InsIde: • Kuchma: Ukraine’s political system is dysfunctional – page 3. • Ukraine sends 47 athletes to Vancouver Olympics – page 5. • UCRDC oral history archives to be digitized – page 8. THEPublished U by theKRA Ukrainian NationalIN AssociationIAN Inc., a fraternal Wnon-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXVIII No.6 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2010 $1/$2 in Ukraine Voters in Lviv disenchanted Last-minute changes to law Many say they will vote against both candidates threaten legitimacy of runoff by Zenon Zawada In justifying the changes, Party of Kyiv Press Bureau Regions national deputies alleged that commissioners representing the Yulia KYIV – Ukraine’s biggest political Tymoshenko Bloc had begun to abstain powers rallied together in what they said from participating in local election com- was an attempt to prevent Prime Minister mission meetings in Donetsk and Crimea, Yulia Tymoshenko from disrupting the thereby disrupting preparations by failing elections, while she claimed they had to provide a quorum. ruined legitimacy of the February 7 presi- “The Regions’ motives are understood dential elections runoff and democracy in – a scenario of disrupting the elections at Ukraine as a whole. certain polling stations due to a lack of The Party of Regions of Ukraine led a quorum was truly, seriously considered in February 3 parliamentary vote to approve Tymoshenko’s entourage, I know this for changes to election rules that would allow certain,” Mr. Chernenko said. “I’m not election commissions to hold meetings sure this would have been massive, but and count votes without a two-thirds quo- the threats exist. However, combating this rum and accept same-day replacements of phenomenon with such changes to the members appointed by local authorities. law is like shooting sparrows with a can- The next day, Ms. Tymoshenko threat- non.” Khristina Lew ened mass protests if President Viktor The measure was approved by 233 Supporters of Yulia Tymoshenko gather at a rally in Lviv on January 22. Yushchenko signed the bill into law. He deputies, including 172 lawmakers from did just that, defying her threat and con- the Party of Regions, 29 loyalists of the by Khristina Lew now, because in two years’ time they will firming his suspected alliance with the president and Viktor Baloha from the Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense bloc, 27 Special to The Ukrainian Weekly change the Constitution and hold new pro-Russian Party of Regions aimed at Communists and one castaway from the elections anyway,” she said. preventing Ms. Tymoshenko’s election as Tymoshenko Bloc. LVIV – Iryna Podolyak sits at a table president. Disillusionment with the promises of In their attempt to block the law’s pas- in her apartment in Lviv wearing a hat The sanctity and stability of the elction the Orange Revolution and the sage, Tymoshenko Bloc deputies intro- and gloves. The electricity in her building on the eve of the February 7 vote was cast Yushchenko presidency is apparent. “We duced more than 200 amendments to the near the Opera House has been cut off into doubt when Committee of Voters of and there is no heat in her home. She has have survived the last five years, we can bill, all of which required a vote. survive another two,” added Iryna Ukraine (CVU) Chair Oleksander Parliament rejected each of them during a been assured by the head of the Lviv Chernenko assured “total chaos and dis- Oblast electric company that the electrici- (Continued on page 21) order at commissions.” (Continued on page 5) ty will be quickly restored, but 24 hours later there still is no heat. “We live in an exotic place, where you pay your bills on time but get no service,” she said. Sergey Tigipko: Ukraine’s rising star Ms. Podolyak has worked for the Office of the Mayor of Lviv for eight by Zenon Zawada Ukrainian politics, his athletic build years, and in 2004 – when people Kyiv Press Bureau gracing the covers of Ukrainian maga- throughout Ukraine began traveling to the zines following his surprise finish. capital to participate in what later became KYIV – Sergey Tigipko was just Seeking to borrow some of his the Orange Revolution – she left her job another face in a sea of candidates when momentum, Prime Minister Yulia in Lviv to volunteer for the Yushchenko he launched his presidential campaign Tymoshenko told the public she wanted campaign in Kyiv. She remained there for last spring, commanding only a tiny frac- Mr. Tigipko to become her prime minis- over three months and helped elect Viktor tion of the 13 percent support held by ter should she become president, regard- Yushchenko president. Arseniy Yatsenyuk, his former colleague less of whether he’d endorse her cam- On January 17 of this year Ms. at the National Bank of Ukraine who paign. Podolyak voted for Mr. Yushchenko in was comfortably in third place. “I proposed to Tigipko not only