Country profile: Ukraine

Ukraine gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Sandwiched between Russia and Europe, it tries to keep on good terms with both.

Western Ukraine has close historical ties with Europe, particularly Poland. Both Orthodoxy and the Uniate (Greek Catholic) faith have many followers there. Ukrainian nationalist sentiment is traditionally strongest in the westernmost parts of the country which became part of Ukraine only when the Soviet Union expanded after World War II.



A significant minority of the population of Ukraine are Russians or use Russian as their first language. Russian influence is particularly strong in the industrialised east of the country, where the Orthodox religion is predominant, as well as in Crimea, an autonomous republic on the Black Sea which was part of Russia until 1954. The Russian Black Sea Fleet has its base there.



Crimea is also the homeland of the Crimean Tatars whom Stalin accused of collaborating with the Nazis and deported to Central Asia in 1944. Over 250,000 have returned since the late 1980s.



In 1932-1933 Stalin's programme of enforced agricultural collectivization brought famine and death to millions in Ukraine, the bread basket of the USSR. Not until the twilight years of the Soviet Union did details of the extent of the suffering begin fully to emerge.



News of another Soviet-era calamity, the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station, rang alarm bells around the world immediately. About 8% of Ukraine's territory was contaminated as were large areas in neighbouring Belarus. Millions continue to suffer as a result.



The country's first president after independence, former Communist Party official Leonid Kravchuk, presided over a period of economic decline and runaway inflation. He was narrowly defeated in the 1994 presidential election by Leonid Kuchma.



The economy at first continued to fare badly under President Kuchma who became embroiled in a series of stand-offs with parliament and failed to push ahead with economic reforms. Corruption was a major problem and investors were wary. The new millennium brought economic growth for the first time, with rising industrial output, improving exports and falling inflation.



By the end of 2004, Russia was the country's largest trading partner although Ukraine was also looking to build partnership with the West.



It took an active part in Nato's Partnership for Peace programme and has declared EU membership to be a strategic objective. In May 2002 it announced that it intended to abandon neutrality and apply formally for Nato membership. The alliance has welcomed the bid but says that further political, economic and military reforms are needed before it can be successful.



Ukraine sent over 1500 peacekeepers to Iraq as part of the stabilisation force there, and has also contributed troops to peacekeeping operations in Kosovo and Afghanistan. However, outgoing President Leonid Kuchma ordered the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Iraq after eight servicemen were killed in an incident there. His successor, Viktor Yushchenko, has since confirmed that all of Ukraine's peacekeepers will be pulled out by October 2005.



FACTS







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Population: 47.8 million (UN, 2005)

Capital: Kiev

Area: 603,700 sq km (233,090 sq miles)

Major languages: Ukrainian (official), Russian

Major religion: Christianity

Life expectancy: 65 years (men), 75 years (women) (UN)

Monetary unit: 1 hryvnya = 100 kopiykas

Main exports: Military equipment, metals, pipes, machinery, petroleum products, textiles, agricultural products

GNI per capita: US $970 (World Bank, 2003)

Internet domain: .ua

International dialling code: +380

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President: Viktor Yushchenko



Viktor Yushchenko was sworn in as president after winning a rerun of the troubled 2004 election. He described the outcome as a "great national victory" and promised to take Ukraine along the road of European integration.





Viktor Yushchenko before and after his dioxin poisoning



Mr Yushchenko's path to the presidency was not smooth.



The original vote in November 2004 precipitated a political crisis. Mr Yushchenko's opponent, Viktor Yanukovych, who was backed by outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, was declared the winner but Mr Yushchenko and his supporters cried foul. They mounted a mass protest campaign, taking to the streets in huge numbers and surrounding government buildings in Kiev.



After 10 days of tension and drama, the Supreme Court declared the elections invalid and ordered a rerun. Parliament approved changes to election law in order to reduce the risk of fraud. When the new vote took place international observers declared it to have been much fairer than the original one.



Mr Yushchenko is an economist and banker by training. He served as prime minister under Leonid Kuchma between 1999 and 2001 when he was credited with steering through successful economic reforms. When Mr Kuchma sacked him, he became leader of the opposition.



