[Ohio UZO News] Ukraine: NYT; WP; WSJ; FT; EDM

[Deychak, Orest]

The New York Times

High Court In Ukraine Weighs Appeal On Election 

By CLIFFORD J. LEVY 

18 February 2010

Late Edition - Final

8

MOSCOW -- A high court in Ukraine began Wednesday to consider Prime Minister Yulia V. Tymoshenko's request to overturn the results of the country's presidential election, which she narrowly lost.

While it hears her appeal, the court will temporarily suspend the official declaration of victory for Viktor F. Yanukovich, the opposition leader. The move was considered a formality, and the court did not postpone or cancel Mr. Yanukovich's inauguration, scheduled for Feb. 25.

The court, the Higher Administrative Court in Kiev, will probably rule by the weekend on the validity of the Feb. 7 election.

Ms. Tymoshenko lost by 3.48 percentage points, according to official results announced by the Central Election Commission on Sunday.

On Saturday, Ms. Tymoshenko announced that she would not concede, and declared that Mr. Yanukovich's campaign had stolen the election by engaging in widespread fraud.

She said that while she would challenge the election legally, she would not organize mass protests like those that occurred during the 2004 Orange Revolution, which she helped lead.

Mr. Yanukovich's aides have described her accusations as false and desperate. European election monitors praised the election, saying that it was fair and represented an important step forward for Ukraine's democracy. President Obama and other world leaders have already congratulated Mr. Yanukovich for his victory.

While the judicial system in Ukraine can be unpredictable, analysts have said the odds are against Ms. Tymoshenko's overturning the election. They said she was going to court to send a message to her supporters that she would not easily give in.

She may also be seeking leverage to negotiate with Mr. Yanukovich over whether she will be able to remain prime minister. She has rebuffed his call that she resign.

The Washington Post

Ukrainian election results suspended on appeal

By YURAS KARMANAU
The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's presidential election results giving the victory to Russia-friendly Viktor Yanukovych were suspended Wednesday pending review of his rival's appeal. 

Ukraine's Administrative Court said it would rule on Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's appeal by Feb. 25, when lawmakers had planned to inaugurate Yanukovych. 

Tymoshenko has refused to concede, claiming the election was tainted by fraud. Instead of stepping down as Yanukovych prodded her, she ordered her Cabinet to work out a plan for economic reform for the next five years. 

Tymoshenko also attacked her rival on another front, launching consultations in parliament to derail Yanukovych's inauguration set for next week. Her campaign chief, Alexander Turchinov, said Wednesday that Tymoshenko's faction in parliament will introduce a motion to postpone the ceremony. 

Until the ruling on her appeal, the court said, it was suspending the Central Election Commission's declaration that Yanukovych had won the Feb. 7 vote by just 3.5 percentage points. 

International observers have deemed Ukraine's latest election free and fair, and President Barack Obama and other leaders have already congratulated Yanukovych. 

But Tymoshenko urged a full re-count of the vote, delivering what she said was evidence to the court on Tuesday. 

She asked her supporters, however, not to hold street demonstrations - as they did in what became known as the 2004 Orange Revolution. 

Those pro-Western mass protests lead to a court's overturning Yanukovych's presidential election victory that year and ordering a rerun, which was won by Tymoshenko ally Viktor Yushchenko. 

Years of infighting between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko deepened the nation's economic woes and helped Yanukovych mount a comeback. He campaigned on promises to improve ties with Russia, which became strained as pro-Western Yushchenko sought NATO and EU membership for Ukraine. 

It was unclear how strong Tymoshenko's case in the appeal may be or whether the court would be likely to give it credence. Some Ukrainian court decisions are seen as influenced by politics more than by evidence. 

Anna German, the vice chairwoman of Yanukovych's Party of Regions, dismissed the court deliberations as a "mere formality." 

"These proceedings can't overturn the obvious: The majority of Ukrainians have voted for Yanukovych," she said. "The entire world has recognized Yanukovych's victory." 

Viktor Nebozhenko, the head of the respected Ukrainian Barometer polling agency, predicted that the court will rule against Tymoshenko's appeal because many judges on the court support Yanukovych. 

"Tymoshenko knows quite well that she has little chance of winning, but she will use the proceedings to make strong accusations," he said. "Tymoshenko's key goal is now to stay in the prime minister's seat. She has nothing to lose and is ready to offer promises and jobs." 

