You're reading: Yanukovych congratulates Kravchuk on his birthday

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has congratulated Ukraine's first president Leonid Kravchuk on his birthday. 

“Please accept my sincere congratulations on your 80th birthday. I
deeply respect you for your invaluable contribution to the strengthening
of constitutional order and national concord, the development of
democracy in Ukraine,” he said in a greeting released by the
presidential press service on Friday.

“As a patriot and a wise politician you have done all for our country
to gain international recognition and make initial steps towards the
formation of an independent European state,” the president said.

Kravchuk was born in 1934. He was Ukrainian president in 1991-1994.