Tuesday, November 30, 2004

For those of you not in Kyiv but able to read Russian, here's a wonderful article by Andrei Kolesnikov that appears in today's Kommersant, one of the leading Russian papers (thanks for the link, Mishah!). It's long so I'll translate just a tiny little bit:

At this moment we learned that Serhiy Tyhypko, head of Victor Yanukovych's campaign headquarters, resigned after having had enough of unkind words directed at him by Leonid Kuchma, president of Ukraine, and that he resigned not just as head of [Yanukovych's] campaign but also as the president of the National Bank of Ukraine. He said that he was leaving not just anywhere but into politics, and that he didn't like Victor Yushchenko, but he also didn't like Victor Yanukovych anymore, because the latter has been blackmailing the opposition with the country's breakup.

Isn't it all related, I thought: the re-vote and Serhiy Tyhypko's resignation? Some 20 minutes later, when the court took another break but the plaintiffs and the defendants remained in the room, I asked Stepan Havrysh [Yanukovych's representative] about his personal opinion on the perspective of Serhiy Tyhypko becoming a new presidential candidate backed by the government.

"That would be a pretty good option," said Stepan Havrysh confidently. "I like such an option. Thank you for the question. I didn't expect it."

Later, Leonid Kuchma met with the governors of south-eastern regions at his residence in Koncha-Zaspa and, in the presence of Victor Yanukovych, voiced the idea of a re-vote. He said that it'd be wrong to suspect he was saying this only in order to take part in this new election.

"If someone thinks this is my intention, then I won't run," he said.

He better holds it: the election hasn't started yet.

1 comment:

  1. Hi!
    Maybe someday, someone in Ukraine can make one heck of a movie out of this election.
    John, Canada

    ReplyDelete