Volodymyr Mykhailovych Lytvyn ( uk, Володи́мир Миха́йлович Литви́н, ; born April 28, 1956) is a

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

best known for being

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Голова Верховної Ради України, Holova Verkhovnoi Rady Ukrainy) is the presiding officer of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's unicameral parliament. The chairman presides ...

, the

Ukrainian parliament The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...

. Having previously served in that position from 2002 until 2006, he was re-elected in December 2008 after his party agreed to join the former coalition of Yulia Tymoshenko in an expanded capacity and stayed Chairman until December 2012. From 1994 to 1999, Lytvyn was the aide to President

Leonid Kuchma Leonid Danylovych Kuchma ( uk, Леоні́д Дани́лович Ку́чма; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. Kuchma's presidency saw numerous corru ...

and, later, the head of his

office An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific ...

Early biography and private life

Lytvyn was born in Sloboda-Romanivska village in the

Novohrad-Volynskyi Zviahel (, ; translit. ''Zvil'') is a city in the Zhytomyr Oblast ( province) of northern Ukraine. Originally known as ''Zviahel'', the city was renamed to ''Novohrad-Volynskyi'' () in 1795 after annexation of territories of Polish–Lithua ...

Raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is c ...

of the

Zhytomyr Oblast Zhytomyr Oblast ( uk, Жито́мирська о́бласть, translit=Zhytomyrska oblast), also referred to as Zhytomyrshchyna ( uk, Жито́мирщина}) is an oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. The administrative center of the obla ...

. Lytvyn graduated from 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 ...

(Faculty of History) in 1978. In 1984, he defended his dissertation "Efforts of the

Communist Party of Ukraine The Communist Party of Ukraine, Abbreviation: KPU, from Ukrainian and Russian "" is a banned political party in Ukraine. It was founded in 1993 as the successor to the Soviet-era Communist Party of Ukraine which was banned in 1991 (accord ...

in improving the preparation of teachers in social disciplines". Lytvyn started his career at the Kyiv State University (1978−86), then he worked as Head of Directorate in the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Vocational Training of the Ukrainian SSR (1986−89). Between 1989 and 1991 he worked as a political analyst at the Central Committee of the

, the Ukrainian branch of

CPSU "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

. Lytvyn is a correspondent member of the

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; uk, Національна академія наук України, ''Natsional’na akademiya nauk Ukrayiny'', abbr: NAN Ukraine) is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine th ...

, Honored Worker of Sciences and Technology of Ukraine. However, in 2002 he was publicly and reasonably accused of plagiarizing a Western scholar when writing his article to

Dzerkalo Tyzhnia ''Dzerkalo Tyzhnia'' ( ua, Дзеркало тижня), usually referred to in English as the ''Mirror Weekly'', was one of Ukraine's most influential analytical weekly-publisher newspapers, founded in 1994.beauty industry entrepreneur, and their son Ivan (born 1989) is a student. Lytvyn's hobbies include reading,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

, and taking care of dalmatian dogs.

Political career

Head of the Presidential Administration

In 1994, Lytvyn became the aide to the newly elected

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

. In 1999, he was appointed as the head of the

Presidential Administration The term administration, as used in the context of government, differs according to the jurisdiction under which it operates. In general terms, administration can be described as a decision making body. United States In American usage, the ter ...

Gongadze murder

During the

Cassette Scandal The Cassette Scandal ( uk, Касетний скандал, Russian: Кассетный скандал, also known as Tapegate or Kuchmagate) was a Ukrainian political scandal in November 2000 in which Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma was caugh ...

audiotapes were released on which Kuchma, Lytvyn and other top-level administration officials are allegedly heard discussing the need to silence

Georgiy Gongadze Georgiy Ruslanovych Gongadze ka, გიორგი რუსლანის ძე ღონღაძე, Giorgi Ruslanis dze Ghonghadze (21 May 1969 – 17 September 2000) was a Georgian-Ukrainian journalist and film director who was kid ...

for his online news reports about high-level corruption.Key suspect in Gongadze murder arrested; Pukach allegedly strangled journalist, but who gave the order? (UPDATED)

Kyiv Post The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden. History American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...