Another Kiev-based political analyst, Vadim Karasyov, said that Tymoshenko's defiance will likely force Yanukovych to call early elections to attempt to win control over parliament, which appoints the prime minister. 

"If Yanukovych fails to muster a majority to force Tymoshenko out, he has a choice of being a weak president under the strong prime minister, or risk early parliamentary elections," Karasyov said. 


The Wall Street Journal


Ukraine Will Be a Bridge Between East and West 


We are a nation with a European identity, but we have historic cultural and economic ties to Russia as well. We can benefit from both.


By VIKTOR YANUKOVYCH <http://online.wsj.com/search/search_center.html?KEYWORDS=VIKTOR+YANUKOVYCH&ARTICLESEARCHQUERY_PARSER=bylineAND>  


Over the past month, Ukraine has demonstrated twice that it cherishes the values of democracy and the belief that it is important for people to vote. Ukraine's presidential election was validated by all of the major international observer groups as free, fair and transparent, which attested to the Ukrainian people's resolve for a democratic election. The people of Ukraine desired change and their voices were heard. Now we have the great responsibility to help our fellow countrymen, who have cast votes for me hoping for a better life. 

This election was defined by a financial and economic crisis that has devastated our country. Before the global economic crisis, Ukraine was one of Europe's top emerging markets, and economic prosperity did not seem beyond our reach in the near term. Now all that has changed, and the people demanded change in the way our Government works in Ukraine. 

We must still put an end to the political turmoil that has crippled Ukraine and held our country hostage for so long. I will work ardently to do this as president. The only way that this can be accomplished is for the top political forces and their leaders, immediately after the presidential election results have been declared and certified, to avoid confrontation and unite for the sake of saving our country. We are a nation capable of great things but we will accomplish none of them if we continue to bicker among ourselves and ignore the enormous challenges that we must confront.

Let me say here, a Yanukovych presidency is committed to the integration of European values in Ukraine. Ukraine should make use of its geopolitical advantages and become a bridge between Russia and the West. Developing a good relationship with the West and bridging the gap to Russia will help Ukraine. We should not be forced to make the false choice between the benefits of the East and those of the West. As president I will endeavor to build a bridge between both, not a one-way street in either direction. We are a nation with a European identity, but we have historic cultural and economic ties to Russia as well. The re-establishment of relations with the Russian Federation is consistent with our European ambitions. We will rebuild relations with Moscow as a strategic economic partner. There is no reason that good relations with all of our neighbors cannot be achieved. 

If we hope to become a bridge between two important spheres we cannot merely talk and make promises; we must deliver concrete policies and achieve real progress. If we hope to join the European Union we must secure political stability and establish ourselves as an economically viable nation. We must be pragmatic and focused to achieve EU membership. We must create transparent policies that allow our economy to thrive and demonstrate that Ukraine will add value to the EU as a new member state.

I am committed to conducting a policy that would strengthen our links with respected international financial institutions, and increase our standing in the world economic community. My election program, "Ukraine for the People," is a deep and comprehensive plan that clearly specifies how to achieve social and economic progress. It is not an easy task. We will be confronted with the same conflicts as Europe and Washington have faced-how to stimulate our economy to create jobs while not decreasing the social protections needed by our citizens. We must defeat corruption, which has become rampant over the last several years and has damaged our ability to attract foreign investment. 

If we hope to join the EU and raise the standard of living of Ukrainians to that of other European nations, we must restore our economy from within. There are three fundamental objectives the Ukrainian economy must achieve in order to thrive: First, we must create jobs; second, we must stabilize prices so people can afford the necessities that they need to live; and third, we must ensure our citizens receive adequate wages and pensions. Giving our citizens a basic economic foundation is a critical first step to restoring the broken bond between the people and the government of Ukraine. 

And so that is my agenda-to restore economic vitality and calm the political turbulence that has plagued our nation; to enable Ukraine to take advantage of its natural positioning as a thriving bridge between Russia and the West; and finally, to prepare a free and open Ukraine, economically and politically, to join the European Union when the time comes.

Ukraine is a beautiful country with hard-working and virtuous people who ask only for a chance at a better life. I know that if we can come together, we will achieve great things. As president, I plan to give Ukrainians the nation they deserve-a Ukraine for the people.

