Yevhen Marchuk

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(Gen. Ret.) Yevhen K. Marchuk (Ukrainian: Євген Кирилович Марчук, born 28 January, 1941) is a Ukrainian statesman and politician.

He was appointed acting Prime minister of Ukraine on March 1, 1995 and confirmed on June 8, 1995. Resigned on May 27, 1996, after being elected to the Verkhovna Rada. Having taken the third place in 1999 presidential election, he was appointed secretary of the National Security and Defense Council by the re-elected President Leonid Kuchma. Later he has been the Defense Minister of Ukraine from June 2003 to September 2004.

[edit] Early career

In 1963, during his study in Kirovohrad Teachers' Institute, Marchuk has been recruited by the KGB and went up on its service, first in Kirovohrad Oblast, then in the republican KGB branch in Kiev. Marchuk has admitted specializing in secret police functions. However, he claims himself as having been a humane lawful agent, secretly protecting some Ukrainian dissidents from harsh persecution.

As of the 1990, Marchuk has been one of the few high-level KGB officers appeared to be loyal to newly-established Ukrainian independence. Thus he was appointed the Ukrainian SSR Minister of National Security and Defence. That position posed no actual power since local KGB, militsiya and army were still subordinated to Moscow.

[edit] Government career

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.

[edit] Recent career developments

Marchuk now heads the Ukrainian "Party of Freedom", participating in the 2006 parliamentary election. He is affiliated with the Ukrainian Den' newspaper, edited by his wife.