of Germany from 2012 to 2017. A former Lutheran pastor, he came to prominence as an anti-communist civil rights activist in E ...

, President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili,

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as su ...

Stephen Harper,

Prime Minister of Hungary The prime minister of Hungary ( hu, Magyarország miniszterelnöke) is the head of government of Hungary. The prime minister and the Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Parliament, to their political part ...

Viktor Orbán, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, the OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feldman, China's Minister of Culture

Cai Wu Cai Wu (; born October 1949) is a retired Chinese politician and a former Minister of Culture of the People's Republic of China. Biography Cai Wu was born in Gansu Province. During the Cultural Revolution, Cai was forced to leave his home in th ...

and Ambassador of Russia to Ukraine

Mikhail Zurabov Mikhail Yuryevich Zurabov (russian: Михаил Юрьевич Зурабов, ) is a Russian politician. He was the ambassador of Russia to Ukraine

Former

Prime Minister of Ukraine The prime minister of Ukraine ( uk, Прем'єр-міністр України, ) is the head of government of Ukraine. The prime minister presides over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of th ...

Yulia Tymoshenko was also present. After the inauguration ceremony Tymoshenko said about Poroshenko "I think Ukraine has found a very powerful additional factor of stability".

Domestic policy

Peace plan for Eastern Ukraine

At the time of his inauguration, armed pro-Russian rebels, after disputed referendums, had declared the independence of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic and controlled a large part of Donbas, but were largely considered to be illegitimate by the international community. After the inauguration, Poroshenko launched a "peace" plan envisioned to garner the recognition of the presidential elections in Ukraine by Russia, consisting of a cease-fire with the separatists (named "terrorists" by Poroshenko himself) and the establishment of a humanitarian corridor for civilians ("who are not involved in the conflict"). Poroshenko warned that he had a "Plan B" if the initial peace plan was rejected.

Decentralization of power

In mid-June Poroshenko started the process of amending Ukraine's constitution to achieve Ukraine's administrative decentralization. According to Poroshenko (on 16 June 2014) this was "a key element of the peace plan". In his draft constitutional amendments of June 2014 proposed changing the administrative divisions of Ukraine, which should include regions (replacing the current

oblasts An oblast (; ; Cyrillic (in most languages, including Russian and Ukrainian): , Bulgarian: ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as the Soviet Union and the Kingdom o ...

), districts and " hromadas" (united territorial communities). In these amendments he proposed that "Village, city, district and regional administrations will be able to determine the status of the Russian language and other national minority languages of Ukraine in accordance with the procedure established by the law and within the borders of their administrative and territorial units". He proposed that Ukrainian remained the only state language of Ukraine. Poroshenko proposed to create the post of presidential representatives who would supervise the enforcement of the Ukrainian constitution and laws and the observation of human rights and freedoms in

and raions/ raions of cities. In case of an "emergency situation or martial law regime" they will "guide and organize" in the territories they are stationed in.

, a key coalition partner in the Yatseniuk Government, came out against the plan. He repeatedly spoken out against federalization.Documents signed in Minsk don't envision federalization, autonomy for Donbas – Poroshenko
". Interfax-Ukraine. 12 February 2015. and did not seek to increase his presidential powers. Putin Renzi Poroshenko

1 July 2015 decentralization draft law gave local authorities the right to oversee how their tax revenues are spent.Poroshenko Unveils Constitutional Changes
,

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

(1 July 2015) The draft law did not give an autonomous status to Donbas, as demanded by the pro-Russian rebels there, but gave the region partial self-rule for three years.

Dissolution of Parliament

On 25 August 2014, Poroshenko called a

snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system (the dissolution of parliament) is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to ...

to the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament), to be held 26 October 2014. According to him this was necessary "to purify the Rada of the mainstay of ormer president

". These deputies, Poroshenko said, "clearly do not represent the people who elected them". Poroshenko said that these Rada deputies were responsible for "the anuary 2014Dictatorship laws that took the lives of the Heavenly hundred". Poroshenko stated that many of the (then) current MPs were "direct sponsors and accomplices or at least sympathizers of militant-separatists".Ukrainian President dissolves Parliament, announces early elections
,

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...

