In 1994, (click here) Ukraine held presidential elections. Kravchuk, who could not run on a positive economic record or as a committed democrat, was forced to run as a nationalist. In the run-off election he faced Leonid Kuchma, a former director of a Soviet missile factory who served as prime minister from 1992 to 1993. Kuchma, who spoke poor Ukrainian, appealed to voters in eastern and southern regions and eschewed much of the Ukrainianization program. He was vilified by some as a person who would surrender Ukrainian sovereignty to Russia. Kuchma, however, ultimately prevailed, and it fell to him to complete many aspects of the state-building project. In 1996, Kuchma pushed through both a new constitution and a new, permanent currency, the hryvnia.Kuchma concluded a deal whereby Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons, and he also divided up the Black Sea Fleet and concluded a Treaty of Friendship with Russia. By the mid-1990s, Kuchma had established his bonafides as a state-builder, and he was viewed positively by many in the more nationalistoriented western parts of the country. Like Kravchuk, however, one could doubt both his commitment to democracy and to economic reform.