Mr. Yanukovych is president-elect of Ukraine. 

Financial Times

Tymoshenko risks losing her friends

By Tony Barber 

Published: February 18 

Brussels Blog (Tony Barber): Yulia Tymoshenko's refusal to acknowledge Viktor Yanukovich as the legitimate winner of Ukraine's presidential election is starting to embarrass her friends in the European Union. The White House, Nato and the EU have all congratulated Yanukovich on his victory. The longer Tymoshenko maintains her defiant stance, the more it will cost her in terms of prestige and contacts in Europe.

Only last December I saw the red carpet rolled out for Tymoshenko at a congress in Bonn of the centre-right European People's party, the biggest party in the European parliament. Everyone was there: German chancellor Angela Merkel, EU president Herman Van Rompuy, French premier François Fillon, Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, etc. Tymoshenko was one of the star attractions from the "new" eastern Europe.

Now she risks throwing all that away. If the EU wanted one outcome above anything else from the Ukrainian election, it was a free and fair contest and unambiguous acceptance of the result by the loser. This was the key to medium-term political stability in Ukraine, EU policymakers believed. By challenging the result after international observers had declared the election to have met the necessary standards, Tymoshenko did precisely what EU leaders didn't want her or anyone else to do. As Kostyantyn Bondarenko, a political analyst and director of the Gorshenin Institute in Kiev, told me: "She is starting to lose authority and weight in and around her own circles. If this confrontation continues, she risks losing even within her own party."

The EU now faces the task of building a constructive relationship with Yanukovich. It is not all gloom and doom. He is likely to pay an early visit to Brussels and reassure EU leaders that he plans to keep Ukrainian integration with the EU on track. He is often portrayed as pro-Moscow and cool on relations with the west, but matters are not that simple. For example, he gets on much better with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev than with Vladimir Putin. If EU policymakers remain privately nervous about Yanukovich, it is because they worry about his intentions towards the Russian-Ukrainian gas trade business.

Full text: www.ft.com/brusselsblog

Eurasia Daily Monitor

February 16, 2010

Yushchenko Facilitates Yanukovych's Election and Buries the Orange Revolution

Two major myths promoted by President Viktor Yushchenko in Ukraine's 2010 presidential elections were that there was no difference in policies between the two main candidates, Viktor Yanukovych and Yulia Tymoshenko, and that both were "pro-Russian." These myths helped defeat Tymoshenko by 3 percent in an election where every vote counted.

Several pieces of evidence point to the Yushchenko-Yanukovych alliance that facilitated Yanukovych's election. For instance, the lack of criticism by Yushchenko of Yanukovych preceding the elections (Ukrayinska Pravda, February 10). Yushchenko never criticized Yanukovych's pro-Russian policies on energy (gas consortium, return to non-market subsidized prices, and revival of the corrupt RosUkrEnergo); Russian as a state language; the extension of the Black Sea Fleet base beyond 2017; opposition to NATO membership, and the Party of Regions alliance with Russian extremist nationalists in Odessa and the Crimea. Yushchenko and the presidential secretariat levelled daily abuse at Tymoshenko, accusing her of "treason" and vetoed a record number of government policies.

Moreover, a draft agreement was leaked in December 2009 by a staff member in the presidential secretariat that revealed plans for a Yushchenko-Yanukovych alliance (UNIAN, December 25, 2009; EDM, January 5, 6). The Ukrainian media discussed the issue of Yushchenko becoming prime minister under President Yanukovych (www.comments.com.ua, December 4, 2009).

In the event of a Our Ukraine-Peoples Self Defence (NUNS) - Party of Regions grand coalition being formed, the Yushchenko loyalist Yuriy Yekhanurov might be offered the post of prime minister (Ukrayinska Pravda, February 8-10). Prime Minister and Our Ukraine leader Yekhanurov led the negotiations with the Party of Regions after the March 2006 elections for a grand coalition that collapsed. Yekhanurov was the head of the State Property Fund in the 1990's and the oligarchs are his creation.

