Curiouser and curiouser..

On 10th August the Russian 'Novaya Gazeta' ran a story that has been re-run on the normally solid 'Korrespondent' site. The NG site includes an 'on-line translator', which I used and then knocked the article [roughly] into shape below:

How opponents blackmailed the president of Ukraine

On the night of 2nd August, when it was not clear, what decision would be made by the head of the state, in one of the Kiev printing houses a special night release of the newspaper "Segodnya", owned by Rinat Ahmetov, was printed. The main article of the edition was to be entitled «Yushchenko to be accused of larceny of $1,2 billion ».

According to the newspaper, in case of dissolution of parliament, deputies from socialist and communist fractions were ready to initiate impeachment of the president, the case being based on material from the USA Deptartment of Justice which link Yushchenko with RosUkrEnergo.

It is alleged that immediately after the conclusion of the Russian-Ukrainian gas agreements in January of this year, the accounts of members of family of the Ukrainian president were credited with 1.2$Bn from Switzerland. The compromising evidence was passed to Moroz and Tymoshenko by employees US State Department at the end of June, when « Our Ukraine » shifted from the "orange", to the "grand" coalition, which includes PoR. The Donetsk newspaper accused Tymoshenko of blackmailing Yushchenko with this material, demanding that he dismiss parliament.

When Yanukovych was nominated prime-minister, absolutely symmetric accusations were being made from the BYuT camp. Apparently video tapes of a recording of the President to the nation, in which he dismisses parliament, had already sent to TV stations. But then Yanukovych turned up at Yushchenko's office bearing with him the above-mentioned special edition of "Segodnya", and forced Yushchenko to change his decision.

The following Saturday Yuliya T made loud accusations of blackmail in an interview on radio "Svoboda", then disappeared from the country. Officially her colleagues who have all departed to holiday resorts, say they do not know, where their leader is.

Insider sources inform, that Yuliya spent two days in Moscow.

In comments of mass-media sympathetic to Тymoshenkо, political scientists say that this is just an attempt to blacken her name, but informally the same people accept that Yulia T visited Moscow not only in August, but also in June - twice. The period of these "visits" coincides with the the revelation of the compromising material on Yushchenko.
Meanwhile on the following Monday the newspaper "Segodnya" publicly apologized to president Yushchenko for the night special release. The special edition dissapeared from their website, as well as from news-stands.

On Monday a telephone conversation between Vladimir Putin and Victor Yushchenko took place. The "pro-Russian" prime-minister Yanukovich in the meantime met the American ambassador in Ukraine William Taylor who handed him Georges Bush's official congratulation. Details of their conversation are not disclosed, but it is known they talked about deliveries of gas to the Europe. It is known, that the USA insist on the elimination of the RosUkrEnergo scheme and are lobbying their own interests in this business.

And only then, late at night did Putin congratulate Yanukovych — once, instead of three times, as during presidential elections when the Donetsk protege lost. Next week the new head of the cabinet of ministers will arrive to Moscow — quite officially. And discussions will again be about gas.

The first thing that Donetski will try to do, having come to power, is to stabilize work of «Naftohaz» which, by the efforts of their orange predecessors has been driven to a condition of bankruptcy, and which is being systematically squeezed out of the domestic market by companies under control to "Gazprom". However Ukrainian business has no intention of giving up this field to the Russians. It is obvious, that Moscow will try to weaken somehow the determination of the new Kiev interlocutors. Probably, having obtained support of new oppositionists.

See also http://foreignnotes.blogspot.com/2006/08/what-clinched-it-for-yanuk.html