About Pavlo Lazarenko
Pavlo Ivanovych Lazarenko (Ukrainian: Павло Іванович Лазаренко, Ukrainian pronunciation: [pɐu̯ˈlɔ iˈwanowɪt͡ʃ lɐzɐˈrɛnko]; born 23 January 1953) is a Ukrainian convicted criminal, international fugitive, and a former politician who served as Prime Minister of Ukraine from 1996 to 1997. Born in 1953 to a peasant family in southern Ukraine, Lazarenko was active in agricultural activities before joining politics in the late 1980s. Originally Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Lazarenko was in 1995 made First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for energy affairs, placing him in charge of acquiring energy from foreign countries. Less than a year later, he was appointed by President Leonid Kuchma as prime minister, serving for just over a year before being replaced by Valeriy Pustovoitenko on 2 July 1997. Lazarenko's time as prime minister and subsequent trials have established him as one of the most corrupt, authoritarian, and unpopular politicians in Ukrainian history. According to United Nations reports, Lazarenko stole around $200 million from the Ukrainian government. Following his 1999 flight from Ukraine, Lazarenko fled to the United States, where he was subsequently tried for extortion, money laundering, and wire fraud, and sentenced. Since 1999, he has been living in exile in the United States due to criminal charges against him in Ukraine. In August 1991, shortly following the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, Lazarenko was chosen as First Deputy Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. At the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Ukraine Yevhen Marchuk, Kuchma appointed Lazarenko the First Vice Prime Minister for Energy Affairs on 5 September 1995.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.