of agricultural department of Tsarychanka Raion. From 1985 to 1987 he worked as a Communist Party functionary in Tsarychanka Raion, and from 1987 to 1990, Lazarenko worked for the Communist Party of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in agricultural production and food industry sectors. In February 1990, he was elected as head of Agro-Industrial Complex of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast In August 1991, shortly following the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, Lazarenko was chosen as First Deputy Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. In March 1992, President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk appointed Lazarenko as Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Lazarenko's candidacy was nominated by the council of working groups conference of the Dnipropetrovsk State Agrarian University, whose decision was supported by over 200 groups. Leonid Kuchma, then a People's Deputy, at that time proposed Valeriy Pustovoitenko, who would also later become Prime Minister. Lazarenko remained as Governor until June 1994. Although he sided with incumbent Kravchuk in the 1994 Ukrainian presidential election, he managed to establish close ties with the election winner, Leonid Kuchma. First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine 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. As the government official in energy affairs, he was charged with a task of negotiating gas supplies with Russia and Turkmenistan. Already next year in 1996, Ukraine reported no debts to the Russian Gazprom for the first since its independence. In 1996 Lazarenko became Doctor of Economic Sciences. Prime Minister of Ukraine On 28 May 1996, Kuchma confirmed Lazarenko as the Prime Minister of Ukraine within the powers stipulated by the existing "Constitutional Agreement". On 10 July 1996, less than two weeks after adopting a new Constitution of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada approved the appointment of Lazarenko as Prime Minister. On 16 July 1996, Lazarenko survived an attempt on his life when a bomb exploded near his blocked car en route from Kyiv to Boryspil airport. Conflict with the Donetsk Clan and murders of opponents Lazarenko was involved in a prolonged and bitter struggle for economic domination with the emerging , an industrial and political group based in Donetsk and led by Viktor Yanukovych. Lazarenko has been linked to the deaths of several of his political opponents, though he has repeatedly denied his involvement in any assassinations. On 3 November 1996, Yevhen Shcherban, a prominent member of the