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Pedro Gonçalves

Ukraine leader stirs Tymoshenko row with murder charge | Reuters - 0 views

uk.reuters.com/...nukovich-idUKBRE85C10020120613

Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko Viktor Yanukovych

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 14 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Shcherban died in a hail of bullets as he stepped from a plane in the eastern city of Donetsk. The attackers, disguised as airport mechanics, also killed his wife and several bystanders.His killing followed several other murders in Donetsk, including a football stadium bombing that killed the owner of Shakhtar Donetsk club, and led to a realignment of political and business alliances in the key steel- and coal-producing region.Back then, both Tymoshenko and Yanukovich were big players in a turbulent region which seethed with intrigue and where fortunes were made and lost in murky dealings ranging from sales of state assets to protection rackets, extortion and theft.
  • Backing his president, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said that after Shcherban had been removed, the company Tymoshenko headed, Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine, moved onto the scene and made big profits by selling Russian gas at a mark-up price to local companies.
  • Last month, general prosecutor Viktor Pshonka said Tymoshenko, 51, was being treated as a material witness in the Shcherban case and investigators were trawling through evidence in the case, including new testimony from the dead man's son.Ruslan Shcherban was 19 at the time and survived the attack by hiding under a car, but he has said recently he has evidence implicating Tymoshenko.
Pedro Gonçalves

Ukraine's ruling party claims victory in election | World news | guardian.co.uk - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...ukraine-party-election

Ukraine

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 29 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • With former leader Yulia Tymoshenko in jail and widespread fears of election fraud, the west is paying close attention to the vote in the strategic ex-Soviet state, which serves as a key conduit for transit of Russian energy supplies to many EU countries. An election deemed undemocratic by international observers could freeze Kiev's ties with the west and push Ukraine towards Moscow.
  • Udar (Punch), led by world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, is set to get about 15%, according to the survey.
  • Opposition forces hope to garner enough parliament seats to weaken Yanukovych's power and undo the damage they say he has done: the jailing of Tymoshenko and her top allies, the concentration of power in the hands of the president, the snubbing of the Ukrainian language in favour of Russian, waning media freedoms, a deteriorating business climate and growing corruption.
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  • The strong showing by the far-right Svoboda party, which campaigns for the defence of the Ukrainian language and culture but is also infamous for xenophobic and anti-Semitic rhetoric, showed the widespread disappointment and anger with the ruling party.
Pedro Gonçalves

BBC News - Yulia Tymoshenko drops Ukraine election challenge - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8525821.stm

Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 20 Feb 10 - Cached
  • Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has dropped her legal challenge against her rival's victory in Ukraine's presidential election.
  • International monitors deemed the vote free and fair, and Mr Yanukovych is due to be inaugurated on 25 February. Ukrainian Central Electoral Commission's declaration on Sunday that Mr Yanukovych had won the vote by a margin of 3.48%.
  • "Given that the court is refusing to establish the truth in essence, I withdrew my lawsuit at today's morning sitting of the Supreme Administrative Court and asked the court to stop this show, which bears no resemblance to justice," she said.
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  • As recently as Friday she had appealed for the poll to be declared void, saying: "I cannot accept double standards and I cannot give up". The prime minister said more than a million votes, which she said were decisive to the outcome, were invalid.
Pedro Gonçalves

BBC News - Ukraine: Tymoshenko vows to contest election result - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8514517.stm

ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko viktor yanukovych

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 15 Feb 10 - Cached
  • "I want to clearly state: Yanukovych is not our president," Ms Tymoshenko said in a live televised broadcast.
  • But she said she would not call people on to the streets to protest, as she had done after the 2004 presidential election. "I will not call another Maidan [Independence Square demonstration] and will not allow public protests," she said.
Argos Media

