Yevhen Marchuk

(Gen. Ret.) Yevhen Kyrylovych Marchuk (Ukrainian: Євге́н Кири́лович Марчу́к, romanized: Jevhén Kyrýlovyč Marčúk), born on January 28, 1941, is a Ukrainian politician. During his career, Marchuk was prime minister of Ukraine, presidential candidate, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, and Defense Minister of Ukraine. Marchuk is affiliated with the Ukrainian Den newspaper, edited by his wife. He has been a general in the Army of Ukraine since March 23, 1994.

Yevhen Marchuk Євге́н Кири́лович Марчу́к
Yevhen Marchuk in August 2004
Representative of Ukraine in the contact group on Donbass
In office 2015–2019
President	Petro Poroshenko
Minister of Defence of Ukraine
In office 25 June 2003 – 23 September 2004
Prime Minister	Viktor Yanukovych
Preceded by	Volodymyr Shkidchenko
Succeeded by	Oleksandr Kuzmuk
2nd Secretary of National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine
In office 10 November 1999 – 25 June 2003
President	Leonid Kuchma
Preceded by	Volodymyr Horbulin
Succeeded by	Volodymyr Radchenko
4th Prime Minister of Ukraine
In office 6 March 1995 – 27 May 1996 (until 8 June 1995 as acting)
President	Leonid Kuchma
Preceded by	Vitaliy Masol
Succeeded by	Pavlo Lazarenko
First Vice-Premier (on State Security and Defence)
In office 1 July 1994 – 6 March 1995 (until 31 October 1994 as Vice Premier)
Prime Minister	Vitaliy Masol
Preceded by	Yukhym Zvyahilsky
Succeeded by	Viktor Pynzenyk
1st Chief of Security Service of Ukraine
In office 6 November 1991 – 12 July 1994
President	Leonid Kravchuk
Preceded by	Mykola Holushko (as acting)
Succeeded by	Valeriy Malikov
State Minister of Defense, State Security, and Emergencies
In office 5 June 1991 – 6 November 1991
Prime Minister	Vitold Fokin
People's Deputy of Ukraine
2nd convocation
In office 10 December 1995 – 12 May 1998
Constituency	Independent, No.324 Myrhorod district[1]
3rd convocation
In office 12 May 1998 – 2 March 2000
Constituency	Independent, No.2[2]
Personal details
Born	(1941-01-28) 28 January 1941
Nationality	Ukrainian
Other political affiliations	Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) (1995–2000)
Spouse(s)	Larysa Ivshyna
Children	Taras, Vadym
Alma mater	Kirovohrad Pedagogical Institute

Biography

Yevhen Marchuk was born soon before World War II into a peasant family in Central Ukraine. In 1963,[3] upon graduation from the Kirovohrad Pedagogical Institute, Marchuk was recruited by the KGB and steadily rose through the ranks of that organization. As an operative officer he served first in Kirovohrad Oblast, then in the republican KGB branch in Kiev as an intelligence and secret service officer, for a total of 31 years of service. Marchuk has admitted specializing in secret police functions. However, he claims to have been a humane lawful agent, secretly protecting some Ukrainian dissidents from harsh persecution.

In the early 1990s, Marchuk was one of the first high-level KGB officers who appeared to be loyal to the newly established Ukrainian independence and was one of the reformers of the Ukrainian Secret Service (later SBU) serving as the first Chief of SBU. At first he was appointed the Ukrainian SSR Minister of National Security and Defence. That position held no actual power since local KGB, militsiya, and the army were still subordinated to Moscow until 1991. The Soviet Union then collapsed, ending Marchuk’s service to the KGB, and he was able to participate fully in the Ukrainian independent government. He headed the SBU until 1994.[3]

After the 1994 parliamentary elections, Marchuk became head of the liberal Social Market Choice faction, whose members included former President Kravchuk.[4] Marchuk was appointed the acting Prime minister of Ukraine on March 1, 1995, holding the position of the first vice-Premier Minister in the cabinet of Vitaliy Masol. He was later promoted to the position of the Premier Minister on June 8, 1995. He formed his cabinet, which was confirmed on July 3, 1995. After being elected to the Verkhovna Rada (December 1995), he resigned on May 27, 1996. Marchuk and Kravchuk became members of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) before the 1998 elections.[5] From April to December 1998 he was the leader of the party. From July 1998 Marchuk headed a parliamentary committee in Social Policy and Labor.

When the SDPU(u) refused to back Marchuk in the 1999 presidential elections, he left to create his own Social Democratic Union.[4] He ran as an independent in the 1999 presidential election, coming in fifth place with 8.13% of the vote in the first tour of the elections, and was appointed secretary of the National Security and Defense Council by the re-elected President Leonid Kuchma. Marchuk was secretary of the National Security and Defense Council from November 10, 1999, to June 25, 2003 (till June 2009 he stayed on as chairperson of the council's interagency commission on information policy).[6] Later, he was the Defense Minister of Ukraine from June 2003 to September 2004.[3]

During the 2006 parliamentary elections Marchuk lead the electoral alliance (Electoral Bloc "Yevhen Marchuk" — "Unity")[7] (including his own party, Party of Freedom) which didn't make it into parliament, winning only 0.06% of the votes.[8]

Controversy

On December 6, 2001, the Italian prosecutor's office accused Marchuk of violating the UN embargo on supplying arms to various parts of the world. The accusations remained, never investigated nor prosecuted.

Later career developments

In May 2008, Marchuk was appointed one of the personal advisors to President Yushchenko.[9]

In June 2015 he was appointed by President Poroshenko a Ukrainian special representative in one of the subgroups of the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine.[10]

References

1. "People's Deputy of Ukraine of the VI convocation". Official portal (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
2. "People's Deputy of Ukraine of the VII convocation". Official portal (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
3. Marchuk says he had no face-to-face interrogations with Kuchma or Melnychenko, Kyiv Post (April 1, 2011)
4. Donbas moves back onto the national stage at last, Kyiv Post (February 14, 2002)
5. UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT FORMED ITS PERMANENT COMMITTEES, Embassy of Ukraine to the United States of America (July 21, 1998)
6. Yushchenko appoints Bohatyriova to replace Marchuk as chair of National Security Council's interagency commission on information policy, Kyiv Post (June 19, 2009)
7. "Unity" official site news December 16, 2005
8. korrespondent
9. Presidential Decree № 455/2008 on the appointment of E. Marchuk Adviser of President of Ukraine
10. (in Ukrainian) Medvedchuk will represent Ukraine in the subgroup of Humanitarian Affairs Tripartite Working Group 1852, Ukrainian News Agency (5 June 2015)

Political offices
Preceded by Vitaliy Masol	Prime Minister of Ukraine 1995 — 1996	Succeeded by Pavlo Lazarenko
Preceded by Volodymyr Shkidchenko	Minister of Defense 2004—2005	Succeeded by Oleksandr Kuzmuk
Preceded by Mykola Holushko as Director of the Committee for State Security	Director of the Security Service 1991—1994	Succeeded by Valeriy Malikov