There may be some substance to alleged events which led to accusations of 'national betrayal' levelled at PM Yulia Tymoshenko recently by President Yushchenko's Secretariat.
The normally relatively politically independent 'Obozrevatel' has run a couple of stories about what it calls PM Tymoshenko's 'Sardinian cruises'. These stories allege that Tymoshenko, while cruising between Mediterranean islands earlier this month, conducted a series of meetings and negotiations with influential politicians and businessmen - including Russians. The central theme, in all cases, the paper suggests, was her political future - in particular her presidential election campaign next year..
'Oboz' claims she met the infamous gas middleman Dmitro Firtash of RUE, and influential PoR deputy and one of the alleged principal 2004 Presidential election fraudsters Serhiy Lyovochkin, as well as representatives from Gazprom. She has also managed to gain the support of many of Ukraine's biggest mass media moguls for her Presidential campaign next year.
Apparently, her Mediterranean cruise started aboard a 30-meter yacht owned by the Party of Regions deputy, political rotweiller Nestor Shufrych. The boat had previously been owned by former President Kuchma's 'grey cardinal', Viktor Medvedchuk, hence the confusion. Incidentally, Medvedchuk now owns a 57 meter yacht, the 'Romance'.
Some of the meetings took place on what 'Oboz' claims could be Firtash's super-yacht, the 'Utopia' [70 metres long - a bauble that costs about 1/2 million Euro's a week to hire ]
2 comments:
Is that bad that Yulia is trying to come to terms with the Russian's? Ukraine can only lose, by picking a fight with them.
I've felt for a some time, that it is better for Ukraine to be neutral regarding Russia. If they develop their economy and democracy, they will be a major place to invest by both the East and the West...and the East with all their energy riches will be looking for good alternatives to invest their wealth.
No matter how you look at it, they are in Russia's sphere of influence, just like Mexico is in the US's. Do you think the US would not interfer in a Mexico that took an anti-American stand?
Guess that would certainly make the Utopia "gas" powered...
Tymoshenko is certainly crafty enough to go through with these types of meetings, particularly when her ambition is in play.
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