Mr Yushchenko is regarded as a pro-Western liberal reformer and says he aims to see Ukraine integrated into the EU and Nato. At the same time, he stresses Russia's role as an important strategic partner.



He promises to build a country in which there is freedom, democracy and rule of law. He also pledges that alleged corruption by the outgoing authorities and several high-profile crimes will be investigated.



Not least among these is the poisoning of Mr Yushchenko himself in the run-up to the elections. Austrian doctors who treated him when he fell seriously ill and suffered severe facial disfigurement have confirmed that he was poisoned with dioxins.



Mr Yushchenko will be keen to heal divisions in the country following the election. There will also be close interest in future relations between Kiev and the Kremlin which made no secret of its support for the defeated presidential candidate, Viktor Yanukovych.



Mr Yushchenko was born in north-east Ukraine in 1954.



Prime minister: Yulia Tymoshenko





Yulia Tymoshenko spearheaded Yushchenko's campaign



A charismatic and controversial figure, Ms Tymoshenko played a prominent role in spearheading the campaign to secure a rerun of the presidential elections and became prime minister as soon as President Yushchenko took office.



She had been his deputy during his years as prime minister when she had responsibility for the energy sector and was credited with cracking down on corrupt practices.



An economics graduate, she ran a lucrative private gas business in the early 1990s. She has been accused by her enemies of corrupt dealings in the process, accusations which she describes as part of a witch hunt and strenuously denies.



Just weeks before the presidential election, Russia issued a warrant for her arrest on bribery charges, which she also flatly denies. She says the move was an attempt to disrupt the campaign. President Putin has since invited her to visit Moscow. When the Russian prosecutor's office confirmed that the warrant remained in force, she cancelled a planned visit.



Popular with Ukrainian nationalists, Ms Tymoshenko rejects charges from opponents that she is anti-Russian, pointing out that she hails from Dnipropetrovsk in the predominantly Russian-speaking east of the country.





Foreign minister: Boris Tarasyuk

Finance minister: Viktor Pynzenyk

Defence minister: Anatoly Hrytsenko

MEDIA







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During the turmoil that followed disputed presidential elections in November 2004, journalists at the state-run TV rejected the network's usual pro-government line. For the first time in years, opposition views were aired in a balanced way.



After his election win, Viktor Yushchenko told a Kiev TV station that he saw press freedom as being key to Ukraine's development.



Although many Ukrainian media outlets are privately-owned, this has not stopped the authorities from trying to influence their output. The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders condemned "a raft of press freedom violations" before and during the 2004 poll.



The Kuchma years saw the closure of a number of opposition papers. Moreover, several journalists investigating high-profile crimes died in mysterious circumstances. Journalist Georgiy Gongadze disappeared in 2000; his body was found a year later. President Yushchenko has pledged to find out who abducted and killed him.



Ukraine's commercial TV networks, particularly Inter TV and Studio 1+1, attract the lion's share of the viewing audience.



The FM radio band in Kiev is busy, with more than 20 stations competing for listeners.



The press



Fakty i Kommentarii - mass-circulation daily

Silski Visti - daily, popular among rural readership

Vecherniye Vesti - mass-circulation daily

Segodnya - mass-circulation daily

Kievskiye Vedomosti - daily

Kyiv Post - English-language daily

Den - daily, English-language pages

Zerkalo Nedeli - political weekly, English-language pages

Ukrayinska Pravda - online news, English-language pages

Television



National TV Company of Ukraine - state-run, operates UT1, UT2, UT3 networks

Inter TV - national, commercial

Studio 1+1 - national, commercial

STB - commercial

Novy Kanal - commercial

ICTV - commercial

5 Kanal - commercial, news-based

Radio



National Radio Company of Ukraine - state-run, operates three networks and external service

Russkoye Radio - commercial

Europa Plus - commercial

Hit FM - commercial

Nashe FM - commercial

News agencies



UNIAN - private, English-language pages

Interfax-Ukraine - private, English-language pages