Vitold Fokin

Vitold Pavlovych Fokin (Віто́льд Па́влович Фо́кін; born 25 October 1932) is a Ukrainian retired politician who served as the first prime minister of Ukraine from the country's declaration of independence on 24 August 1991 until 1 October 1992. Previously, he served as the prime minister of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from 23 October 1990 to 24 August 1991.

After Vitaliy Masol was forced to resign, Fokin was appointed as the head of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR on 17 October 1990.

Early life
Fokin graduated from the National Mining University of Ukraine in Dnipropetrovsk.

Prime Minister of Ukraine
On 18 April 1991, Vitold Fokin was appointed Prime Minister of Ukraine.

On 12 September 1991, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) adopted its resolution on "Succession of Ukraine" where Ukraine was declared a direct successor of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. On 22 August 1992, at a plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada, President Leonid Kravchuk accepted a succession diploma from the exiled government of the Ukrainian People's Republic.

Fokin was one of the drafters and signers of the Belavezha Accords that effectively ended the Soviet Union and founded the Commonwealth of Independent States. As of 2024, he is the last signatory still alive.

During his time as prime minister, he avoided radical pro-market reforms, although critics have argued that Fokin's inaction on the matter and excessive subsidies to various unproductive enterprises contributed to hyperinflation (at 1,210% in 1992) and in general to the poor performance of the Ukrainian economy. He resigned on 8 October 1992, under pressure from the Verkhovna Rada and the general public. Until May 1994, he was vice speaker of the Verkhovna Rada. He currently serves as chairman of the supervisory board of AOZT Devon.

After retirement
In 2020, the pro-Russian 112 Ukraine TV channel published information about a 2017 interview Fokin gave to Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon, where Fokin attempted to justify the Russian annexation of Crimea following his appointment to the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, a contact group of representatives from Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe which sought to facilitate a diplomatic resolution of the war in Donbas. On 30 September 2020, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree dismissing Fokin from the Trilateral Contact Group because he had not been guided in his "activities and statements by the national interests of Ukraine." Fokin was dismissed a few days after he had claimed that there was "no war between Russia and Ukraine in Donbas".

On 27 March 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a Russian missile hit Fokin's house; Fokin himself was not injured because he was in Moldova at the time.