The third president and Eurovision in Ukraine: what was the country like in 2005

2005 was remembered as the year when Ukraine gained its third president since independence. At the same time, the inauguration took place and the first woman prime minister came to power. The year 2005 was also remembered by the Eurovision Song Contest in Ukraine, the increase in payments for newborns by 20 times and the new television formats.

We tell about it in the new issue of the documentary series “30 years of Independence” on the UA TV channel.

This year, Viktor Yushchenko was sworn in by parliament. For the first time, there were so many guests at the event: eight presidents, three prime ministers, and 59 foreign delegations.

In 2005, thanks to last year’s victory of Ruslana Lyzhychko, the Eurovision Song Contest was hosted by Kyiv for the first time. Due to political events in the country, the preparation began in just three months. From Kyiv, Eurovision went to Greece – the first place went to the Greek Helena Paparizou. The only annoyance of the competition was the low scores for Ukraine itself – the group “GreenJolly”.

Also that year, the first international visit of the new Ukrainian president took place.

“I think Yushchenko just decided to show in Moscow that, despite his pro-Western slogans, despite being considered a pro-American candidate, that he is not an enemy of Russia, he wanted to show that he understands the importance of Russia for Ukraine, for the Ukrainian economy” – said political scientist Kost Bondarenko.

Victor Yushchenko will even receive an invitation to the Victory Parade in Moscow and attend it. Putin will fly to Kyiv in the spring. But all this is already on the powder keg. A gas war begins between the countries.

Formally since 2006, but the decision was made in 2005, – increased payments for the birth of a child. It was a real sensation. From UAH 360 (this is the subsistence level in 2005) to UAH 8,460. It’s as if young parents were given ten average salaries in the country at the same time.

Under the influence of financial aid or not, but finally something happened that was not the case with the Soviet Union. After the demographic crisis that began in the Soviet period, the birth rate began to rise.