(25 August 2014)

President's address on the occasion of early parliamentary elections of 26 October
Presidential Administration of Ukraine (25 August 2014) Poroshenko had pressed for the elections since his victory in the May 2014 presidential election. On 27 August 2014, the party congress of All-Ukrainian Party of Peace and Unity adopted a new name: " Petro Poroshenko Bloc" (BPP).
In 2015, the Petro Poroshenko Bloc was renamed in " Petro Poroshenko Bloc "Solidarity"".

Nuclear weapons

On 13 December 2014, Poroshenko stated that he did not want Ukraine to become a nuclear power again.

Decommunization and deoligarchization

On 15 May 2015, Poroshenko signed a bill into law that started a six months period for the removal of communist monuments and the mandatory renaming of streets and other public places and settlements with a name related to Communism.Poroshenko signed the laws about decommunization
. Ukrayinska Pravda. 15 May 2015
Poroshenko signs laws on denouncing Communist, Nazi regimes
, Interfax-Ukraine. 15 May 20
Poroshenko: Time for Ukraine to resolutely get rid of Communist symbols
, UNIAN. 17 May 2015
Goodbye, Lenin: Ukraine moves to ban communist symbols
,

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

(14 April 2015) According to Poroshenko "I did what I had to"; adding "Ukraine as a state has done its job, then historians should work, while the government should take care of the future". Poroshenko believes that the

communist repression Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...

and Holodomor of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

are on par with the

Nazi crimes Nazi crime or Hitlerite crime ( pl, Zbrodnia nazistowska or ''zbrodnia hitlerowska'') is a legal concept used in the Polish legal system, referring to an action which was carried out, inspired, or tolerated by public functionaries of Nazi Germany ...

of the 1940s. The legislation (Poroshenko signed on 15 May 2015) also provides "public recognition to anyone who fought for

Ukrainian independence Ukraine emerged as the concept of a nation, and the Ukrainians as a nationality, with the Ukrainian National Revival which began in the late 18th and early 19th century. The first wave of national revival is traditionally connected with the publ ...

in the 20th century", including the controversial

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army ( uk, Українська повстанська армія, УПА, translit=Ukrayins'ka povstans'ka armiia, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and later partisan formation. During World ...

(UPA) combatants led by

Roman Shukhevych Roman-Taras Yosypovych Shukhevych ( uk, Рома́н-Тарас Йо́сипович Шухе́вич, also known by his pseudonym, Tur and Taras Chuprynka; 30 June 1907 – 5 March 1950), was a Ukrainian nationalist, one of the commanders of N ...

and

Stepan Bandera Stepan Andriyovych Bandera ( uk, Степа́н Андрі́йович Банде́ра, Stepán Andríyovych Bandéra, ; pl, Stepan Andrijowycz Bandera; 1 January 1909 – 15 October 1959) was a Ukrainian far-right leader of the radical, terr ...

. Poroshenko said in an interview with Germany's ''Bild'' newspaper that "If I am elected, I'll wipe the slate clean and will sell the Roshen concern. As president of Ukraine, I will and want to only focus on the well-being of the nation." On 23 March 2015, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko accepted the resignation of billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky as governor of Dnipro region over the control of oil companies. "There will be no more oligarchs in Ukraine," Poroshenko said adding that "oligarchs must pay more

axes Axes, plural of '' axe'' and of '' axis'', may refer to * ''Axes'' (album), a 2005 rock album by the British band Electrelane * a possibly still empty plot (graphics) See also * Axess (disambiguation) *Axxess (disambiguation) Axxess may refer to ...

than the middle class and more than small business." The president underscored that "the program of de-oligarchization will be put into life". Poroshenko promised that he will fight against the Ukrainian oligarchs. In December 2018, President Poroshenko confirmed the status of veterans and combatants for independence of Ukraine for the armed units of the

Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists ( uk, Організація українських націоналістів, Orhanizatsiya ukrayins'kykh natsionalistiv, abbreviated OUN) was a Ukrainian ultranationalist political organization esta ...

(OUN) and the

(UPA).

Language

In 2016, a new rule came into force requiring Ukraine's radio stations to play a quota of Ukrainian-language songs each day. The law also requires TV and radio broadcasters to ensure 60% of programs such as news and analysis are in Ukrainian. On 25 September 2017, a new law on education was signed by President Poroshenko (draft approved by Rada on 5 September 2017) which says that the

is the language of education at all levels except for one or more subjects that are allowed to be taught in two or more languages, namely English or one of the other

official languages of the European Union The European Union (EU) has 24 official languages, of which threeEnglish, French and Germanhave the higher status of "procedural" languages of the European Commission (whereas the European Parliament accepts all official languages as working la ...

. The law stipulates a 3-year transitional period to come in full effect.Про освіту
, від 5 September 2017 № 2145-VIII (Сторінка 1 з 7) In February 2018, this period was extended until 2023. The law was condemned by PACE that called it "a major impediment to the teaching of national minorities". The law also faced criticism from officials in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

and Russia. ( Hungarian and Romanian are official languages of the European Union, Russian is not). Ukrainian officials stressed that the new law complies fully with European norms on minority rights. The law does state that "Persons belonging to indigenous peoples of Ukraine are guaranteed the right to study in public facilities of preschool and primary education in the language of instruction of the respective indigenous people, along with the state language of instruction" in separate classes or groups. PACE describes this as a significant curtailing of the rights of indigenous peoples carried out without consultations with their representatives. On 27 June 2018, Ukrainian foreign minister

Pavlo Klimkin Pavlo Anatoliiovych Klimkin ( uk, Павло Анатолійович Клімкін; born 25 December 1967) is a Ukrainian diplomat who from 19 June 2014 until 29 August 2019 served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. A Moscow-educated p ...

stated that following the recommendation of the

Venice Commission The Venice Commission, officially European Commission for Democracy through Law, is an advisory body of the Council of Europe, composed of independent experts in the field of constitutional law. It was created in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin ...

the language provision of the (September 2017) law on education will not apply to private schools and that every public school for national minorities "will have broad powers to independently determine which classes will be taught in Ukrainian or their native language." On 15 May 2019, Poroshenko signed the law "On provision of the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the State language"

Religion

Unification council of Orthodox Church in Ukraine 114

Under Poroshenko the

Orthodox Church of Ukraine was created by the merging of the UOC-KP and the UAOC, and two members of the

UOC-MP The Ukrainian Orthodox Church ( uk, Українська православна церква, Ukrainska pravoslavna tserkva; russian: Украинская православная церковь, Ukrainskaya pravoslavnaya tserkov', UOC), common ...

in a unification council which also elected Epiphanius I as its first

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter including ...

. The 11 October 2018 announcement by Ecumenical Patriarchate that it would – among other things – grant autocephaly to a Ukrainian church is one of the reasons which created the Moscow–Constantinople schism when the Moscow Patriarchate severed full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate on 15 October 2018.

Corruption

Corruption in Ukraine Corruption is a historical issue in Ukrainian society often tied to a troubled relationship with Russia. Since regaining independence from Russia; Ukraine has faced a series of politicians, criminal bosses, and oligarchs who used corruption of ...

is a widespread problem; although there are signs that during Poroshenko presidency it decreased (thanks to the Prozorro digital system).'Corruption in Ukraine has to be stopped'

(20 March 2019) Poroshenko signed a decree to create the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine to comply with the requirements of the International Monetary Fund. Since 2015, the Bureau has sent 189 cases to court, but no one significant was convicted. The head of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office reportedly coached suspects on how to avoid corruption charges. A November 2018 EU Commission report praised some of Ukraine's reforms during Poroshenko's presidency, such as in healthcare, pensions and public administration. But judicial reforms were too slow, the report said, and "there have been only few convictions in high-level corruption cases so far". It also stated that too often attacks on civil society activists went unpunished.Ukraine election: Why comic Zelenskiy is real threat to Poroshenko
,

(27 March 2019) During Poroshenko's 2019 campaign for reelection, a major scandal arose in which business partners of Poroshenko (but not Poroshenko himself) were accused of smuggling Russian components to Ukrainian defense factories at wildly inflated prices. Critics of Poroshenko stated he removed the jurisdiction of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine over records about off-the books payments to Paul J. Manafort, who lobbied on behalf of former Ukraine president

