Yanukovych declared on Saturday that he is going to turn to the President and Parliament with an initiative to sack Minister of Foreign Affairs, Presidential appointee, Borys Tarasyuk.
"What can my attitude be to a minister who states that he is in opposition to the government? This means he does not agree with the program of the government. If you are a man, if you have principles, write a [resignation] declaration, and go. And if not, if you don't want to do this, then of course, we'll help you," said the PM in a TV interview.
Yanuk was particularly pi$$ed that Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Terry Davis, did not see him, as planned when he was in Kyiv several days ago. Apparently Davis was 'held up' at a lunch with Tarasyuk.
Davis had been particularly critical of the way the first two rounds of the 2004 Presidential elections were conducted and so is well aware of the hanky-panky that went on at that time.
A few weeks ago it was reported in the Ukrainian media that during a cabinet meeting, Yanuk broke off when addressing the cabinet, to warn Tarasyuk for 'snickering'. Rumor has it that when Yanuk was last PM, such matters were, on occasion, resolved with fists.
I think Tarasyuk is a cool operator who knows exactly what he is doing - for Yushchenko to 'give him up' and accept a PoR candidate for this position would be a big humiliation. But it is also clear that 'playground bully' Yanuk is sick of brainy teacher's pet Borys.
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