, (July 22, 2009) Gongadze's decapitated body was found in the suburbs of

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Ky ...

in November 2000. In 2000,

Mykola Melnychenko (Major) Mykola Melnychenko ( uk, Микола Іванович Мельниченко, born 18 October 1966 in Vasylkiv, Ukrainian SSR) was a bodyguard of Leonid Kuchma (President of Ukraine), an officer of the State Security Administration. Bet ...

released a secretly-taped recording allegedly of a conversation between Kuchma and Lytvyn in which the two discussed getting rid of Gongadze. Lytvyn is alleged to have said that Kuchma should "let loose nterior Minister Kravchenko to use alternative methods" on Gongadze. Lytvyn denied the allegation, saying that the tape was a fabrication. Independent experts who have analysed the tapes are divided as to their authenticity. Gongadze was found beheaded in a shallow grave in 2000. In 2005, Kravchenko was found dead with two bullets in his head. Official investigations concluded that he had committed suicide and that he had ordered Gongadze's murder. Lytvyn stated "The investigation confirmed my innocence in this case, despite the fact that efforts have been, are being and will be taken to make me practically the main person accused f killing the journalist. During the 2011—2013 trial of Oleksiy Pukach, Pukach claimed that (former)

Ukrainian President The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, cond ...

and Lytvyn (at the time of the murder Kuchma's head of his

) had ordered the murder of Gongadze.Court sentences Pukach to life for murdering Gongadze, disregards claims against Kuchma, Lytvyn

(29 January 2013)
Ukraine police officer accuses ex-president after being jailed for life

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was est ...

(29 January 2013)
Gongadze killer pointed on Kuchma and Lytvyn
"LIGABusinessInform". 2013-1-29

Parliamentary career

In 2002, Lytvyn was elected to Verkhovna Rada as the head of the party bloc

For United Ukraine For United Ukraine! ( uk, «За Єдину Україну!», translit=Za Yedynu Ukrayinu!) was a political alliance and an electoral bloc in Ukraine founded in December 2001 to participate in the parliamentary election held on 30 March 2002. ...

("Za edynu Ukrainu"). He became the

(

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

) 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 was the chief of Ukraine's Border Guard. Lytvyn is known for his

ironic Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized into d ...

political expressions. One of his best-known sentences is "I do not protest at forming an artificial

majority A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster parliamentary elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

on March 26, 2006, his

Lytvyn's People's Bloc The Lytvyn Bloc, formerly Lytvyn's People's Bloc, ( uk, Блок Литвина, formerly Народний блок Литвина) was a centrist political alliance in Ukraine from 2006 till 2012 led by Volodymyr Lytvyn. It is one of successors o ...

won 2.44% of the popular vote and no seats since it did not meet the 3 percent threshold. 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 The Lytvyn Bloc, formerly Lytvyn's People's Bloc, ( uk, Блок Литвина, formerly Народний блок Литвина) was a centrist political alliance in Ukraine from 2006 till 2012 led by Volodymyr Lytvyn. It is one of successors ...

(renamed from Lytvyn's People's Bloc) consisted of the People's Party and the Labour Party. The bloc placed fifth with 20 out of 450 seats.

2010 presidential election, and 2012–14 parliamentary elections

On December 6, 2009,

, former bodyguard to Kuchma, accused Lytvyn of ordering the murder of journalist

in 2000. A spokesperson for Lytvyn dismissed the claims as part of the

2010 Ukrainian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Ukraine on 17 January 2010. As no candidate received a majority of the vote, a run-off election was held between Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych on 7 February. On 14 ...

campaign. During the election Lytvyn received 2,35% of the votes. Lytvyn took part in the

2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election The Ukrainian parliamentary election of 2012 took place on 28 October 2012.People's Party candidate in

single-member districts A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner v ...

number 65 (

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 the ...

wins a parliament seat) located in Narodychi Raion. He won a parliamentary seat by winning this

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

.Proportional votes

,

Central Election Commission of Ukraine The Central Election Commission of Ukraine ( uk, Центральна виборча комісія України, commonly abbreviated in Ukrainian as ЦВК (''Tse-Ve-Ka''); sometimes referred to as the Central Electoral Commission of Ukrai ...