unit- the first round of Ukraine’s presidential With his own multi-million-dollar war ing programs and our view of develop- election. In the second round of elections chest, however, Mr. Tigipko turned the ing Ukraine, not only being his depend- taking place on February 7, Ms. Podolyak tables on his younger colleague in just able partner in this difficult but reward- said she will go to the polls and vote for seven months and rocked Ukraine’s ing work, I offered him the position of neither candidate. She says she cannot political establishment, earning third prime minister as well,” she said on bring herself to vote for either Yulia place in the January 17 presidential vote January 20. Tymoshenko or Viktor Yanukovych, with 13 percent support. Mr. Tigipko said he would accept any despite the fact that in western Ukraine – “Tigipko played the role of the accep- offer to become prime minister but on where Ms. Tymoshenko won overwhelm- tor of those not wanting to vote for certain conditions, such as a clear anti- ingly – a vote against both candidates is, Yanukovych and Tymoshenko,” said crisis program, as well as the laws and in reality, a vote for Mr. Yanukovych. Mykhailo Pohrebinskyi, director of the personnel necessary for its execution. The idea of a protest vote is popular in Center for Political Research and The new president will also need to form a new parliamentary coalition in western Ukraine, and in particular among Conflict Studies in Kyiv. “At first they order for him to become prime minister, 30- and 40-something year-olds. Luba were oriented towards Yatsenyuk, but he said. (Currently a de facto coalition Sorokina, 32, a journalist at Talan produc- then realized he was an empty shell and tion studio, scoffs at the notion that vot- exists that doesn’t meet legal require- went over to him.” ments.) ing against both candidates will endanger Official Website of Sergey Tigipko Mr. Tigipko, who will turn 50 on a democratic Ukraine’s future. “It makes Sergey Tigipko February 13, is now the new star in (Continued on page 18) little difference who is elected president 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2010 No. 6 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFS Russia backs Yanukovych Rada amends presidential election law of the presidential election, which, under the law, should be announced no later KYIV – The Ukrainian Parliament on than February 17. (Ukrinform) in Ukraine’s 2010 elections February 3 adopted a bill amending the by Taras Kuzio itician. It positively portrayed her pragma- Ukrainian law on presidential elections Tribute to Battle of Kruty heroes (regarding the organization of the work of Eurasia Daily Monitor tism in seeking to work with Moscow on election commissions). The passed KYIV – President Viktor Yushchenko energy issues – a welcome development in and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Russian media coverage of the 2010 Russia and the EU after two winter gas cri- amendments to the law were proposed by Ukrainian elections from the outset por- Party of Regions National Deputy and January 29 laid flowers to the Kruty ses in 2006 and 2009. On November 22, Heroes Memorial in Kyiv. The event par- trayed it as a two-horse race between Viktor 2009, Rossiya 1 described her in positive Verkhovna Rada First Vice-Chairman Yanukovych and Yulia Tymoshenko. In the Oleksander Lavrynovych. The document ticipants held a moment of silence for the terms, as cultivating a breakthrough in victims of the battle. In his address first phase of the election campaign Russian-Ukrainian energy relations and Mr. excludes a requirement from the law that (October-November 2009), the Russian there should be a quorum of two-thirds of President Yushchenko emphasized the Putin’s relationship with Ms. Tymoshenko feat of patriots who defended Ukrainian media did not express a preference. But, as a step forward compared to President election commission members, who since the first round of the vote, the media should sign protocols on the results of statehood on January 29, 1918. “At the Viktor Yushchenko. cost of their lives, they showed that love and ruling Unified Russia party have The obvious hatred that Moscow has dis- voting in the second round of the presi- endorsed Mr. Yanukovych (Rossiya 1, NTV, dential election on February 7. The law for the homeland is a powerful force that played toward President Yushchenko is dis- is much higher than weapons and any October 19, 24, 27, November 12, 16, 22). ingenuous in that it has downplayed the fact has yet to be signed by President Viktor A recent poll by the Russian Public Yushchenko. Central Election internal or external threats. These are liv- that Ms. Tymoshenko was a key player in ing values that should consolidate all of Opinion Foundation found that 53 percent the 2004 Orange Revolution, which Russia Commission Deputy Chairman Andrii of Russians believe that Mr.