Petro Poroshenko – biography, photos. career path, business and politics, height, family 2019

Biography of Petro Poroshenko

The life path of Petro Alekseevich Poroshenko raises many questions among people of the post-Soviet space. He is a controversial political figure, the son of an accountant and engineer, a Soviet businessman, a «chocolate» oligarch, a politician, and the president of Ukraine.

Petro Poroshenko is a President of Ukraine

Childhood and family

Petro Poroshenko was born on September 26, 1965, in the town of Bolgrad, Odessa region, in the family of a specialist in agricultural machinery Alexei Ivanovich and bookkeeper Evgenia Sergeevna Poroshenko. Familiar families remembered Petro as a short, polite and sympathetic child who was fond of sweets. The family did not live in poverty, while the father kept his sons with an iron fist.

Petro Poroshenko's parents

In some sources, it is asserted that the real surname of Poroshenko’s father is Walzman. Ostensibly, Alexeydisowned his Jewish name and took the name of his wife to ensure unhindered career advancement.

Petro had a senior brother Mikhail who was 7 years older. He was one of the founders of the enterprise "Ukrprominvest", who died in August 1997 under mysterious circumstances. The media featured a variety of versions: from a banal accident to a contract murder.

Petro Poroshenko in his childhood

At the age of 5, Petro’s family moved to Bender (Transnistria). At the local school, the boy was not a straight-A student, but he did well. He was good in mathematics and French. That’s why classmates jokingly changed his name in the French manner and called him Pierre until graduation.

Education of Petro Poroshenko

In the graduate class, it was the hard to choose for a young man between the career of a diplomat and the profession of a sailor. As a result, he immediately entered the two universities: MGIMO and Kiev State University of Shevchenko (Faculty of International Relations and Law). He gave preference to the second one. It is interesting that he befriended with Mikhail Saakashvili at the university. Petro was fond of freestyle wrestling and judo and deserved the title of master of sports.

Poroshenko and Saakashvili are familiar since studying at the University

In 1984, a third-year student was forced to join the army. Petro Poroshenko served in Aktyubinsk. His beloved Marina was waiting for him and in 1987 he finished his military service and сontinued his studies at the university. In 1989, he successfully graduated with the specialization of an international economist. In 1989-1992 he studied at the graduate school and on the side, he assisted at the Department of International Relations.

Army photo of Poroshenko

Finally, in 2002 he defended his thesis on «Legal regulation of the state corporate rights management in Ukraine».

Business of Petro Poroshenko

Petro was interested in business since his studies at university. In the late 80's, he created a cooperative along with classmates. A company was specializing in sales of cocoa beans. Some Poroshenko’s classmates argue that the first venture of Petro was a video store, which provided super-profit due to video tapes with latest Hollywood movies. Many of his classmates remember how Petro became the owner of the «Volga» at the last year. A student with a personal car seemed at that time like something incredible. The money from the sale of cocoa enabled him to buy up a number of confectionery enterprises close to bankruptcy. They were later united in the ROSHEN concern and today it's known as the largest producer of sweets in Ukraine. The name was invented by his wife: «Po Roshen-Co». Ironically, but Poroshenko himself does not eat his produce as he has diabetes.

Petro Poroshenko is an owner of the Roshen confectionery holding

From 1993 to 1998, Poroshenko served as the general director of the concern "Ukrprominvest". At the same time, he was the head of the OJSC "Leninskaya Kuznya Plant", and also presided over the board of directors of JSCB «Mriya» and was on the supervisory board of the «Vinnitsa confectionery factory».

After he became the «chocolate king» of Ukraine, Poroshenko began to invest in the domestic car industry, including the «Lutsk Automobile Plan»t and the holding company «Bogdan». He also owns the «Fifth Channel» (the third most popular channel of Ukrainian television) and the shipyard of «Leninskaya KuznyaPlant». In 2017, his fortune was estimated at $858 million.

Poroshenko`s political career

In 1998, Poroshenko received a deputy mandate of the United Social-Democratic Party of Ukraine (SDPUO). He dedicated the faction two years. Then Poroshenko left after realizing that Viktor Medvedchuk and GrigorySurkis took the dominant positions in the party instead of Poroshenko's supporters Leonid Kravchuk and VasilyOnopenko. Having left the SDPU, he founded his own Solidarity Party.

In 1998, Poroshenko got a deputy mandate

In 2002, Petro Poroshenko became a member of the «Our Ukraine» faction. Later he was in charge of the election campaign of Viktor Yushchenko. By the way, Poroshenko and Yushchenko are connected not only by politics but also by strong friendship as they are godfathers. Petro took an active part in the development of the Orange Revolution and is one of its main financial guarantors. During this period, he responded to Yushchenko's proposal to share business and political activities, he transferred the formal control of Ukrprominvest to his father.

In 2005, he was a secretary of the National Security Council but resigned due to scandalous events. He and his team, including Nikolay Martynenko, Alexander Tretyakov, and David Zhvania, were accused of corruption and propaganda of personal interests.

Poroshenko and the 44th US President Barack Obama

In 2006, Poroshenko held a leading position in the committee, which solves issues of banking and financial activity. In 2007, he held the high post of the Council of the Ukraine National Bank. In October 2009, Petrobecame Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, having worked for this position for a year. On March 23, 2012, President Viktor Yanukovych entrusted Poroshenko with the post of Minister of Economy and Trade of Ukraine.

Poroshenko was a supporter of the Maidan

Poroshenko was a supporter of Ukraine's European integration and became an active participant in the events of the Maidan (2013-2014). He helped the revolutionaries with money and interacted with Vitali Klitschko. Poroshenko sponsored the reconstruction of the Maidan after the armed clashes.

The President of Ukraine

After the overthrow of Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine, extraordinary presidential elections were held. On May 25, 2014, Ukrainians were to vote for one of the 23 candidates, among which were Yulia Tymoshenko, OlegLyashko, and non-party candidate Petro Poroshenko. With a low turnout (59.5%), Petro Poroshenko won and Received a majority of votes (54.7%).

Poroshenko on Ukraine-US relations, Russian tension

The inauguration of the president took place on June 7. More than 60 foreign delegations, including 23 heads of other states took part in the high day. During the speech, Poroshenko singled out the main directions of his activity: to preserve and strengthen Ukraine, to return the Crimea, to ensure the country's membership in the European Union, and to increase Ukraine's military power.

Personal life of Petro Poroshenko

The first meeting of Poroshenko with his future wife Marina took place at the winter student dances. Marina studied for a cardiologist.

Young Petro Poroshenko with his wife Marina

The president has four children: the elder Alyosha (1985), the twins Zhenya and Sasha (2000) and the younger Michael (2001).

In his family life, Petro Poroshenko is an undisputed leader, whose word is the law for every member of the family.

Poroshenko with his wife and children

In September 2013, Alexei Poroshenko married a 28-year-old Russian woman, Julia Alikhanova. In 2014, PetroPoroshenko became a grandfather.

The eldest son of Poroshenko with his wife Julia

In his spare time, Poroshenko is going in for tennis, reads a lot, including English literature. He also considers himself an ardent admirer of the painting: he likes the works of Impressionist Claude Monet and collects paintings by Aivazovsky.

Petro Poroshenko today

Despite the confident steps towards European integration (in 2017 Ukrainians received the long-awaited visa-free travel with the European Union), sociological polls show that less than half of Ukrainians approve of Poroshenko's activity.

Ukraine and EU sign free-visa waiver deal

On June 20, 2017, Poroshenko met with US President Donald Trump in the White House.