Ivan Kandyba was born into a Ukrainian peasant family in a village of Stulno, Poland.
The two became friends, and Kandyba supported an idea on which Lukyanenko was working - the creation of an illegal Ukrainian Worker's and Peasant's Union (UWPU) (Ukrainian: Українська Робітничо-Селянська Спілка, romanized: Ukrainska Robitnycho-Selianska Spilka).
[1] Kandyba was one of the founders of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group (UHG) which was announced in November 1976 by Mykola Rudenko.
In 1978 and 1980, Kandyba tried to emigrate to the United States, but was not granted an exit visa by the Soviet authorities.
Because of his refusal to cooperate and insistence that he be acknowledged as a political prisoner, Kandyba was placed in isolation for 65 days on 1 January 1988.