Foreign Policy: Ukraine's Dangerous Game - 0 views

www.foreignpolicy.com/...cms.php

Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko EU NATO

shared by Argos Media on 12 Apr 09 - Cached
  • "I try to defend our interests so that we can find a balance in our relations both with the EU and Russia," Tymoshenko explains, meaning she wants her country to get into the EU without giving the impression of antagonizing Russia.
  • Could the same strategy apply to Ukraine's relations with NATO? Here the prime minister sighs for a split second: "There, it's more complex." It's not so much that she is frightened by Georgia's experience, something she never mentions though it's clearly on her mind. While recognizing it would be "uncomfortable" for Ukraine to remain "in a void, outside all existing security systems," she still sees several "political barriers" between Kiev and NATO.
  • The first problem she sees is that barely 25 percent of Ukrainians favor joining NATO. "Even the president accepts we need to hold a referendum on this," she acknowledges.
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  • The second "problem" is rather a carefully managed swipe at those Europeans cozying up a bit too much to Russia -- especially Germany and Italy, one suspects. In Tymoshenko's own words, "There is no unanimity in the EU on Ukraine's joining NATO as we have not yet witnessed a favorable attitude in every country."
  • At the moment, Tymoshenko narrowly trails Yanukovych in opinion polls but remains far more popular than Yushchenko, whose support has fallen to the single digits. Nonetheless, she remains a controversial figure. In an identity-obsessed Ukraine that declared independence six times over the last 90 years, even her family origins fuel much debate. She grew up speaking Russian and perfected her Ukrainian only after she moved to politics in her 30s. Through a spokeswoman, she also "doesn't comment" on rumors that part of her family comes from Armenia. It's hard to imagine her receiving the kind of voter acceptance enjoyed by Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy with their foreign-born fathers.
Pedro Gonçalves

BBC NEWS | Europe | Ukraine PM to stand for president - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...8088258.stm

Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko Viktor Yushenko

shared by Pedro Gonçalves on 08 Jun 09 - Cached
  • Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko has announced that she will stand in presidential elections in 2010.
  • The prime minister was one of the leaders of the 2004 Orange Revolution, but her alliance with current President Viktor Yushchenko has become a rivalry. Scandals have left Ukraine without foreign, defence and finance ministers.
  • Defence Minister Yuri Yekhanurov, seen as an ally of Mr Yushchenko, was sacked by MPs on Friday in a motion put forward by Ms Tymoshenko's allies.
Argos Media

Foreign Policy: Ukraine's Dangerous Game - 0 views

www.foreignpolicy.com/...cms.php

Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko Economy EU

shared by Argos Media on 12 Apr 09 - Cached
  • This is a tough day for her and an important time for Ukraine. Later she will speak before parliament to defend controversial new budget measures demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for unblocking a badly needed financial rescue package. The amount at stake is relatively small, a $1.8 billion second installment of a $16.4 billion loan. But without the IMF, there is little hope Ukraine will regain enough market confidence to roll over the $40 billion in bank loans and bonds coming due this year. By mid-April, Tymoshenko needs to push pension reform and higher gas tariffs through the legislature - hardly a comfortable position for a leading candidate in the presidential elections expected on Oct. 25.
  • It is especially ironic that this businesswoman turned anti-Russian revolutionary is now disparaged by Yushchenko as a thinly disguised Russian pawn.
  • Not that dealing with Russia has gotten any easier. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin did not like Tymoshenko's recent deal with the European Union on the modernization of Ukraine's gas infrastructure, and Moscow is holding up a $5 billion loan to Ukraine to mark its dissatisfaction.
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  • "All this crossfire shows what I really stand for is our own national interest," she says. Then she is quick to add: "The Russians worry that we are trying to privatize our pipelines by stealth, but that's not the case and would be illegal. We have to reassure them on that."
  • "There is no doubt we want to join the EU. At least 60 percent of our public opinion favors this option, and we are now closer to this goal than, say, one year ago. This policy must be the essence of all our actions," she says. But, she warns, it cannot succeed by confronting Moscow or ignoring its concerns.
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