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Timeline
Quest for Independence
11th and 12th centuries: Kyiv is center of Rus principality; known as the Mother of Russian cities. It is the largest and most powerful state in Russia
1921: Ukraine reconquered by Russian Red Army after period of independence, becomes Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
1932: Approximately 7 million people die in Ukraine as a result of a forced famine, Stalin’s attempt to suppress Ukrainian nationalism
1941: Nazis invade Ukraine with hopes to establish independent republic. More than 5 million Ukrainians die fighting Nazi Germany; most of Ukraine’s 1.5 million Jews killed by Nazis.
1945: Soviets retake Ukraine and annex western Ukrainian lands after Allied victory in WWII.
1954: Soviets defeat Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), ending armed resistance to Soviet rule.
1986: A nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl station explodes, sending radioactive cloud across Europe, affecting the health of millions.
Independence
December 5, 1991: Ukraine declares independence after Soviet Union dissolves. Leonid Kravchuk is elected as Ukraine’s first president.
1991: Media censorship abolished. The media monopoly held by Communist Party is removed.
1992: Parliament adopts legislation to legalize the privatization of media companies.
Internet first appears in Ukraine.
1994: Leonid Kuchma elected president, succeeding Kravchuk.
1994: National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council (NTRBC) as public regulatory body with the ability to supervise broadcasters and grant licenses. It accused of manipulating procedures to further political and economic interests.
1995: TV broadcast signals taken over from Russia and put under Ukrainian control.
1995: Two of three national TV stations (Studio 1+1 and Inter) transferred to private sector.
1996: New, democratic constitution adopted, although it remains the center of debate for many years to come. New currency, the hryvna is introduced.
1997: Friendship treaty signed with Russia.
1997: Law outlining public broadcasting system passed by Parliament. As of 2010, it had yet to be implemented.
1998: Ukrainian oligarchic clans have gained a significant portion of control over the media market, leading to concentration of media ownership.
1999: President Kuchma re-elected.
1999: Institute of Ecology of Mass Information formed in Lviv National University, sparking Ukraine’s media education movement.
2000’s: Ukrainian TV channels begin to operate as legitimate businesses, competing with Russian media.
2000: Ukrainian journalist Georgy Gongadze murdered; his beheaded body is found 75 miles outside of Kiev. Gongadze had angered President Kuchma with his muckraking articles in the internet newspaper Ukrainska Pravda. Kuchma is finally implicated in the murder in 2011.
2001(April): Viktor Yushchenko’s parliament government dismissed. Yushchenko was popular in the West, but unpopular among Ukrainian businessmen for his fight against corruption and push for economic reform.
2001 (June): Pope John Paul II makes first visit to Ukraine. His stay is protested by Orthodox Christians in Ukraine and Russia.
2002: New form of media censorship introduced by Kuchma administration. Called temnyky, they are unofficial instructions issued to major media outlets about which events to cover and how.
2002 (September): Mass protests demand resignation of President Kuchma, accusing him of corruption and misrule.
2002 (November): President Kuchma sacks Prime Minister Kinakh and replaces him with Viktor Yanukovych.
2004: National Expert Commission for Public Moral Protection (NEC) formed. It becomes a powerful means to exert government control over the media.
Orange Revolution
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| Viktor Yushchenko was elected President after the Orange Revolution in 2004. |
2004 (November): Presidential elections held. Official count shows victory for Prime Minister Yanukovych, but independent observers report vote rigging. The opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko helps to spark a campaign of widespread protests and civil disobedience.
2004 (December): Viktor Yushchenko wins re-run of elections. Viktor Yaunkovych resigns as prime minister.
2005 (January): Yushchenko sworn in as president. He adopts a liberal approach to media policy, removing many forms of presidential control over the media, including the practice of issuing temnyky.
Political Battles and Modern Developments
2005: President Yushchenko’s nominee Yulia Tymoshenko approved as prime minister. He dismisses her near the end of the year.
2006: President Yushchenko’s rival Viktor Yanukovych elected as prime minister.
2007: Yulia Tymoshenko appointed as prime minister again.
2008: President Yushchenko forms a consulting group to present a plan for implementing public service broadcasting.
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| Ukraine's current President, Viktor Yanukovych, was elected in 2010. |
2008: Global financial crisis leads to decline in demand for steel, one of Ukraine’s primary exports. Investors pull out, and Ukraine takes a loan of $16.5 billion from the IMF to sustain its economy.
2010 (February): Viktor Yanukovych elected president. He implements a return to centralized control over media, ending the “Orange period” of a relatively free press. Tymoshenko, who ran against Yanukovych, steps down as prime minister. Mykola Azarov is appointed in her place.
2010 (July): A Kiev court cancels the allocation of broadcasting frequencies to two private TV channels, a move criticized by international media freedom organizations.
2010 (October): Constitutional court overturns limits on presidential power that were introduced in 2004.
2011: A court finds Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of power in 2009, to the outrage of several European leaders.
2012(June): Ukraine hosts the European Football Championship for the first time.
2012 (July): Hundreds protest parliament’s decision to grant Russian regional language status.