Tymoshenko, Yulia Volodymyrivna (1960-…), is a Ukrainian politician who twice served as prime minister. She held the office in 2005 and again from 2007 to 2010.
Yulia Volodymyrivna Hrihyan was born on Nov. 27, 1960, in Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro), Ukraine. At that time, Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. In 1979, she married Oleksandr Tymoshenko. In 1984, Yulia Tymoshenko graduated from Dnipropetrovsk State University (now Oles Honchar Dnipro National University) with a degree in economics and cybernetics (the study of control and communication in machines and animals). After graduating, she worked as an economist and engineer.
Ukraine gained independence after the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. When this happened, companies that had been state-owned were privatized. In the following years, Tymoshenko headed several Ukrainian energy companies. She became involved in politics in the 1990’s and was first elected to Ukraine’s parliament in 1996. In 1999, she was appointed deputy prime minister. In early 2001, President Leonid Kuchma dismissed her from that post after allegations surfaced that she had taken bribes while running an energy company several years earlier. She was arrested and charged with corruption, but the charges were dropped.
Tymoshenko gained international attention during the Orange Revolution, a peaceful uprising that followed a disputed presidential election in November 2004. Tymoshenko led a number of protests, siding with pro-Western candidate Viktor Yushchenko over the declared winner, Viktor Yanukovych . Ukraine’s Supreme Court annulled (canceled) the election results and held a new election in December. Yushchenko was declared the winner, and he named Tymoshenko prime minister. Tension within the reform coalition, particularly between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko, robbed it of the political momentum it needed to address issues of corruption and economic weakness. Yushchenko dismissed Tymoshenko and her Cabinet in September 2005.
Tymoshenko became prime minister for a second time following parliamentary elections in 2007. She again clashed with Yushchenko as Ukraine sought to address economic troubles. Tymoshenko ran for president in 2010, but she was defeated by Yanukovych.
In 2011, Ukrainian prosecutors charged Tymoshenko with exceeding her authority in 2009. The charges stemmed from an agreement she made with Russia over the transportation of natural gas. In October 2011, Tymoshenko was found guilty of abuse of office and sentenced to seven years in prison. Tymoshenko’s supporters, as well as many international observers, believed the proceedings were politically motivated. She later claimed that she had been beaten by prison guards, and she appealed to President Yanukovych to allow her to travel to Berlin for medical treatment.
In 2013, Ukraine’s government took steps toward a trade agreement with the European Union (EU). Tymoshenko’s release from prison was one of the conditions of the deal. That November, Yanukovych announced that he would not sign the agreement. His reversal sparked widespread antigovernment protests, causing Yanukovych to flee the country in February 2014. A new temporary government released Tymoshenko from prison later that month. She ran for president in an election held that May but lost to Petro Poroshenko.
