Kravchuk, KRAHV chuk, Leonid Makarovich (1934-...), was president of Ukraine from 1991 to 1994. Formerly a republic of the Soviet Union, Ukraine had declared its independence shortly before the Soviet Union collapsed in December 1991. As president, Kravchuk worked to keep Ukraine free from control of Russia, Ukraine's large neighbor. He limited Ukraine's role in the Commonwealth of Independent States, fearing Russian domination of that association of former Soviet republics. Kravchuk opposed efforts by Russia to regain the Crimea, a region that had been transferred from Russia to Ukraine by the Soviet government in 1954. Kravchuk ran for reelection in 1994, but he was defeated.