No. 3 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 2011 5 2010: THE YEAR IN REVIEW vicious political maneuvers to undermine Ms. Tymoshenko’s campaign. On January 26 Mr. For Ukraine, Yushchenko nominated Oleksander Osadchuk, a bureau- crat loyal to the Volodymyr Lytvyn Bloc, to replace a a new regime Tymoshenko ally, Anatolii Pysarenko, on the Central Election Commission (CEC), giving the Party of Regions he year 2010 brought dramatic changes to and 8-to-4 advantage. Parliament confirmed Mr. Ukrainian life and society. The policies of Osadchuk’s nomination on February 2, with support from President Viktor Yanukovych, who was elected on groups within the pro-presidential Our Ukraine – TFebruary 7, placed Ukrainian independence under threat People’s Self-Defense (OU-PSD) parliamentary faction. before an imperialist Russian government, restricted the A January 28 parliamentary vote to dismiss Yurii individual rights of Ukrainians, decimated the rule of law Lutsenko as internal affairs minister was supported by in favor of authoritarian rule and introduced unprecedent- the president’s brother, National Deputy Petro ed cultural Russification policies not seen since Soviet Yushchenko, as well as the Single Center group within era. the OU-PSD faction, which is led by Viktor Baloha, the Indeed Mr. Yanukovych’s approach to governing is head of the Presidential Secretariat at the time. The often described as neo-Soviet, reviving old practices such Yanukovych campaign was intent on dismissing the for- as selective persecution, framing innocent suspects in mer police chief because of his strong loyalty to Ms. crimes and using threats of dismissal or revocation of Tymoshenko and his ability to protect against potential business licenses to make people comply. raids on government organs by the Party of Regions. He The sweeping changes introduced by the Yanukovych also had the ability to ensure the national police force administration were ironic to many political observers, acted diligently against incidents of vote falsification. who expected the same pace of reform from President Opposition leaders and political observers expected the Viktor Yushchenko when he took power in 2005. While Party of Regions to engage in vote fraud, particularly in the former president failed to implement even a small its strongholds of Donbas and Crimea. portion of the reforms he claimed in his campaign, Mr. The period between the first and second rounds of the Yanukovych wasted no time in implementing his pro- 2010 presidential vote was especially tense and mired gram. Whereas former President Yushchenko failed to with violence as the Yanukovych and Tymoshenko cam- make much progress in integration with the European paigns jockeyed for influence on the election. They Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization attempted sacking officials in key government posts and (NATO), President Yanukovych signed the now famous launched raids to install their loyalists. At 6 a.m. on Kharkiv agreements that extended the presence of the January 25, about 300 privately hired enforcers, escorted Russian Black Sea Fleet through 2042. Anastasia Sirotkina/UNIAN by police, stormed the Ukrayina Polygraphic Plant where Whereas former President Yushchenko did little to pro- Newly inaugurated President Viktor Yanukovych election ballots were printed in order to install a director tect the Ukrainian language on a legal, official basis, holds aloft a “bulava,” one of the symbols of his office, loyal to Ms. Tymoshenko, Volodymyr Khomko, who was President Yanukovych appointed ministers who were on February 25. appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers a week earlier. intent on expanding Russification. And whereas President They released tear gas and shattered the front glass Yushchenko failed to fulfill his famous campaign promise Yet the timing of the event led some observers to façade. Mr. Yushchenko dispatched Internal Affairs of “putting the bandits in prison,” the Yanukovych admin- believe Mr. Yushchenko had exploited the Ukrainian Ministry troops the day of the raid to guard the plant as it istration jailed more than a dozen members of the govern- hero’s name in order to inflame the feelings of the began printing election ballots that day. ment of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The Russophile electorate in southern and eastern Ukraine on Mr. Lutsenko said it was the Party of Regions that pro- incarcerations weren’t a policy of implementing law and the eve of the second-round vote, thus mobilizing them voked the raid, having prevented Mr. Khomko from order in Ukraine, but rather a selective persecution cam- against Ms. Tymoshenko’s candidacy. “It was the height assuming his post three days earlier with the help of 20 paign that targeted the opposition. of cynicism to do it after the loss of the first round, not private enforcers. The raid led to the January 28 parlia- when he was turned to,” Askold Lozynskyj, the former mentary vote to oust Mr. Lutsenko, whose central role Presidential election