Lytvyn did not join any parliamentary faction after taking his seat./(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 biography of Volodymyr Lytvyn
LIGA In the 2014 parliamentary election Lytvyn was re-elected into parliament as an independent candidate in electoral district 65 located in

Zviahel Zviahel (, ; translit. ''Zvil'') is a city in the Zhytomyr Oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. Originally known as ''Zviahel'', the city was renamed to ''Novohrad-Volynskyi'' () in 1795 after annexation of territories of Polish–Lithuanian ...

with 41.48% of the votes.Data on vote counting at precincts within single-mandate districts Extraordinary parliamentary election on 26.10.2014
,

Candidates and winners for the seat of the constituencies in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election
, RBK Ukraine In parliament, he joined the parliamentary group People's Will until he was asked to leave it on 19 October 2017.

2019 parliamentary elections and end of political career

In the

2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election Snap elections to the Ukrainian parliament were held on 21 July 2019. Originally scheduled to be held at the end of October, these elections were brought forward after newly inaugurated President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dissolved parliament on 21 ...

Lytvyn lost his parliamentary seat after losing his constituency. He gained 25.65% of the votes, while the winner Dmytro Kostiuk of the

Servant of the People party Servant of the People (SN; uk, Слуга народу, Sluha narodu, ) is a liberal, centrist, pro-European political party in Ukraine. It was formed in late 2017 and was officially registered on 31 March 2018 on the basis of the previously ...

scored 35.73%. In March 2021 Lytvyn lost in the election for the rector of the

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv 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 ...

, taking fourth place with a result of about 4% of the vote. The next day he resigned as chairman of the supervisory board of this university.After losing the election of the rector of the Kyiv National University, Lytvyn decided to resign from the supervisory board

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukrai ...

(18 March 2021)

Family

* Father, Mykhailo Klymovych (1930) * Mother, Olha Andriivna (1929) * Brothers **

Mykola Lytvyn Mykola Lytvyn ( uk, Микола Михайлович Литвин) was a chief of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine since 2003, General of the Army of Ukraine (2008). He resigned in 2014. Biography Lytvyn was born on March 8, 1961, in p ...

(1961), General of the Army, Border Troops commander **

Petro Lytvyn Petro Mykhailovych Lytvyn (; born 12 June 1967) is a Ukrainian commander and lieutenant general. He served as the commander of the 8th Army Corps from 2012 to 2015. Biography In 1990 Lytvyn graduated the Kiev Armor-Engineer College. He served ...

, a commander of the Southern Operational Command of

Ukrainian Ground Forces The Ukrainian Ground Forces ( uk, Сухопу́тні військá Збрóйних сил Украї́ни), also known as the Ukrainian Army, are the land forces of Ukraine and one of the five branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They ...

Awards

Volodymyr Lytvyn was bestowed upon the following awards: *

Hero of Ukraine Hero of Ukraine (HOU; uk, Герой України, ''Heroi Ukrainy'') is the highest national title that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the President of Ukraine. The title was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma and as ...

(2004) * State Prize in Science and Technology (1999) * Distinguished Scientists of Ukraine (1998)

References

''Question mark is the freedom's coat of arms''
(

Zerkalo Nedeli ''Dzerkalo Tyzhnia'' ( ua, Дзеркало тижня), usually referred to in English as the ''Mirror Weekly'', was one of Ukraine's most influential analytical weekly-publisher newspapers, founded in 1994.Cassette Scandal The Cassette Scandal ( uk, Касетний скандал, Russian: Кассетный скандал, also known as Tapegate or Kuchmagate) was a Ukrainian political scandal in November 2000 in which Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma was caugh ...

, including quotations from the recordings; 2000)
''Seven myths''
(2002 article in

Zerkalo Nedeli ''Dzerkalo Tyzhnia'' ( ua, Дзеркало тижня), usually referred to in English as the ''Mirror Weekly'', was one of Ukraine's most influential analytical weekly-publisher newspapers, founded in 1994.1956 births Living people People from Zhytomyr Oblast Independent politicians of For United Ukraine! People's Party (Ukraine) politicians Fourth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Sixth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Seventh convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Eighth convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada Chairmen of the Verkhovna Rada Candidates in the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni Recipients of the title of Hero of Ukraine Commanders of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland 2003 Tuzla Island conflict Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine 21st-century Ukrainian politicians Laureates of the State Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology