Volodymyr Lytvyn

Volodymyr Mykhaylovych Lytvyn ( _uk. Володимир Михайлович Литвин, born April 9, 1956) is a Ukrainian politician. He was the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament of Ukraine) from 2002 until 2006. In 1994-1999 Lytvyn was the aide to the President Leonid Kuchma and, later, the head of his office. Lytvyn was implicated in the murder case of Georgiy Gongadze and the subsequent Cassette Scandal.

Early biography and private life

Lytvyn was born in Sloboda-Romanivs'ka village in the Novohrad-Volyns'kyi Raion of Zhytomyrs'ka oblast'. His father, Mykhaylo Klymovych (born 1930) and mother Ol'ga Andriyivna (born 1929) were peasants. Lytvyn graduated from Kyiv University (Faculty of History) in 1978. He is married to Tetyana Kostyantynivna (born 1960), an economist. Their daughter Olena (born 1982) is a student and their son Ivan (born 1989) is a student too.

Lytvyn started his career as a political analyst within the Central Committee of Ukrainian SSR's Communist Party (a division of the CPSU).

Lytvyn is a correspondent member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Honored Worker of Sciences and Technology of Ukraine. However, in 2002 he was publicly and reasonably accused of violating copyrights of a Western scholar when writing his article to Zerkalo Nedeli newspaper.

Lytvyn's hobbies include reading, soccer and Dalmatian dogs.

Major political career

In 1994, Lytvyn became the aide to the newly-elected President Leonid Kuchma. In 1999, he was appointed the head of President's administration (office).

Lytvyn in Gongadze case and Cassette Scandal

As the head of Kuchma's office, Lytvyn became mentioned on the tapes of Mykola Melnychenko as an immediate participant of the conspiracy to abduct Georgiy Gongadze, a journalist who has disappeared and later was found beheaded in 2000.Fact|date=January 2007

Later Melnychenko claimed that Lytvyn had some "personal motives" to hate Gongadze. As an associate of Melnychenko explained, it was about "a relationship with a woman" [uk icon [http://www.proua.com/news/2005/12/05/113759.html 1] ] .

Parliamentary career

In 2002 Lytvyn was elected to Verkhovna Rada as the head of the party bloc For United Ukraine ("Za edynu Ukrainu"). He became the speaker of the legislature as a compromising figure among the parliamentary factions.

Lytvyn refused to take part in the presidential election of 2004 despite his significant political influence.

Lytvyn's brother, Mykola Lytvyn is the chief of Ukraine's Border Guard.

Lytvyn is known for his ironic political expressions. One of his best-known sentences is "I do not protest at forming an artificial majority in our parliament. But I want this majority to include every member of parliament".

At the parliamentary elections on 26 March 2006 his Lytvyn's People's Bloc won 2.44 % of the popular vote and no seats. Lytvyn's allies (together with other parties) declared the voting results forged, filing a court suit and starting a public campaign. However, Lytvyn himself avoids press and shows deep disappointment since the results announced. Elected vice-chairman NAN. In the early parliamentary election held on September 30, 2007, the Lytvyn Bloc (renamed from Lytvyn's People's Bloc) consisted of the People's Party and the Labour Party. The bloc placed in fifth place [cite web|url=http://www.cvk.gov.ua/vnd2007/w6p001e.html|title=Parties (blocs of parties), who get three (3%) and more percents of votes of voters|accessdate=2007-10-02|work=Central Election Commission of Ukraine] .It won 20 out of 450 seats.

ee also

*Ukraine without Kuchma
*Orange Revolution
*Politics of Ukraine

References

*uk icon [http://www.zn.kiev.ua/nn/show/320/29584/ "Question mark is the freedom's coat of arms"] (Zerkalo Nedeli's first analysis of the Cassette Scandal, including quotations from the recordings; 2000)
*uk icon [http://www.zn.kiev.ua/nn/show/378/33632/ "Seven myths"] (2002 article in Zerkalo Nedeli, including accusations of copyright violation supposedly committed by Lytvyn)
*uk icon [http://www.zn.kiev.ua/nn/show/379/33707/ "The sacred cows can only be found in India"] (Lytvyn's reply to the preceding contribution, also in Zerkalo Nedeli)