There is a presidential campaign in Ukraine due in 2015 and
political supporters of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko want
her out of jail by then. The current president, Viktor Yanukovich,
certainly does not share that view and especially does not want her
challenging for his presidential seat. The news just released that
the 52-year-old Tymoshenko was being investigated for an alleged
role in the murder of a rival businessman and his wife in 1996 is
seen by many as a way to keep her incarcerated and thus not a
factor in the future Ukraine. To inhibit her ambitions further,
even her personal lawyer has been brought up on other unrelated
charges. Political life in Ukraine can be dangerous to your health,
personally and publicly.
To European and American observers the former prime minister
seemed to be right out of central casting. Very attractive and
affecting the blonde braids of traditional Ukrainian women, Ms.
Tymoshenko had pulled off what initially appeared to be a good deal
in 2009 in the pricing of her country’s gas contract with Russia.
She even had established a good relationship with the often
difficult to reason with Vladimir Putin.
By 2010, however, Tymoshenko had narrowly lost a presidential
runoff to Viktor Yanukovich, one time truck driver who had honed
his political skills during the Soviet years. In the course of his
evolution to top level political operator, he had developed strong
contacts with several key Ukrainian business moguls, most important
among them the oligarch billionaire, Rinat Akhmetov.
By 2011 the beautiful Yulia was on trial in Kiev for having
signed what was now being characterized as a “sweetheart deal” for
Russia and economically unfair to her own country. This was an
ironic turn of events because it was President Yanukovich who had
always been considered rabidly pro-Russian to the point of having
been thought of in some circles as a Russian “agent.” At least
that’s how his political opponents had always spoken of him.
As odd as all this may seem to the Western observer, it’s quite
typical in a country where the former president, Viktor Yushchenko,
who assisted by Yulia Tymoshenko’s money and charisma was credited
as heroically leading the “Orange Revolution” that ousted Leonid
Kuchma, the former strongman of the Ukraine. Yushchenko brought
“multi-party democracy,” as the European media had called the new
politics of Ukraine. Then in a relatively sharp turnabout from the
days of 2004/5, Yushchenko testified against his blonde
revolutionary partner at her trial in 2011. He later referred to
her role in the gas negotiations with Russia as “criminal by
nature.” Of course the fact that Tymoshenko already had stabbed her
revolutionary companion in the back by charging his circle
with large-scale gas deal corruption tended to sour the
relationship.
Shifting allegiances is reportedly as prevalent in the Ukraine
as graft in many forms at all levels. Local violations of building,
fire, and police codes are said to be solved primarily with
appropriate payments to the bureaucrat in charge – not unknown
elsewhere, but endemic in Ukraine. Perhaps the most egregious fraud
yet revealed is that of the deputy chief of the Ukrainian State
Secret Service. He had purchased his college degree after never
having even once attended any classes. According to foreign and
domestic investors alike, the overall economy of Ukraine suffers
from this widespread corruption and slick business deals are the
natural way of commerce.
The concept of Ukraine seeking a closer relationship with the
European Union remains a popular issue, though recent financial
difficulties in the EU have dulled hopes of supporters of that
eventuality. The whole idea of the expansion of NATO was dealt a
blow by Moscow several years ago. Efforts by Kiev to encourage
greater ties with the West have been steadfastly opposed by the
Kremlin, though when Yushchenko was president he did succeed in
gaining Ukraine’s membership in the World Trade Organization.
Yulia Tymoshenko’s strength internationally always has been
based on her brains and beauty. The problem is that both these
attributes, after initial success, have been turned against her
domestically. Even her Ukrainian braids have been attacked as
political charlatanism. She has been accused of being primarily a
Russian-speaker, a not unreasonable allegation as her home area of
Dnepropetrovsk is mostly Russian-speaking. (Yanukovich also comes
from the same region, but no one complains about his Russian
fluency.) Even Tymoshenko’s Ukrainian heritage is questioned as her
father’s family were all Latvian. Her famous Ukrainian surname is
really her husband’s. The braids are her own. Nothing is out of
bounds in Ukrainian politics.
Yulia Tymoshenko reportedly has been doing poorly in prison and
is now in a hospital ward for treatment of a herniated spinal disc.
Yanukovich inadvertently has kept her in the public eye by
introducing the possibility of a trial on her alleged role in the
1996 murders. Most analysts agree Ukrainians have come to expect
their politics to be on the rough side. There is not much evidence
to the contrary.