The Party of Regions and the NUNS faction, together with the Communists and Volodymyr Lytvyn bloc, sought to remove pro-Tymoshenko Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko. The vote was supported by NUNS deputy Petro Yushchenko. Similarly, between rounds one and two Yushchenko vetoed the cabinet's December 16, 2009 decree appointing General Hennady Moskal as Crimea's police chief (UNIAN, February 2). Moskal, who is a deputy in the pro-Lutsenko Peoples Self Defense group in NUNS, was praised for halting election fraud in favor of Yanukovych in round one. "The Party of Regions, who is as thick as thieves with Yushchenko, controls the administrative resources on the peninsula," Moskal said (www.zik.com.ua, February 11). The Tymoshenko campaign found evidence of fraud in the Crimea in round two (www.vybory.tymoshenko.ua, February 10).

Meanwhile, between rounds one and two Yushchenko removed the Kharkiv and Dniproptrovsk governors who had expressed support for Tymoshenko and had refused to provide administrative resources for Yanukovych's campaign. Yushchenko also removed six ambassadors where there had been few votes for Yushchenko in round one (Ukrayinska Pravda, February 10). The Tymoshenko campaign will contest in the courts the election results in the Crimea, Donetsk, Zaporozhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk (www.vybory.tymoshenko.ua, February 10).

Only five days before the second round the Party of Regions, the pro-Yanukovych wing of NUNS and the Communists, passed changes to the election law. President Yushchenko quickly signed the law, ignoring a plea to veto it by the Committee of Voters (www.cvu.org.ua, February 4), independent experts, and Tymoshenko (Ukrayinska Pravda, February 3, 4).

These changes were widely condemned because they changed the electoral rules in the middle of the elections. If the changes were deemed so important, they should have been demanded by Yushchenko prior to round one. Yushchenko's actions proved that he had forged an alliance with Yanukovych, Kyiv expert Volodymyr Fesenko said (www.politdumka.kiev.ua, February 4).

What was left of Yushchenko's reputation, in Ukraine and abroad, was effectively destroyed by his support for the electoral law changes, because they undermined his role as the constitutional guarantor of free elections and his election campaign slogan of having brought democracy to Ukraine, Kyiv expert Ihor Zhdanov said (www.politdumka.kiev.ua, February 4). Oleksandr Tretiakov, a long time ally, resigned from the Our Ukraine party in which Yushchenko is its honorary chairman.

Most controversially, between the election rounds Yushchenko signed two decrees giving hero status to Organization of Ukrainian Nationalist leader Stepan Bandera and to honor members of various Ukrainian national liberation movements in the twentieth century (www.president.gov.ua, January 28). The decrees, immediately condemned by Russia, helped to additionally mobilize pro-Yanukovych voters in Eastern and Southern Ukraine. Professor Myroslav Popovych claimed the decrees "disorientated" Eastern-Southern Ukrainian voters and mobilized them against the "Orange" candidate, Tymoshenko (Ukrayinsky Tyzhden, January 29-February 4).

The timing of the two decrees was odd, as they were not issued prior to round one, when they could have given Yushchenko additional nationalist votes from supporters of the Svoboda leader Oleh Tyahnybok. The decrees could have been issued at any time during his presidency, as he did with an October 2007 decree giving hero status to Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) leader Roman Shukhevych (EDM, October 23, 2007). A decree in honor of Sich Sharpshooters, a Ukrainian unit in the Austrian army in World War I, was issued on January 6 before the first round.

Finally, Yuriy Shukhevych, the son of the UPA commander, led a campaign in Lviv with other nationalist leaders in support of Yushchenko's call to vote against both candidates in round two. Evidence was provided by Tymoshenko in an appearance on Inter television (February 5) that these appeals were published in Lviv newspapers with financial assistance from the Yanukovych campaign.

Anti-Semitic leaflets appeared in Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk (witnessed by this author) urging voters: "Do not vote for that Jew," a reference to Tymoshenko's father's alleged ethnicity (the leaflet was reproduced on www.rferl.org, February 3).

The irony of Ukraine's 2010 election campaign is that the nationalist candidate, Yushchenko, long vilified by Russia, likely facilitated the election of the pro-Russian candidate, Yanukovych, Moscow's favourite in the Ukrainian elections (EDM, January 22, 27, 29). Yushchenko, brought to power by the 2004 Orange Revolution, effectively destroyed the Orange Revolution himself. The Revolution, long the personal object of hate by the former Russian President Vladimir Putin who saw it as one of his personal policy failures, was buried by that very person (Yushchenko) so despised by Putin.

No better final epitaph could have been written for Yushchenko.

--Taras Kuzio

 

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