Yulia Tymoshenko

About

Known as a leader of the Ukrainian Orange Revolution of 2004 and 2005, this Batkivshchyna Party (All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland Party) politician served in 2005 and from 2007 until 2010 as the first female Prime Minister of Ukraine.

Before Fame

After earning a PhD from the Kyiv National Economic University, she became a highly successful business executive for a natural gas company. Before she even entered politics, she was included on a Forbes Magazine list of the world's wealthiest and most powerful women.

Trivia

In 2011, she was arrested and sentenced to a seven-year prison term on charges of abuse of power and embezzlement. The European Union viewed the charges as false and politically-driven, and she was released from prison in February of 2014.

Family Life

She married farmer and businessman Oleksander Hennadiyovych Tymoshenko, with whom she raised a child named Yevhenia.

Associated With

She met with Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister of Russia, to try to resolve a 2009 natural gas dispute between the two countries.