Yevhen Marchuk
Yevhen Kyrylovych Marchuk (Ukrainian: Євге́н Кири́лович Марчу́к, romanized::Jevhén Kyrýlovyč Marčúk, 28 January 1941 – 5 August 2021) was a Ukrainian politician and former general. 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 had the rank of General of the Army of Ukraine.
Marchuk was affiliated with the Ukrainian Den newspaper, edited by his wife. He was a general in the Army of Ukraine since 23 March 1994.
Contents
- 1 Biography
- 1.1 Later career developments
- 1.2 Death
- 2 References
Biography
Yevhen Marchuk was born soon before World War II into a peasant family in Central Ukraine. In 1963, upon graduation from the Kirovohrad Pedagogical Ins*ute, 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 Kyiv 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 claimed 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 from November 1991 to July 1994. 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.
After the 1994 parliamentary elections, Marchuk became head of the liberal Social Market Choice faction, whose members included former President Leonid Kravchuk. Marchuk was appointed the acting Prime minister of Ukraine on 1 March 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 8 June 1995. He formed his cabinet, which was confirmed on 3 July 1995. After being elected to the Verkhovna Rada (December 1995), he resigned on 27 May 1996. Marchuk and former Kravchuk became members of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united) before the 1998 elections. 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. 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 10 November 1999, to 25 June 2003 (till June 2009 he stayed on as chairperson of the council's interagency commission on information policy). Later, he was the Defense Minister of Ukraine from June 2003 to September 2004.
Marchuk strongly supported the launching of Ukrayinska Pravda.
Marchuk was pivotal in having Leonid Derkach fired in 2001 following the C*ette Scandal.
During the 2006 parliamentary elections Marchuk led the electoral alliance (Electoral Bloc "Yevhen Marchuk" — "Unity") (including his own party, Party of Freedom) which did not make it into parliament, winning only 0.06% of the votes.
Later career developments
In May 2008, Marchuk was appointed one of the personal advisors to President Yushchenko.
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. Marchuk again represented Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group from November 2018 to May 2019.
Death
Marchuk died on 5 August 2021, aged 80. According to a report by the Security Service of Ukraine, he died from acute pulmonary heart failure that was exacerbated by a COVID-19 infection.