, and served as campaign manager for

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

during his first presidential campaign. Moreover, Poroshenko stripped of Ukrainian citizenship Mikheil Saakashvili who criticized him for not fighting Ukrainian corruption.Why Ukraine is losing the war on corruption
by Mikheil Saakashvili On 11 April 2019, the

High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine ( uk, Вищий антикорупційний суд України) (HACC) is a Ukrainian court established on 11 April 2019. The court handed down its first sentence on 30 October 2019. Cases concernin ...

was established and Poroshenko signed the decree appointing the judges during an official ceremony.

Foreign policy

Barack Obama meets with Petro Poroshenko, June 5th 2014

United States

On 7 December 2015, Poroshenko met with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in Kyiv to discuss Ukrainian-American cooperation. He met U.S. President

in June 2017;

falsely accused him of paying Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen between 400,000 and 600,000 dollars to organize this meeting. The BBC ended up having to state the allegation was untrue, apologizing to Poroshenko, deleting the article from its website, paying legal costs, and paying damages to Poroshenko.

Russia

In June 2014, Poroshenko forbade any cooperation with Russia in the military sphere. At the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 26 June 2014 Poroshenko stated that bilateral relations with Russia cannot be normalized unless Russia undoes its unilateral annexation of

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

and returns its control of Crimea to Ukraine. On Poroshenko's June 2014 Peace plan for Eastern Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commented "it looks like an ultimatum". On 26 August 2014, Poroshenko met with Russian President

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

where Putin called on Ukraine not to escalate its offensive. Poroshenko responded by demanding Russia halt its supplying of arms to separatist fighters. He said his country wanted a political compromise and promised the interests of Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine would be considered. Petro Poroshenko in Slovenia in 2016 22

European Union

Poroschenko Merkel and Biden Security Conference February 2015

The

(EU) and Ukraine signed the economic part of the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement on 27 June 2014. Poroshenko stated that the day was "Ukraine's most historic day since independence in 1991", describing it as a "symbol of faith and unbreakable will". He saw the signing as the start of preparations for Ukrainian EU Membership.

NATO

At his speech at the opening session of the new parliament on 27 November 2014, Poroshenko stated "we've decided to return to the course of NATO integration" because " the nonalignment status of Ukraine proclaimed in 2010 couldn't guarantee our security and territorial integrity". The Ukrainian parliament on 23 December 2014 voted 303 to 8 to repeal a 2010 bill that had made Ukraine a non-aligned state in a bill submitted by Poroshenko.

On 29 December 2014, Poroshenko vowed to hold a referendum on joining NATO. On 22 September 2015, Poroshenko claimed that "Russia's aggressive actions" proved need for the enlargement of NATO and that the Ukrainian referendum on joining NATO would be held after "every condition for the Ukrainian compliance with NATO membership criteria" was met by "reforming our country". On 2 February 2017, in an interview with Funke Mediengruppe, Poroshenko announced he was planning a referendum on whether Ukraine should join NATO.NATO calls on Russia to stop violence in Ukraine
,

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

(2 February 2017)

International

Poroshenko was criticized by Committee to Protect Journalists for signing a decree which banned 41 international journalists and bloggers from entering Ukraine for one year, being labeled as threats to national security. The list includes three journalists from the BBC, and two Spanish journalists currently missing in Syria, all of whom previously covered the Ukraine crisis. In October 2015, Poroshenko visited the Kazakh capital of

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, tho ...

, during which he told President

Nursultan Nazarbayev Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev ( kk, Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев, Nūrsūltan Äbişūlı Nazarbaev, ; born 6 July 1940) is a Kazakh politician and military officer who served as the first President of Kazakhstan, in off ...

that his country was Ukraine's "window to Asia" and vice versa. During a visit to Gomel, Belarus in October 2018, he spoke to the Ukrainian community on the situation in Ukraine, saying that he does "not want Russia to use Belarus to get to our flank".

Post-presidency

In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, Poroshenko was first on the party list of European Solidarity.

Police raid at Poroshenko's headquarters and gym

On 20 December 2019, Ukrainian law enforcement raided both Poroshenko's party headquarters and gym on the orders of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Hidden cameras and recording devices were found inside the gym's smoke detectors and security alarms. According to the State Investigation Bureau, those were allegedly secretly recording and filming Poroshenko's gym clients, some of which are politicians and businessmen. Poroshenko and Ihor Kononenko, deputy head of Poroshenko's party, are both owners of said gym and could not be reached for comments. The raid was part of two ongoing criminal investigations which are focused on two concerns. First, the alleged theft of servers with classified information. Second, the alleged tax evasion and money laundering.

Derkach fragments

In May 2020, Andrii Derkach, a Ukrainian lawmaker who is aligned with a pro-Russian faction and has links to Russian intelligence, released edited fragments of private phone calls from several years between then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (the then- presumptive Democratic nominee for U.S. president, elected president in 2020) and then-President Poroshenko. Derkach used the clips to make a series of accusations not supported by the tapes. The taped conversations were consistent with official U.S. and European policy at the time and with public statements by Biden and Poroshenko. Derkach had met with Rudolph W. Giuliani in December 2019. Derkach's maneuver raised questions about foreign interference in the 2020 U.S. elections, and echoed Russian government's interference into the 2016 election. Biden's campaign and Poroshenko's political party European Solidarity described Derkach's act (which was publicized by the Russian state-controlled network RT) as a Russian attempt to harm Biden and disparage Ukraine. In September 2020, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Derkach "for attempting to influence the U.S. electoral process," alleging he "has been an active Russian agent for over a decade, maintaining close connections with the Russian Intelligence Services."

Anti-oligarch law

Two days after the passing of the anti-oligarch law, which seeks to curb the influence of Ukraine's wealthiest individuals, Poroshenko sold the TV channels Priamyi and

5 Kanal 5 Kanal ( uk, 5 канал, lit=Channel 5) is a television station in Ukraine formerly owned by businessman and fifth President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.Viktor Medvedchuk Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk ( uk, Віктор Володимирович Медведчук, ; born 7 August 1954) is a Ukrainian lawyer, business oligarch, and politician who is since September 2022 living in exile after being handed over ...

. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison. Poroshenko denied the allegations, calling them "fabricated, politically motivated, and black PR directed against elenskyy'spolitical opponents". On 6 January 2022, a Ukrainian court seized Poroshenko's property. On 15 January 2022, Poroshenko announced via a video message on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

: "I am returning to Ukraine on a flight from

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

at 09:10 a.m. on January 17… to defend Ukraine from Russian aggression", despite the case against him. Following his return to Ukraine, the prosecutor's office asked a court to either remand Poroshenko in pre-trial detention for two months, or oblige him to pay bail of ₴1 billion (US$37 million), wear an electronic bracelet, remain in Kyiv, and hand over his passport. The court chose a third option ('personal commitment'), which is less strict than house arrest and doesn't involve paying bail. According to this commitment, Poroshenko has to submit his passport to the authorities, not leave Kyiv or the Kyiv Oblast without first receiving permission from the court or the prosecutors office, and inform the authorities if his place of employment or residence change.

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

On 25 February 2022, amid the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...

, Poroshenko appeared on TV with a

Kalashnikov rifle A Kalashnikov (Калашников) rifle is any one of a series of automatic rifles based on the original design of Mikhail Kalashnikov. They are officially known in Russian as "Avtomát Kaláshnikova" ( rus, Автома́т Кала́шник� ...

together with the civil defense forces on the streets of Kyiv. He also stated that he believed that "Putin will never conquer Ukraine, no matter how many soldiers he has, how many missiles he has, how many nuclear weapons he has... We Ukrainians are a free people, with a great European future. This is definitely so." On 12 March 2022, on the 17th day of the Russian invasion, Poroshenko personally handed over two civilian pickup trucks labeled "Bandera-Mobiles", in honor of controversial WWII Ukrainian

, over to members of the 206th Territorial Defense Battalion of Kyiv. Both trucks were retrofitted with Soviet PKM machine guns, 450 bulletproof vests and decals of Bandera's face on the hood of both vehicles. At the end of May 2022, Poroshenko said he was not allowed to leave the country to visit Lithuania. Despite an official travel permit, he was refused entry to the border. Poroshenko wanted to attend the spring session of the

NATO Parliamentary Assembly Founded in 1955, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Alliance. Its current President is Gerald E. Connolly from the United States, elected in 2019. Its curre ...

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

as a member of the Ukrainian delegation. However, he was later allowed to leave Ukraine at the Polish border to attend a political meeting about the war.

Panama and Paradise Papers

Poroshenko was named in the Paradise Papers. He set up an

offshore company The term "offshore company" or “offshore corporation” is used in at least two distinct and different ways. An offshore company may be a reference to: * a company, group or sometimes a division thereof, which engages in offshoring business pr ...

in the British Virgin Islands during the peak of the

war in Donbas War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. Leaked documents from the Panama Papers show he registered the company, Prime Asset Partners Ltd, on 21 August 2014. Records in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

show him as the firm's only shareholder. He said that he had done nothing wrong, and the legal firm, Avellum, overseeing the sale of Roshen, his confectionery company, said that "any allegations of tax evasion (were) groundless". The anti-corruption group

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

believes that the "creation of businesses while serving as president is a direct violation of the constitution". A similar explanation was given by current President Zelenskyy when he was named in the Pandora Papers.

Personal life

Poroshenko has been married to Maryna since 1984. The couple have four children:

Oleksii Oleksii, Oleksiy or OleksiĭALA-LC romanization of Ukrainian. ( uk, Олексі́й, Oleksij ) is a Ukrainian name, Ukrainian male name of Ancient Greek origin. Some people with the given name Oleksiy * Oleksiy Antonov (born 1986), Ukrainian foo ...

(born 1985), the twins Yevheniia and Oleksandra (born 2000) and Mykhailo (born 2001). Oleksii was a representative in the regional parliament of Vinnytsia Oblast. In November 2014, he became a People's Deputy of Ukraine with 64.04% of votes in constituency No.12. Maryna Poroshenko is a cardiologist who does not take part in public life, apart from her participation in the activities of the Petro Poroshenko Charity Foundation. Poroshenko became a grandfather on the day of his presidential inauguration, 7 June 2014. Unification council of Orthodox Church in Ukraine 128

Unification council of Orthodox Church in Ukraine 128

Poroshenko is a member of the

Ukrainian Orthodox Church The history of Christianity in Ukraine dates back to the earliest centuries of the history of Christianity, to the Apostolic Age, with mission trips along the Black Sea and a legend of Saint Andrew even ascending the hills of Kyiv. The first Chr ...

. Poroshenko has financed the restoration of its buildings and monasteries.

In high-level meetings he is often seen with a crucifix. Poroshenko speaks fluent Ukrainian, Russian, English, and Romanian. Poroshenko is diabetic.

Cultural and political image

Poroshenko has been nicknamed "Chocolate King" because of his ownership of Roshen, a large confectionery business. Poroshenko has objected to being called an oligarch, saying: "Oligarchs are people who seek power in order to further enrich themselves. But I have long fought against bandits who are robbing our country and have destroyed free enterprise". After promising in his election campaign to sell his business assets when elected as the president of Ukraine, according to Poroshenko and Rothschild Wealth Management & Trust, since becoming President of Ukraine, he has relinquished the management of his businesses, ultimately (in January 2016) to a blind trust.

Potential implementation of martial law

During his speeches Poroshenko on numerous occasions called the war in East Ukraine a "Patriotic War", yet did not initiate implementation of martial law, for which he was criticized on numerous occasions by politicians and the general public. Poroshenko said it was necessary to realize the consequences of martial law for the country: * It would restrict the supply of weaponry and items of dual assignment; * The IMF does not provide funds to countries that are at war. A month later, the second statement was refuted by a head of the IMF's Ukrainian branch, Jerome Vacher, "As for the possible introduction of martial law, the IMF has no formal legal restrictions that impede continuation of mutual cooperation under such conditions. We have already worked with a number of countries where war conflicts of various intensity unfolded". On 5 February 2015, in his interview with the Spanish '' El Pais'' newspaper, Poroshenko stated that he would introduce martial law in the event of an escalation of the situation in Donbas, but that such a decision would limit democracy and civil liberties, as well as threaten the development of the economy. Martial law in Ukraine was introduced for 30 days in late November 2018, after the Kerch Strait incident.