president of the Ukrainian World Congress, said after- became the last straw for his opponents. It wasn’t clear The year began with the former president intensifying wards. “It had the effect of activating people in Donetsk.” who was Ukraine’s police chief on February 7. The Party his campaign for re-election in the first-round presiden- Ukrainians throughout the world wondered why he of Regions claimed it was the First Vice-Minister, tial vote on January 17, assuring voters that he was a via- waited until the last weeks of his presidency to bestow Mykhailo Kliuyev, while the Tymoshenko Bloc said it ble candidate. “We won’t turn back. We believe in our the honor, when it could have been done anytime was still Mr. Lutsenko, because he was re-appointed strength. We believe in ourselves. There isn’t any doubt. throughout his five-year term and with better public within hours of his dismissal by the Cabinet of Ministers. We will be sure that 2010 will bring us victory,” preparation and increased public awareness of Bandera’s “When the director accompanied by the plant security President Yushchenko confidently told the Ukrainian role in Ukrainian history. – I stress not the police, but the plant security service – public in his new year’s address. Not only did the new On the evening he granted the Hero of Ukraine award, attempted to enter his office, smoke bombs were used year not bring victory, but Ukrainians did “turn back” to Mr. Yushchenko told the Inter television network that he against them,” Mr. Lutsenko explained. “The challenge Soviet ways under the leadership of President would cast his vote as “don’t support anyone” in the sec- of an emergency situation emerged. What were the police Yanukovych. ond round. Arseniy Yatsenyuk of the Front of Change supposed to do in this situation? The police arrived and And rather than setting his sights on the pro-Russian followed suit. The president’s supporters urged others to arrested everyone involved in the conflict.” opposition, Mr. Yushchenko spent his campaign vicious- do the same, claiming there was little difference between Two days after the raid, several Party of Regions dep- ly attacking Ms. Tymoshenko. In the last remaining a Yanukovych and a Tymoshenko presidency. uties burst into the office of Kyiv Administrative weeks, he dug up criminal cases brought against her and Mr. Yushchenko resorted to even more direct and Appellate Chief Judge Anatolii Denysov and allegedly her allies in decades past and used them to smear her. Any illusions of victory harbored by President Yushchenko were dashed by the first-round vote on January 17, in which he received 1.3 million votes, or a mere 5 percent of the total. He finished in fifth place, behind Mr. Yanukovych (35 percent), Ms. Tymoshenko (25 percent), mega-millionaire oligarch Sergey Tigipko (13 percent) and political upstart Arseniy Yatsenyuk (7 percent). The first-round vote demonstrated significant progress from the falsified elections of 2004, showing respect for civil and political rights and offering a genuine choice among candidates representing diverse political views, reported the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. President Yushchenko’s defeat didn’t stop him from trying to undermine Ms. Tymoshenko, as he instead intensified his efforts leading up to the second-round presidential vote on February 7. He surprised Ukrainians throughout the world when he unexpectedly held a ceremony on January 22 to pres- ent the Hero of Ukraine award to Stepan Bandera, the controversial Ukrainian nationalist leader who led the liberation struggle in the 1930s before his capture by German Nazis in 1941. It was accepted posthumously by his Canadian-born grandson Stephen Bandera, 39. Numerous Ukrainian patriotic and nationalist leaders had pleaded with Mr. Yushchenko to bestow the award, Aleksandr Prokopenko/UNIAN knowing that it wouldn’t be granted for at least the next Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the Batkivschyna party, waves to supporters on five to 10 years, and perhaps never. December 20 before she enters the Procurator General’s Office, which opened a criminal case against her. 6 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 2011 No. 3 2010: THE YEAR IN REVIEW 1.5 million votes. “The issue is Donetsk and Luhansk, where falsifica- tions occurred with the help of organs compiling the state register,” he said. “State registers are compiled by local government organs, which are entirely controlled by the Party of Regions in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.” Yet the international community didn’t pay much attention to Ms. Tymoshenko’s complaints. As soon as the afternoon after election day, a press conference called by the OSCE, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and NATO declared the elections transparent, valid and a model for post-Soviet countries. Joao Soares of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and Matyas Eorsi of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe came as close as possible to urging Ms.