Ukraine: pressure on Kuchma after elections
by - 01.12.2004 16:32
Family pressure on Kuchma to end the crisis
Billionaire son-in-law brought into the Ukrainian fray as signs point to a compromise candidate in a re-run presidential election
Nick Paton Walsh in Kiev
Wednesday December 1, 2004
The Guardian
Opposition protesters forced their way into the parliamentary building before a scheduled vote of no confidence in the government yesterday in an attempt to break the 10-day political deadlock which has paralysed the country.
About 100 protesters burst into the lobby, urged by the opposition MP Yulia Tymoshenko to blockade government buildings.
"We are here to make Yuschenko our president," said Igor, 23.
Yena, 42, stood at the doors and said: "We've stood in the ice for 2 weeks and will not leave until we get the [no confidence vote]. If not, we will storm the building. The police will not stop us, and if they use force, we will use force too."
Close relatives of the outgoing president, Leonid Kuchma, were asked to intervene to persuade him to end the crisis.
Oleg Ribachuk, head of the Ukrainian opposition campaign, said he took Viktor Pinchuk, Mr Kuchma's billionaire son-in law and a key backer of the prime minister Viktor Yanukovich, for a walk through streets crammed with anti-government protesters early yesterday morning.
"I walked with him through the streets of Kiev last night to show him that the protesters are not children or drunks," he told the Guardian.
"Kuchma is becoming more aware about what is really happening out there."
He said there was growing pressure on Mr Kuchma, and described last night's presidential statement, in which he acknowledged that there might have to be a new election, as a remarkable climb-down.
He said: "I have been talking to close members of his family. They asked me how we would react if the supreme court said Mr Yanukovich was the clear winner. I said that the president, who created this system, would have the finger pointed at him."
Mr Pinchuk is thought to be open to negotiations on a Yushchenko presidency.
The attempt to sway Mr Kuchma's family coincided with signs that Mr Yanukovich's campaign was splitting. The head of the campaign, Sergey Tyhypko, resigned on Monday and declared that the crowd consisted of "volunteers" who "needed as much assistance as possible".
He said the attempts by Mr Yanukovich's backers to stir talk of secessionism in the east were "insanity".
"He was abandoning a sinking ship," the pro-opposition analyst Markian Bilynskyj said.
Mr Tyhypko has suggested that he rather than Mr Yanukovich might stand against Mr Yuschenko if another election were held.
Some analysts have suggested that if it were agreed to re-run the election with the previous candidates barred Mr Tyhypko might emerge as a consensus candidate to end the crisis.
Mr Bilynskyj said Mr Yanukovich's extraordinary suggestion yesterday that if he became president Mr Yushchenko could be his prime minister was "bizarre".
He added that Mr Yanukovich had also promised to institute constitutional reform that would make the prime minister more powerful than the president.
Mr Ribachuk said the prime minister was "talking nonsense that no one understands. His wife has been coming up with some crazy stuff about oranges having a psychotropic effect.
"It's getting crazy here [in parliament]. I couldn't stand it a few hours ago and had to leave the building for a coffee."
Mr Kuchma's acceptance of the need for a new election came hours after he spoke to the US secretary of state, Colin Powell.
The US is considering blacklisting Mr Kuchma and key members of his government, according to a Kiev source close to the process.
That would limit their freedom to travel and freeze their assets in the US.
"At the moment the list is a negotiating tool," the source said. The US embassy declined to comment.
But Petro Poroshenko, an MP, confectionery millionaire and one of Mr Yushchenko's moderate advisers, said the US had not swayed Mr Kuchma.
He told the Guardian: "I do not know what Mr Powell said, but I do not think that [the acceptance of the need for a new election] was connected to it. He had already shown signs yesterday morning and the day before that he had a way out of the crisis."
A new election was "the only way to make the authority of the government legitimate".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/ukraine/story/0,15569,1363377,00.html
Wednesday December 1, 2004
The Guardian
Opposition protesters forced their way into the parliamentary building before a scheduled vote of no confidence in the government yesterday in an attempt to break the 10-day political deadlock which has paralysed the country.
About 100 protesters burst into the lobby, urged by the opposition MP Yulia Tymoshenko to blockade government buildings.
"We are here to make Yuschenko our president," said Igor, 23.
Yena, 42, stood at the doors and said: "We've stood in the ice for 2 weeks and will not leave until we get the [no confidence vote]. If not, we will storm the building. The police will not stop us, and if they use force, we will use force too."
Close relatives of the outgoing president, Leonid Kuchma, were asked to intervene to persuade him to end the crisis.
Oleg Ribachuk, head of the Ukrainian opposition campaign, said he took Viktor Pinchuk, Mr Kuchma's billionaire son-in law and a key backer of the prime minister Viktor Yanukovich, for a walk through streets crammed with anti-government protesters early yesterday morning.
"I walked with him through the streets of Kiev last night to show him that the protesters are not children or drunks," he told the Guardian.
"Kuchma is becoming more aware about what is really happening out there."
He said there was growing pressure on Mr Kuchma, and described last night's presidential statement, in which he acknowledged that there might have to be a new election, as a remarkable climb-down.
He said: "I have been talking to close members of his family. They asked me how we would react if the supreme court said Mr Yanukovich was the clear winner. I said that the president, who created this system, would have the finger pointed at him."
Mr Pinchuk is thought to be open to negotiations on a Yushchenko presidency.
The attempt to sway Mr Kuchma's family coincided with signs that Mr Yanukovich's campaign was splitting. The head of the campaign, Sergey Tyhypko, resigned on Monday and declared that the crowd consisted of "volunteers" who "needed as much assistance as possible".
He said the attempts by Mr Yanukovich's backers to stir talk of secessionism in the east were "insanity".
"He was abandoning a sinking ship," the pro-opposition analyst Markian Bilynskyj said.
Mr Tyhypko has suggested that he rather than Mr Yanukovich might stand against Mr Yuschenko if another election were held.
Some analysts have suggested that if it were agreed to re-run the election with the previous candidates barred Mr Tyhypko might emerge as a consensus candidate to end the crisis.
Mr Bilynskyj said Mr Yanukovich's extraordinary suggestion yesterday that if he became president Mr Yushchenko could be his prime minister was "bizarre".
He added that Mr Yanukovich had also promised to institute constitutional reform that would make the prime minister more powerful than the president.
Mr Ribachuk said the prime minister was "talking nonsense that no one understands. His wife has been coming up with some crazy stuff about oranges having a psychotropic effect.
"It's getting crazy here [in parliament]. I couldn't stand it a few hours ago and had to leave the building for a coffee."
Mr Kuchma's acceptance of the need for a new election came hours after he spoke to the US secretary of state, Colin Powell.
The US is considering blacklisting Mr Kuchma and key members of his government, according to a Kiev source close to the process.
That would limit their freedom to travel and freeze their assets in the US.
"At the moment the list is a negotiating tool," the source said. The US embassy declined to comment.
But Petro Poroshenko, an MP, confectionery millionaire and one of Mr Yushchenko's moderate advisers, said the US had not swayed Mr Kuchma.
He told the Guardian: "I do not know what Mr Powell said, but I do not think that [the acceptance of the need for a new election] was connected to it. He had already shown signs yesterday morning and the day before that he had a way out of the crisis."
A new election was "the only way to make the authority of the government legitimate".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/ukraine/story/0,15569,1363377,00.html