Connections with Dmytro Firtash

In April 2015, Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash at a court session about his extradition to the United States stated that at the

Ukrainian presidential election Ukrainian presidential elections determine who will serve as the President of Ukraine for the next five years. Since the establishment of the position of the President of Ukraine in 1991, the presidential elections have taken place seven times: i ...

he financially supported Poroshenko,Firtash: We got Poroshenko as a president, Klychko as a mayor as we all wanted (Фирташ: Мы получили Порошенко президентом, Кличко – мэром, как и хотели)
Mirror Weekly. 30 April 2015 and Vitali Klitchko in the Kyiv city mayoral election.

Mikheil Saakashvili

On 29 May 2015, Poroshenko invited former President of Georgia and his friend Mikheil Saakashvili to help with conducting reforms in Ukraine and granted him Ukrainian citizenship. The very next day after he became a citizen, on 30 May 2015, Saakashvili was appointed by the president as head (governor) of the Odessa Regional State Administration (see Governor of Odessa Oblast). On 26 July 2017 Poroshenko issued a decree stripping Saakashvili of his Ukrainian citizenship, without providing any reason. According to ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'', most observers saw Poroshenko's stripping Saakashvili of his citizenship "simply as the sidelining of a political rival" (Saakashvili started a political party Movement of New Forces to participate in upcoming elections).

New year vacationing in 2018

In January 2018, journalists from

reported that for Poroshenko's New Year's vacation starting 1 January 2018 in the Maldives, ten people who spent $500,000 to rent separate islands and the most expensive hotel in the country. On 30 March 2018, Poroshenko submitted his income declaration. Poroshenko declared that he spent between 1.3 and 1.4 million UAH on this vacation – half what journalists had reported (some details about the president's vacation were classified).

Awards

* : Order of Merit * : Order of the Republic * : Order of the White Eagle * : Order of Civil Merit * : Medal of winner of Ukraine State Prize in Science and Technology * :

Order of King Abdulaziz The Order of King Abdulaziz is a Saudi Arabian order of merit. The order was named after Abdulaziz Al Saud, founder of the modern Saudi state. History In 1971, the introduction of orders was announced in a decree. It was instituted by King Fais ...

* : Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great * Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople: cross of Panagia Pammakaristos (5 January 2019) * Orthodox Church of Ukraine: Order of St. Andrew Pervozvannyi (Pervozvannyi meaning " The First-Called")

Notes

References

External links

Official website for the President of Ukraine
*
Euromaidan Overview
* * Bohdan, Ben,
Five years of Poroshenko’s presidency: main achievements and failures "
19 April 2019, ''

Euromaidan Press ''Euromaidan Press'' (EP) is an English-language news website launched in 2014 by contributors from Ukraine, sponsored by reader contributions and the International Renaissance Foundation. It shares its name with the Euromaidan movement in Ukrain ...

.'' , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Poroshenko, Petro 1965 births Living people People from Bolhrad Presidents of Ukraine Anti-Russification activists Businesspeople in confectionery Candidates in the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election Economic development and trade ministers of Ukraine Ukrainian diplomats Foreign ministers of Ukraine Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit Independent politicians in Ukraine Petro Poroshenko Bloc politicians People of the Euromaidan People of the Orange Revolution Pro-Ukrainian people of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) politicians Third convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Fourth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Fifth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Seventh convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Ninth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Secretaries of National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni Ukrainian anti-communists Ukrainian billionaires Ukrainian manufacturing businesspeople Ukrainian mass media owners Members of Ukrainian Orthodox church bodies Eastern Orthodox Christians from Ukraine Pro-Ukrainian people of the war in Donbas Solidarity Party (Ukraine) politicians People named in the Panama Papers Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 2nd class Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class Recipients of the Order of the Republic (Moldova) Ukrainian oligarchs Candidates in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election People named in the Paradise Papers Laureates of the State Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology Laureates of the Honorary Diploma of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine