Yulia Tymoshenko was recently officially notified that she is a suspect in the murder of prominent Donetsk businessman and politician, Yevhen Shcherban. He and his wife had been assassinated by a band of killers at the city's airport in November 1996 as they were alighting from their aircraft.
Last April Yevhen's son, Ruslan, during a hesitant and rather embarrassing press conference, for the first time since his father's slaying publicly accused Tymoshenko of involvement in the assassination of his parents.
Well founded allegations were immediately made that Ruslan Shcherban was blackmailed to make such allegations by prosecutors after a hunting accident last February during which a friend of his, Rodion Drozdov, was shot dead.
Today Tetyana Chornovil in a good piece of investigative journalism on this topic reveals that Ruslan Shcherban, who may turn out to be the main prosecution witness in any murder trial, is a good friend of president Yanukovych’s elder son, Oleksandr Yanukovych.
Yanukovych jr. whose name now appears in the top 100 wealthiest Ukrainians lists, is also a business partner of Ruslan Shcherban and was a frequent visitor to the hunting lodge where Drozdov was shot dead almost exactly a year ago.
Drozdov had come to visit Scherban with a certain Serhiy Bogdanov. Bogdanov and Drozdov were business partners and ran the Donetsk-registered 'Metugletreyd 2008' commercial and industrial enterprise which extracts and enriches coal products.
Bogdanov is also the director of a financial and industrial company 'Kapital' - 100% of which is owned by Ruslan Shcherban.
But the most interesting thing is that in 2008 Bogdanov founded a company called 'Donsnabtara'. This was the first public company owned by Yanukovych's eldest son. In that year the current stars of political and economic life of the country were assembled under its roof.
In particular, Valentina Arbuzova, the mother of the current Deputy Prime Minister and former head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Serhiy Arbuzov was in charge of this company. Oleksandr Yanukovych was the main shareholder of the company with a personal stake of 75 million hryven.
So it seems then that a partner of Oleksandr Yanukovych was shot by a gun owned by Ruslan Shcherban. [Because there were so few witnesses to the crime it may even be that Shcherban himself fired the fatal shot.]
Ruslan Shcherban and Oleksandr Yanukovych were close in business matters too. It is possible that Bogdanov represented the interests of Ruslan Shcherban in 'Donsnabtara', the article says.
In addition, the younger Shcherban and Yanukovych have a common passion - banking. Chornovil found some interesting information in a register of court rulings from May 2009 about a money laundering case in which Yanukovych's 'UkrBusinessBank'. and Ruslan Shcherban's 'AKB Kapital' commercial bank were allegedly involved.
Residents of Mayatske forest, where Drozdov was shot, have told Chornovil that Oleksandr Yanukovych occasionally hunted there together with Ruslan Shcherban.
"He has not been here for a while, though," said one local forester. "Last time he came was six months ago."
Yulia Tymoshenko has declared that prosecutors have fabricated the case against her at the personal request of her greatest enemy, president Yanukovych.... and then it turns out that the main prosecution witness is a friend of the son of the man who is most interested in Tymoshenko being sentenced to life imprisonment.
In what looks could be a cover-up, last September a certain O.G. Novikov, who according to some reports is Shcherban jr.'s chauffeur, was sentenced to four years imprisonment for the involuntary manslaughter of Drozdov [caused by carelessness], and immediately unconditionally released.
Chornovil's article also provides details of the Novikov trial culled from court records and official public sources, and highlights serious omissions therein.
Being close to 'The Family' helps to resolve problems in any criminal case, says Chornovil, citing the example of another of Viktor Yanukovych's friends - head of Ukraine's highways agency, 'UkrAvtoDor', Volodymyr Demishkan.
Two years ago, a court released Demishkan's son Serhiy enabling him to avoid serving a prison sentence for murder. [See F.N. blog]
Demishkan earned the release of his son by handing over a Crimean 'UkrAvtoDor' health sanatorium to 'The Family,"
p.s. In the court's report of the Novikov trial, Shcherban jr.'s, and other participants' identities are concealed - they are referred to by a number only. However, from the report details it is very easy to determine with high degree of certainty who stands behind these numbers.
Why should the identity of any participant in this homicide trial be concealed? This merely provides more evidence of the dreadfully subservient state of Ukraine's judiciary and law enforcement agencies, and the power Ukraine's current rulers have over them? [LEvko]
[Blog also based on info from Censor.net]
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
'Semya' using courts to break parliament's back, says Poroshenko*
'Kyiv Post' reports : " In an unprecedented move, on Feb. 8, the High Administrative Court of Ukraine cancelled election results in two majority constituencies, stripping deputies of their mandates and immunity from prosecution, and ordered a re-election.
The deputies, and some opposition members, say the move is the government's retaliation in response to their independent stance in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's legislature.
The court on Feb. 8 cancelled election results in constituency 11 in Vinnytsia and 71 in Zakarpattya Oblast, Interfax Ukraine agency reported. Deputies Oleksandr Dombrovsky and Pavlo Baloga lost their status in parliament as a result. The resolution cannot be appealed.
Pavlo Baloga is the brother of a former Emergencies Minister Viktor Baloga. He quit the pro-presidential Party of Regions faction on Dec. 13. Oleksandr Dombrovskiy has remained non-affiliated after the election. Results in Dombrovskiy's constituency were disputed after the Oct. 28 vote, but the Central Election Commission [CEC] ruled to recognize his victory..."
Most experts agree that once a parliamentary deputy has had his victory approved by the CEC and has been sworn into office, as these two had, they can only leave parliament in two ways, either feet first, or by resignation. In other words the High Administrative Court has crudely and cynically exceeded its authority.
It is yet another example of how Ukraine's courts have become a tool in the hands of the country's current rulers utilised to demonstrate their unchallengeable power. The courts have, of course, been used to eliminate president Yanukovych's deadliest enemies, Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko by what have been widely considered to be politically motivated legal trials.
Immediately after last autumn's parliamentary elections opposition parties challenged what they considered to be fixed results in many constituencies nationwide in Ukraine's courts. Virtually all their submissions were brusquely declined.
Dobrovsky is an associate of Petro Poroshenko. Both Poroshenko, and Viktor Baloha are Ukrainian political heavyweights, very powerful in their respective home oblasts, and have held high office both in Orange and Blue and White adminstrations . Poroshenko has high ambitions - he may stand for election in the Kyiv city elections, which he most likely would win. This could provide a platform for the 2015 presidential election campaign.
Even though Pavlo Baloha's and Dobrovsky's recent electoral victories over opposition rivals were highly dubious, both they, and their political sponsors, had been drifting toward the opposition lately.
The ruling authorities ordered the High Administrative Court decision to demonstrate to non affiliated parliamentarians - either obey us...or you will get the chop. The ruling authorities gambled that the parliamentary opposition would not support the two dismissed deputies...but is seems they have miscalculated..
Some observers suggest that 'Semya' loyalists have now gained the upper hand amongst the PoR parliamentary faction. These loyalists are more concerned with obtaining a totally compliant parliament as quickly as possible by squeezing a few judges' balls, than adhering to the Constitution or any rules of parliament.
*[Source]
The deputies, and some opposition members, say the move is the government's retaliation in response to their independent stance in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's legislature.
The court on Feb. 8 cancelled election results in constituency 11 in Vinnytsia and 71 in Zakarpattya Oblast, Interfax Ukraine agency reported. Deputies Oleksandr Dombrovsky and Pavlo Baloga lost their status in parliament as a result. The resolution cannot be appealed.
Pavlo Baloga is the brother of a former Emergencies Minister Viktor Baloga. He quit the pro-presidential Party of Regions faction on Dec. 13. Oleksandr Dombrovskiy has remained non-affiliated after the election. Results in Dombrovskiy's constituency were disputed after the Oct. 28 vote, but the Central Election Commission [CEC] ruled to recognize his victory..."
Most experts agree that once a parliamentary deputy has had his victory approved by the CEC and has been sworn into office, as these two had, they can only leave parliament in two ways, either feet first, or by resignation. In other words the High Administrative Court has crudely and cynically exceeded its authority.
It is yet another example of how Ukraine's courts have become a tool in the hands of the country's current rulers utilised to demonstrate their unchallengeable power. The courts have, of course, been used to eliminate president Yanukovych's deadliest enemies, Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko by what have been widely considered to be politically motivated legal trials.
Immediately after last autumn's parliamentary elections opposition parties challenged what they considered to be fixed results in many constituencies nationwide in Ukraine's courts. Virtually all their submissions were brusquely declined.
Dobrovsky is an associate of Petro Poroshenko. Both Poroshenko, and Viktor Baloha are Ukrainian political heavyweights, very powerful in their respective home oblasts, and have held high office both in Orange and Blue and White adminstrations . Poroshenko has high ambitions - he may stand for election in the Kyiv city elections, which he most likely would win. This could provide a platform for the 2015 presidential election campaign.
Even though Pavlo Baloha's and Dobrovsky's recent electoral victories over opposition rivals were highly dubious, both they, and their political sponsors, had been drifting toward the opposition lately.
The ruling authorities ordered the High Administrative Court decision to demonstrate to non affiliated parliamentarians - either obey us...or you will get the chop. The ruling authorities gambled that the parliamentary opposition would not support the two dismissed deputies...but is seems they have miscalculated..
Some observers suggest that 'Semya' loyalists have now gained the upper hand amongst the PoR parliamentary faction. These loyalists are more concerned with obtaining a totally compliant parliament as quickly as possible by squeezing a few judges' balls, than adhering to the Constitution or any rules of parliament.
*[Source]
Saturday, February 09, 2013
Ukrainian authorities digging an ever-deeper hole
PM Azarov tells the readers of 'Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung' that the criminal cases and imprisonment of Tymoshenko and Lutsenko are of secondary importance and that Ukraine intends to continue on the path to eurointegration.
But as I wrote yesterday, the Council of the European Union have already given their verdict - the Tymoshenko and Lutsenko cases were politically motivated and "did not respect international standards as regards fair, transparent and independent legal process."
They are a roadblock to EU-Ukraine relations and in no way secondary..
Because the Ukrainian authorities fear the European Court of Human Rights will soon rule in favour of Tymoshenko another, charges on a more serious case, that of the murder of Yevhen Shcherban 17 years ago, are likely to be brought against her. Quite why Ukrainian authorities assume Western observers will consider the Shcherban case to be also anything other that politically motivated is beyond me. On the contrary, it merely provides further confirmation that Western observers' assessment of Tymoshenko's treatment is correct.
The Ukrainian Deputy Prosecutor-General Renat Kuzmin has already been denied a US visa...and could well be denied entry to the European Union too.
Kuzmin's boss, Pshonka has declared Shcherban was killed because he and his company IUD did not bow to pressure over natural gas prices from USEU, the energy company that Tymoshenko headed at that time.
Yet today one of the founders of Industrial Union of Donbas,a man who was at the heart of its gas dealings, one of Ukraines' biggest oligarchs and one of Shcherban's closest associates at IUD, Serhiy Taruta, in a revealing 'Ukrainska Pravda interview states: "All commercial conflicts with [Tymoshenko's] UESU and us ended by January 1996 - ten months before the killing of Yevhen Shcherban. By January were were [all together] in one boat."
"Practically every week a big UESU and Itera team used to come [to us]. They sat constantly in our office, we agreed specifications according to each factory; this was a big job and at the same time a complex job... [Shcherban's] killing in no way changed our scheme [of operations], provided no advantage to UESU..."
So what was the motive?
But as I wrote yesterday, the Council of the European Union have already given their verdict - the Tymoshenko and Lutsenko cases were politically motivated and "did not respect international standards as regards fair, transparent and independent legal process."
They are a roadblock to EU-Ukraine relations and in no way secondary..
Because the Ukrainian authorities fear the European Court of Human Rights will soon rule in favour of Tymoshenko another, charges on a more serious case, that of the murder of Yevhen Shcherban 17 years ago, are likely to be brought against her. Quite why Ukrainian authorities assume Western observers will consider the Shcherban case to be also anything other that politically motivated is beyond me. On the contrary, it merely provides further confirmation that Western observers' assessment of Tymoshenko's treatment is correct.
The Ukrainian Deputy Prosecutor-General Renat Kuzmin has already been denied a US visa...and could well be denied entry to the European Union too.
Kuzmin's boss, Pshonka has declared Shcherban was killed because he and his company IUD did not bow to pressure over natural gas prices from USEU, the energy company that Tymoshenko headed at that time.
Yet today one of the founders of Industrial Union of Donbas,a man who was at the heart of its gas dealings, one of Ukraines' biggest oligarchs and one of Shcherban's closest associates at IUD, Serhiy Taruta, in a revealing 'Ukrainska Pravda interview states: "All commercial conflicts with [Tymoshenko's] UESU and us ended by January 1996 - ten months before the killing of Yevhen Shcherban. By January were were [all together] in one boat."
"Practically every week a big UESU and Itera team used to come [to us]. They sat constantly in our office, we agreed specifications according to each factory; this was a big job and at the same time a complex job... [Shcherban's] killing in no way changed our scheme [of operations], provided no advantage to UESU..."
So what was the motive?
Friday, February 08, 2013
Ukraine Handed November Deadline on EU Association Pact
On December 10 2012 the EU laid down clear conditions which must be fulfilled in order for Ukraine to make further progress on the road to eurointegration. [official EU document here]
"The [European Union] Council reiterates its strong concern regarding the politically motivated convictions of members of the former Government after trials which did not respect international standards as regards fair, transparent and independent legal process and regrets that, as a consequence, opposition leaders were prevented from standing in the parliamentary elections....The Council expects the authorities to address the cases of politically motivated convictions without delay as well as to take further steps to reform the judiciary to prevent any recurrence."
Headlines following the visit of president Yanukovych to Lithuania yesterday and the visit of Stefan Fule, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European neighbourhood policy to Ukraine today, now include clear mention of deadlines and ultimatums.
Ukraine must satisfy the above conditions by November this year when a grand summit will take place, or risk waiting years or even a generation to sign the pact.The statement is clear - in the eyes of the European Council former Government members were convicted on politically motivated charges. Everyone knows we are talking about here - the release of Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko.
And the Ukrainian authorities' response?
Yesterday a court ordered Yulia Tymoshenko to be questioned via a video link - a clear attempt to speed up the start of any possible trial if she to be charged with the murder of Yevhen Shcherban.
Deadline or not, there is no evidence that since last December Yanukovych and his 'banda' have stepped back even one centimetre from their drive to transform Ukraine into an authoritarian state..
"The [European Union] Council reiterates its strong concern regarding the politically motivated convictions of members of the former Government after trials which did not respect international standards as regards fair, transparent and independent legal process and regrets that, as a consequence, opposition leaders were prevented from standing in the parliamentary elections....The Council expects the authorities to address the cases of politically motivated convictions without delay as well as to take further steps to reform the judiciary to prevent any recurrence."
Headlines following the visit of president Yanukovych to Lithuania yesterday and the visit of Stefan Fule, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European neighbourhood policy to Ukraine today, now include clear mention of deadlines and ultimatums.
Ukraine must satisfy the above conditions by November this year when a grand summit will take place, or risk waiting years or even a generation to sign the pact.The statement is clear - in the eyes of the European Council former Government members were convicted on politically motivated charges. Everyone knows we are talking about here - the release of Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko.
And the Ukrainian authorities' response?
Yesterday a court ordered Yulia Tymoshenko to be questioned via a video link - a clear attempt to speed up the start of any possible trial if she to be charged with the murder of Yevhen Shcherban.
Deadline or not, there is no evidence that since last December Yanukovych and his 'banda' have stepped back even one centimetre from their drive to transform Ukraine into an authoritarian state..
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
Authorities intent on making VR unworkable
Last week the parliamentary opposition were denied an emergency parliamentary session despite having the necessary number of signatures demanding such an event. Today the opposition's demand that the ruling parties adhere to a fundamental constitutional voting rule - one man one vote, has not been met. The parliamentary session has been blockaded by opposition deputies as a result. The vast majority of Ukrainian voters want VR deputies to work ethically, attend parliament regularly and stick to the rules. The opposition know this so it is an easy win-win policy for them to stick with.
But Party of Regions' deputies seem comfortable with the opposition's tactics - unlike previous occasions when they have cleared the plenum chamber by physically assaulting their opposition colleagues with fists, flying chairs etc.
The parlimentary speaker and the ruling parties are deliberately making Verkhovna Rada unworkable because they know this is the last place where the country's political opposition can still fully express its opinion and influence events. Right now opposition forces are too weak, society too apathetic, for 'people go out onto the street'.
President Yanukovych and his 'banda' are therefore intent on making the V.R. unworkable and irrelevant..
p.s. If there is a problem with the V.R. electronic voting system why can't the parliamentary speaker, the Neanderthal Rybak, merely agree to voting by show of hands, or by an individual roll-call of those deputies who are present in the plenum chamber?
In the Westminister parliament, the mother of parliaments, members of parliament vote by walking through one of two narrow doors, the Aye door, or the No door, as they exit the main parliamentary chamber. Independent counters and party checkers do a simple head-count. What could be easier - or more foolproof?
I suspect Yanukovych and his parliamentary supporters know in their hearts sooner later one man one vote in parliament will become the norm. The days of vote rigging are over - this is the 21st century after all. To merely say the opposition are blocking the work of parliament just to score cheap points simply will not do any more.
But Party of Regions' deputies seem comfortable with the opposition's tactics - unlike previous occasions when they have cleared the plenum chamber by physically assaulting their opposition colleagues with fists, flying chairs etc.
The parlimentary speaker and the ruling parties are deliberately making Verkhovna Rada unworkable because they know this is the last place where the country's political opposition can still fully express its opinion and influence events. Right now opposition forces are too weak, society too apathetic, for 'people go out onto the street'.
President Yanukovych and his 'banda' are therefore intent on making the V.R. unworkable and irrelevant..
p.s. If there is a problem with the V.R. electronic voting system why can't the parliamentary speaker, the Neanderthal Rybak, merely agree to voting by show of hands, or by an individual roll-call of those deputies who are present in the plenum chamber?
In the Westminister parliament, the mother of parliaments, members of parliament vote by walking through one of two narrow doors, the Aye door, or the No door, as they exit the main parliamentary chamber. Independent counters and party checkers do a simple head-count. What could be easier - or more foolproof?
I suspect Yanukovych and his parliamentary supporters know in their hearts sooner later one man one vote in parliament will become the norm. The days of vote rigging are over - this is the 21st century after all. To merely say the opposition are blocking the work of parliament just to score cheap points simply will not do any more.
Saturday, February 02, 2013
A trawl through the past
I came across this analysis, by a highly respected author, written in 1996, about Pavlo Lazarenko's stint as PM. [page 86 onward]
Just three weeks after being appointed PM he survived a professionally organised assassination attempt - he was very nearly blown up by a huge remote controlled bomb as he was being driven to Kyiv airport.
The conclusion [on page 92] is interesting. He had many enemies...and was very powerful..
Just three weeks after being appointed PM he survived a professionally organised assassination attempt - he was very nearly blown up by a huge remote controlled bomb as he was being driven to Kyiv airport.
The conclusion [on page 92] is interesting. He had many enemies...and was very powerful..
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Why Ukraine will not go to Arbitration Court over gas deal
Gazprom has sent Ukraine’s Naftogas a huge €5.2 billion bill under a ‘take-or-pay’ clause that Ukraine has to pay even if it hasn’t imported the gas. This was part of a dreadful 2009 gas deal negotiated by Yulia Tymoshenko during the last Russian - Ukrainian 'gas war'.
When Yanukovych was elected president, not only did he not annul this 2009 gas deal, he set it in concrete when, by signing the so-called inter-state Kharkiv accord, he unconstitutionally gave away the use of the Sevastopol naval base and its facilities to the Russian Black Sea fleet for decades, in exchange for a small discount on the price of gas imported by Ukraine from Russia.
As commentators have mentioned, many other European countries have recently successfully renegotiated gas deals with Russia at the Arbitration Court of the Chamber of Commerce, in Stockholm.
Ukraine would have a good case - they could probably prove the 2009 gas deal between Gazprom and Naftohaz Ukrainy was made under duress both from the Russian side and from European countries who were being starved of gas at that time; Ukraine is a major transit route for Russian gas bound for European customers. This would be sufficient for the court to call for the deal to be renegotiated.
The problem for Yanukovych, of course, is that if the Arbitration Court were to rule in Ukraine's favour it would prove that Yulia Tymoshenko was forced into the deal under unacceptable duress - she could not then be accused of exceeding her powers for which she was sentenced to seven years in prison. The case against her would have been shown to be purely politically motivated.
Keeping Tymoshenko in prison is more important to Yanukovych that paying over-the-odds prices for Russian gas.
p.s. Some say Gazprom are unlikely to go to the Arbitration Court for their money [because they would lose?] and will try other methods....
P.s. If anyone has any doubts about the sadistic treatment being systematically being meted out to Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko they should listen to Lutsenko's wife Iryna's passionate, moving address in the Verkhovna Rada today...
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Ukrainian authorites don't give a fig for European concerns about political prisoners
Former minister of the interior Yuriy Lutsenko has served over half his 4 year jail sentence which was the result of highly suspect charges and trial. The European Court of Human Rights have ordered the Ukrainian authorities to pay him compensation for unllawful detention prior to the trial. Other ECHR rulings are currently being considered.
In many normal countries he would be either eligible for release on parole right now, or perhaps moved to an open prison with a less harsh regime that that observed in a penal colony.
Just a week ago he underwent a surgical operation to have a growth removed from his intestines at a Kyiv clinic.
He allegedly needs a second operation to treat stomach ulcers.
Today he was unceremoniously transferred back to the penal colony to serve the remainder of his sentence.
Senior officials in the EU who are monitoring his case are outraged by his treatment.
Ukrainian officials must be aware that Lutsenko's case is being very closely monitored - I have posted about this previously - but it is absolutely obvious they do not care about this. They are sadists. Lutsenko's treatment is a brazen signal: "Don't mess with us- whoever you are ...we will crush you...whatever those smartarses in the west say..."
p.s. the British Ambassador has made his feelings known about this matter too...
In many normal countries he would be either eligible for release on parole right now, or perhaps moved to an open prison with a less harsh regime that that observed in a penal colony.
Just a week ago he underwent a surgical operation to have a growth removed from his intestines at a Kyiv clinic.
He allegedly needs a second operation to treat stomach ulcers.
Today he was unceremoniously transferred back to the penal colony to serve the remainder of his sentence.
Senior officials in the EU who are monitoring his case are outraged by his treatment.
Ukrainian officials must be aware that Lutsenko's case is being very closely monitored - I have posted about this previously - but it is absolutely obvious they do not care about this. They are sadists. Lutsenko's treatment is a brazen signal: "Don't mess with us- whoever you are ...we will crush you...whatever those smartarses in the west say..."
p.s. the British Ambassador has made his feelings known about this matter too...
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
One law for Kuchma..and one for Tymoshenko
Today a Ukrainian court convicted the former police general Oleksiy Pukach for killing investigative journalist Heorgiy Gongadze over a decade ago. He was sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Pukach's final words to the court were: "I [will] accept [the sentence] when [ex-president] Kuchma, and [ex Verhkhovna Rada speaker] Lutvyn are in this cage with me." I have revealed everything during the investigation and trial, but only Fedur [the victim's lawyer] wanted to know about it."
One comment in response to the article at the link above:
"So much for Donetsk-style justice.
When the killer [Pukach] names the commissioners of the murder, Donetsk jurisprudence covers not only its eyes but its ears. But when not one of the [eight] co-conspirators who murdered [Yevhen] Shcherban [and were sentenced a decade ago] ever even mentioned that Tymoshenko [may have] ordered Shcherban's assassination, Donetsk prosecutors blare this [her guilt] out over the whole world...And these man-hunters are supposed to bring justice?"
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Tymoshenko charges timed to damage EU-Ukraine integration process?
"The decision to press these [Shcherban murder F.N.] charges against Tymoshenko on this particular date seems to be a demonstration, before the EU-Ukraine summit on 25 February, that Kyiv will not make any concessions regarding the opposition leader, who has been accused of committing a felony.
The Ukrainian government seems to be hoping that this will convince the EU to stop defending Tymoshenko. However, the opposite reaction should be expected from the Western states, which will lead to a further deterioration of relations between the EU and Ukraine. [source ]
An interesting graphic in this 'Forbes.ua' article reveals that over the last year and half, pronouncements and developments in the prosecution of Yulia Tymoshenko have frequently, and most likely not coincidentally, been timed to influence events significant to the development of the EU-Ukraine relationship.
According to Forbes: "The new charges against Tymoshenko look like an insult to the EU. They (the leaders of the EU member states) have made it clear that they demand her release. Now it seems we deliberately ignoring this requirement. Obviously, the signing of this year, of the Association Agreement with the EU is now in question "- says a source close to one of the members of government.
"Our law enforcement officers [siloviki] and judges have frequently put forward key decisions in the criminal cases against the former prime minister on the eve of important negotiations," concludes the Forbes article..
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Support for Tymoshenko from an unexpected quarter
Ex-President Leonid Kuchma told an 'Ukrainska Pravda' reporter in Davos today that during his presidential terms the prosecutor's office had no evidence linking Yulia Tymoshenko to the murder of Yevhen Shcherban.
"The Prosecutor-General Potebenko in his reports said at the time there were no grounds for legal action [against Tymoshenko] And that it,"said Kuchma.
"And against Lazarenko at that time there were.. [grounds for opening a case]" added Kuchma.
Yanukovych, who is also in Davos, has turned down the opportunity to attend the traditional 'Ukrainian Lunch' organised by Kuchma's son-in-law, Viktor Pinchuk.
The Shcherban murder case recently opened against Tymoshenko is considered by many observers to be a massive additional road-block against Ukraine's Euro-integration hopes and has been initiated at a particularly inopportune time ...so is particularly embarrassing to one of its proponents, Viktor Pinchuk.
Or maybe Yanukovych has become a 'Nobby No Mates'
p.s. The recent leak of Yevheniya Tymoshneko's emails posted on zhuzhaleaks.com may have been plugged [at the moment] However, some interesting spin-offs in the form of cached documents have come to light. E.g. a detailed essay describing the murderous events that took place in Donetsk in the mid-'90's and the men behind them. [In Russian here]
The information presented in these documents has been knocking around since those bloody times..and has been confirmed and repeated by many other sources. They provide a grim, but broadly true account of the background from which today's Ukrainian leaders emerged and exposes their involvement in these dirty deeds.
The prosecutor-general is crazy throwing all this sh*t around merely to besmirch Tymoshenko...It is landing on many other people already.. In Ukrainian here]. Similar files are being dusted off and examined in foreign ministries in capitals across the world...
p.p.s. Rinat Akhmetov, according to Bloomerg, is 26th richest man on the planet.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Case against Tymoshenko convinces no one
Some details of the Shcherban murder case with which the Ukrainian prosecutor's office intend to charge Yulia Tymoshenko with have come to light. The evidence so far presented is highly circumstantial and is based almost entirely on hearsay; there are many unanswered questions, and the evidence would probably not be deemed sufficient to bring such a case to court in most democratic countries.
If the intention of proceeding with the case is to convince western governments and observers of Tymoshenko's culpability, it will fail.
The Ukrainian prosecutor's office already has highly disreputable, if not to say laughable reputation. I posted about this in an earlier blog.
European Court of Human Rights may well be critical of the Ukrainian judicial system and its law enforcement agencies, when they present their judgements on the treatment of Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko in other cases in the next few months.
I would suggest the narrative described today by Tymoshenko of events in the Donbas region in the mid-nineties, a portion of which I've translated below, is the one generally accepted in the west.
"Yevhen Shcherban was one of five founders of ISD, [Industrial Union of Donbas], which owned hundreds of businesses illegally privatised in the 90's. Apart from Shcherban, the [other] owners of ISD were Alexander Momot, Akhat Bragin and Rinat Akhmetov.
A fifth, shadow co-owner of the ISD corporation was a young politician - Viktor Yanukovych, who is now president of Ukraine. Shcherban was the undisputed leader of this group, and also deputy leader of the Liberal Party of Ukraine. Within a short time three owners ISD corporation were tragically murdered. Shcherban and Momot were shot dead in Donetsk, and Akhat Bragin blown up at the Shakhtar stadium. The entire ISD corporation, then estimated to have a value of billions of U.S, dollars, was transferred to Yanukovych and Akhmetov.
After the tragic murder of Scherban, Yanukovych could be appointed governor of Donetsk region. The leaders of the gang that killed Scherban were immediately eliminated in the Donetsk corrective penitentiary, over which current prosecutors Kuzmin and Pshonka had oversight.
The kind of internecine criminal disputes that existed in the Donetsk region in the 90's, were not seen in any other region in Ukraine.
Yuriy Lutsenko, when he became the Minister of the Interior in 2005, exhumed more than 30 corpses of businessmen, judges, lawyers, investigators and others which had been liquidated in Donetsk in the 90's...Then, [president] Yushchenko ordered Lutsenko to stop digging up any more slag heaps in the Donetsk region..."
The west will not be convinced by the latest accusations against Tymoshenko. The aim of Ukrainian officials is primarily to discredit her before the Ukrainian electorate and prevent her taking an active part in Ukrainian politics ever again. Meanwhile the country's leaders' credibility abroad is plummeting to ever lower depths.
If the intention of proceeding with the case is to convince western governments and observers of Tymoshenko's culpability, it will fail.
The Ukrainian prosecutor's office already has highly disreputable, if not to say laughable reputation. I posted about this in an earlier blog.
European Court of Human Rights may well be critical of the Ukrainian judicial system and its law enforcement agencies, when they present their judgements on the treatment of Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko in other cases in the next few months.
I would suggest the narrative described today by Tymoshenko of events in the Donbas region in the mid-nineties, a portion of which I've translated below, is the one generally accepted in the west.
"Yevhen Shcherban was one of five founders of ISD, [Industrial Union of Donbas], which owned hundreds of businesses illegally privatised in the 90's. Apart from Shcherban, the [other] owners of ISD were Alexander Momot, Akhat Bragin and Rinat Akhmetov.
A fifth, shadow co-owner of the ISD corporation was a young politician - Viktor Yanukovych, who is now president of Ukraine. Shcherban was the undisputed leader of this group, and also deputy leader of the Liberal Party of Ukraine. Within a short time three owners ISD corporation were tragically murdered. Shcherban and Momot were shot dead in Donetsk, and Akhat Bragin blown up at the Shakhtar stadium. The entire ISD corporation, then estimated to have a value of billions of U.S, dollars, was transferred to Yanukovych and Akhmetov.
After the tragic murder of Scherban, Yanukovych could be appointed governor of Donetsk region. The leaders of the gang that killed Scherban were immediately eliminated in the Donetsk corrective penitentiary, over which current prosecutors Kuzmin and Pshonka had oversight.
The kind of internecine criminal disputes that existed in the Donetsk region in the 90's, were not seen in any other region in Ukraine.
Yuriy Lutsenko, when he became the Minister of the Interior in 2005, exhumed more than 30 corpses of businessmen, judges, lawyers, investigators and others which had been liquidated in Donetsk in the 90's...Then, [president] Yushchenko ordered Lutsenko to stop digging up any more slag heaps in the Donetsk region..."
The west will not be convinced by the latest accusations against Tymoshenko. The aim of Ukrainian officials is primarily to discredit her before the Ukrainian electorate and prevent her taking an active part in Ukrainian politics ever again. Meanwhile the country's leaders' credibility abroad is plummeting to ever lower depths.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Background to Shcherban murder from 'Forbes.ua'
The authoritative 'Forbes.ua' have posted an enlightening article - "The rise and fall of Yevhen Shcherban's business empire"
The article provides background to the conflict over gas between ISD, Industrial Union of Donbas, and their business rivals, Yulia Tymoshenko's UESU, which allegedly culminated in Shcherban's murder in 1996.
Here is one portion of the article:
"Did Lazarenko and Tymoshenko have a motive to eliminate the Donetsk magnate [Shcherban]?
There are significant reasons to doubt this. By the time of the murder the conflict between ISD and UESU had been settled. Most companies in the region had signed contracts for the supply of gas from ISD, which purchased a large portion of the fuel from UESU. "All conflicts and misunderstandings between UESU and ISD were resolved before the tragic death of Yevhen Shcherban," - confirms a former vice president of UESU, Oleh Bespalov.
[Serhiy]Taruta [the former CEO of ISD and Shcherban's partner] is also sceptical about the involvement of Lazarenko and Tymoshenko in the murder. In his opinion, the prime minister/corruptioneer is being excessively demonised."
Tymoshenko's name has never figured in the murder of Shcherban since the dreadful events at Donetsk airport over a decade and a half ago. None of Shcherban's political or business associates from the early nineties have ever pointed the finger at her...
But last April Yevhen's son, Ruslan, during a hesitant and rather embarrassing press conference, for the first time publicly accused Tymoshenko of involvement in the death of his father. However, Ruslan was allegedly blackmailed to make such an allegation by prosecutors after a hunting accident during which a friend of his was shot dead. Despite denials by the Prosecutor-General's office, Ruslan's declarations, so late in the game, should be treated with great suspicion.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Who really ordered Yehven Shcherban's killing?
Yulia Tymoshenko has now been officially named as a suspect in the 1996 murder of prominent Donetsk businessman, Yevhen Shcherban who was assassinated by a professional hit squad on November 3rd 1996 as he and his family were disembarking from his airplane at the city airport.
In 2002 eight men were arrested and tried for his murder - all were found guilty. No linkage to Yulia Tymoshenko was ever considered at that time even though she was still in opposition to the-then president, Leonid Kuchma, and even though she was being persecuted by the government of the day. It would have been very easy and convenient to charge her with Scherban's death at that time.
In Spring last year, when it became clear the case and trial against Tymoshenko for exceeding her powers in arranging a long-term gas deal with Russia would not be accepted or deemed sound by international observers and governments, another case had to constructed against her by Yanukovych and her enemies as 'back-up'.
At that time, deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin was dispatched on a tour of European capitals, bizarrely organised by the same PR agency employed by Party of Regions, to broadcast allegations that the P-G's office had details of payments linking Tymoshenko to the convicted killers.
Kuzmin claimed Shcherban's killers had been paid from an the intermediate account, that of an Antigua-registered company linked to former Ukrainian prime minister Pavlo Lazarenko, Orphin S.A.
But in this TVi television documentary it is made very clear that many payments from many companies were made to the Antiguan registered Orphin S.A. One of the payee companies was Somolli Enterprises - run at that time by Tymoshenko - they had paid Orphin S.A. nearly $3 million, six months after Shcherban's killing. The same allegations directed at Tymoshenko could therefore be made against any or all of the other companies who transferred cash to Orphin S.A.
The case against Tymoshenko is almost without substance. Furthermore, as I have posted previously, there is circumstantial evidence that Yevhen Shcherban was 'rubbed out' by his own people...those who ultimately inherited his business empire, and the business empires of other prominent businessmen murdered in the Donbas region in the early and mid nineties.
The spotlight will be shone on them and their murky past if any trial were ever to be staged.
My guess is this Shcherban scheme is one of a number of possible scenarios that could be employed to solve the Tymoshenko problem. Tymoshenko could be sent abroad for long-term treatment. The Shcherban case would then be used as a deterrent to discourage any return.
In 2002 eight men were arrested and tried for his murder - all were found guilty. No linkage to Yulia Tymoshenko was ever considered at that time even though she was still in opposition to the-then president, Leonid Kuchma, and even though she was being persecuted by the government of the day. It would have been very easy and convenient to charge her with Scherban's death at that time.
In Spring last year, when it became clear the case and trial against Tymoshenko for exceeding her powers in arranging a long-term gas deal with Russia would not be accepted or deemed sound by international observers and governments, another case had to constructed against her by Yanukovych and her enemies as 'back-up'.
At that time, deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin was dispatched on a tour of European capitals, bizarrely organised by the same PR agency employed by Party of Regions, to broadcast allegations that the P-G's office had details of payments linking Tymoshenko to the convicted killers.
Kuzmin claimed Shcherban's killers had been paid from an the intermediate account, that of an Antigua-registered company linked to former Ukrainian prime minister Pavlo Lazarenko, Orphin S.A.
But in this TVi television documentary it is made very clear that many payments from many companies were made to the Antiguan registered Orphin S.A. One of the payee companies was Somolli Enterprises - run at that time by Tymoshenko - they had paid Orphin S.A. nearly $3 million, six months after Shcherban's killing. The same allegations directed at Tymoshenko could therefore be made against any or all of the other companies who transferred cash to Orphin S.A.
The case against Tymoshenko is almost without substance. Furthermore, as I have posted previously, there is circumstantial evidence that Yevhen Shcherban was 'rubbed out' by his own people...those who ultimately inherited his business empire, and the business empires of other prominent businessmen murdered in the Donbas region in the early and mid nineties.
The spotlight will be shone on them and their murky past if any trial were ever to be staged.
My guess is this Shcherban scheme is one of a number of possible scenarios that could be employed to solve the Tymoshenko problem. Tymoshenko could be sent abroad for long-term treatment. The Shcherban case would then be used as a deterrent to discourage any return.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Yanukovych Family's boundless grab of assets meeting resistance
Lots of rumours are emerging, e.g. as in this most enlightening TVi television discussion, surrounding the bankruptcy of the major Ukrainian airline company, 'Aerosvit', which is owned by Ihor Kolomoysky, Ukraine's second [or maybe third] richest man,
Yanukovych's 'Family' bulldozer has apparently been trying to get its grabs into Kolomoysky's businesses - allegedly forcing Kolomoysky to 'self-bankrupt' his own airline. [A procedure that is even considered by some to be a national tradition - an easy way of clearing your debts.]
Kolomoysky also part-owns Ukraine's largest commercial bank, PrivatBank, but arguably, amongst Ukraine's billionaires, he is the one with the 'least pull' in government circles.
But 'The family' may be in for a fight, as described in this report:
"A scandal around the Ukraine airline “AeroSvit'' continues. The company’s owner oligarch Igor Kolomoisky talks about the deliberate fight against the company and plans to close offices of its largest financial institution ''PrivatBank”, which will result in a significant shake in the currency market.
Ukrainian media reports Kolomoisky is getting ready to take drastic measures to protect his own business.
PR Conflict Management Agency «PR i Z» CEO Zakhar Chistiakov states that Kolomoisky’s this action will depreciate Ukrainian Hryvnia , because it is the largest financial institution in Ukraine and even small changes in its functioning will lead to social unrest,'' - Chistiakov says.
Along with offices closure, ATM may be also paralyzed, which would be a real social disaster. Chestiakov notes that Kolomoisky’s businesses is under a deliberate attack from other oligarchic groups which resulted in serious damage of the oligarch. He is the only billionaire in Ukraine who is not represented in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine."
Bankruptcy procedures have also been launched on behalf of another Kolomoysky airline.
According to the above-mentioned television discussion, other major oligarchs whose businesses are under threat from 'the family's' immeasurable greed may be 'getting their heads together' to ward off the attacks of the 'Semya' .
Yanukovych's 'Family' bulldozer has apparently been trying to get its grabs into Kolomoysky's businesses - allegedly forcing Kolomoysky to 'self-bankrupt' his own airline. [A procedure that is even considered by some to be a national tradition - an easy way of clearing your debts.]
Kolomoysky also part-owns Ukraine's largest commercial bank, PrivatBank, but arguably, amongst Ukraine's billionaires, he is the one with the 'least pull' in government circles.
But 'The family' may be in for a fight, as described in this report:
"A scandal around the Ukraine airline “AeroSvit'' continues. The company’s owner oligarch Igor Kolomoisky talks about the deliberate fight against the company and plans to close offices of its largest financial institution ''PrivatBank”, which will result in a significant shake in the currency market.
Ukrainian media reports Kolomoisky is getting ready to take drastic measures to protect his own business.
PR Conflict Management Agency «PR i Z» CEO Zakhar Chistiakov states that Kolomoisky’s this action will depreciate Ukrainian Hryvnia , because it is the largest financial institution in Ukraine and even small changes in its functioning will lead to social unrest,'' - Chistiakov says.
Along with offices closure, ATM may be also paralyzed, which would be a real social disaster. Chestiakov notes that Kolomoisky’s businesses is under a deliberate attack from other oligarchic groups which resulted in serious damage of the oligarch. He is the only billionaire in Ukraine who is not represented in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine."
Bankruptcy procedures have also been launched on behalf of another Kolomoysky airline.
According to the above-mentioned television discussion, other major oligarchs whose businesses are under threat from 'the family's' immeasurable greed may be 'getting their heads together' to ward off the attacks of the 'Semya' .
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Spiegel exposes bungling hackers
"Der Spiegel", one of the biggest-selling weekly magazines in the world, has run a story about the leaked 'Zhuzhaleaks' correspondence. Their piece is [loosely] entitled:
'Doctored emails - hackers pursue Tymoshenko'
German doctors treating Tymoshenko are 'pissed off 'that they have been dragged into dirty Ukrainian politics because some of the leaked emails make it appear they have been signing off astronomically expensive 'sick notes' for Yulia T.. and have been 'trousering' the money.
In particular, one email, purporting to be from a doctor treating Tymoshenko and sent to her daughter Yevheniya, includes several invoice attachments. One of the invoices [probably legitimate] contains a detailed breakdown of all expenses incurred during one visit, even minor ones such as taxi fares. But another invoice, ostensibly for 'medical services' provided in May 2912, is for 680,000:00 Euro! That's it...no further details of treatment, no reference to other agreements, no breakdown at all.....it all looks embarrassingly crude..
The heavy-handed, brutal, many say misogynistic treatment of Yulia Tymoshenko since her arrest nearly a year and a half ago greatly discredits Yanukovych and the Ukrainian authorities. I agree with this group of female Ukrainian parliamentary deputies - had Tymoshenko been a man, she would not have been treated anywhere near as badly.
These 'dodgy' leaked emails discredit Ukrainian authorities even further. Such amateurish manipulation of stolen emails by their enemies will only give heart to the Tymoshenko camp..
p.s. A birdie told me Yevheniya T. paid the doctor with a million Euro note...and told them to keep the change..
Saturday, January 12, 2013
ECHR does Ukrainians a big favour
In 2010 Oleksandr Fedorovych Volkov, a former judge of the Ukrainian Supreme Court, was dismissed from this eminent position by a vote in the Verkhovna Rada.
He later filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming his rights had been violated.
A few days ago the ECHR ruled in his favour..because: "The Members of Parliament present [in the Verhovna Rada who voted for his dismissal] used voting cards which belonged to their absent peers. Statements of Members of Parliament about the misuse of voting cards and a video recording of the relevant part of the plenary meeting have been submitted to the Court."
[Full EHCR Ruling here ]
A precedent has now been set.
In future, if credible evidence can be presented to the ECHR of parliamentary vote fiddling which breaches an appellant's human rights, the court will rule in the appellant's favour.
'U.P.' blogger, Mustafa Nayem, considers this could even turn out to be a good earner...Volkov could be in line for 20,000 Euros of compensation..
Similarly, if there is credible evidence that laws have been passed or appointments made, e.g. as was the case with the new chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine, Ihor Sorkin, by means of parliamentary vote fiddling, in future Ukrainian authorities can have no complaint if they are later deemed to be illegitimate.
He later filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming his rights had been violated.
A few days ago the ECHR ruled in his favour..because: "The Members of Parliament present [in the Verhovna Rada who voted for his dismissal] used voting cards which belonged to their absent peers. Statements of Members of Parliament about the misuse of voting cards and a video recording of the relevant part of the plenary meeting have been submitted to the Court."
[Full EHCR Ruling here ]
A precedent has now been set.
In future, if credible evidence can be presented to the ECHR of parliamentary vote fiddling which breaches an appellant's human rights, the court will rule in the appellant's favour.
'U.P.' blogger, Mustafa Nayem, considers this could even turn out to be a good earner...Volkov could be in line for 20,000 Euros of compensation..
Similarly, if there is credible evidence that laws have been passed or appointments made, e.g. as was the case with the new chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine, Ihor Sorkin, by means of parliamentary vote fiddling, in future Ukrainian authorities can have no complaint if they are later deemed to be illegitimate.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Kleptomaniacs
After a failure yesterday, the new National Bank of Ukraine chairman, Ihor Sorkin, was 'voted into office' today by the Verkhovna Rada. As normal, votes were stolen.
Sorkin was the president's nominee.
In order to get their man into the NBU chair many PoR deputies quite blatantly voted for absent colleagues - in strict contravention of the Ukrainian Constitution.
How can any bank be trusted if its chairman was illegitimately elected?
The men who run Ukraine steal everything. They stole their wealth, they stole electors' votes to gain power, they stole their high-flying positions...They will now steal what is left of the the NBU's reserves..
Sorkin was the president's nominee.
In order to get their man into the NBU chair many PoR deputies quite blatantly voted for absent colleagues - in strict contravention of the Ukrainian Constitution.
How can any bank be trusted if its chairman was illegitimately elected?
The men who run Ukraine steal everything. They stole their wealth, they stole electors' votes to gain power, they stole their high-flying positions...They will now steal what is left of the the NBU's reserves..
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Big brother is watching..,,
Thousands of pages of electronic correspondence attributed to Yulia Tymoshenko's daughter, Yevhenia, have been posted on the internet at http://zhuzhaleaks.com
[Zhuzha is Yevhenia's pet name]
Lots of interesting angles will be spun in days to come....
SMS and email intercepts, even those pertaining to high-profile celebs can be obtained relatively inexpensively, according to Ukrainian 'politekhnolog' Taras Berezovets. This should not be a surprise to anyone. Over the last few years newspapers owned by one of the world's biggest press magnates, Rupert Murdoch, have systematically illegally hacked the 'phones and emails of dozens of famous celebrities'.
But it's so damn convenient to send an email...and to transfer funds electronically...
Ukrainian politicians of all colours must surely know that apart from their electronic correspondence, all of their electronic banking correspondence is being monitored by somebody...somewhere ...
According to some sources, Swiss authorities have admitted they have blocked bank assets of some Russians suspected of participating in the death of Hermitage Capital fund lawyer Sergey Magnitsky..
[Zhuzha is Yevhenia's pet name]
Lots of interesting angles will be spun in days to come....
SMS and email intercepts, even those pertaining to high-profile celebs can be obtained relatively inexpensively, according to Ukrainian 'politekhnolog' Taras Berezovets. This should not be a surprise to anyone. Over the last few years newspapers owned by one of the world's biggest press magnates, Rupert Murdoch, have systematically illegally hacked the 'phones and emails of dozens of famous celebrities'.
But it's so damn convenient to send an email...and to transfer funds electronically...
Ukrainian politicians of all colours must surely know that apart from their electronic correspondence, all of their electronic banking correspondence is being monitored by somebody...somewhere ...
According to some sources, Swiss authorities have admitted they have blocked bank assets of some Russians suspected of participating in the death of Hermitage Capital fund lawyer Sergey Magnitsky..
Sunday, January 06, 2013
Former pro-EU ministers will stay in background - for now
The excellent 'OdessaTalk' blog quite rightly points out that three of the most pro-EU ministers in the previous cabinet, Poroshenko, Khoroshkovsky and Tigipko, now find themselves adrift from the 'first circle' of political power.
'OdessaTalk' considers an ideological split within Party of Regions has already taken place and predicts: "Two very distinct camps will emerge, both with some serious money and very public figures within them championing their respective causes!"
Khoroshkovsky runs Ukraine's most watched television channel - Inter. He has pledged to to make its news coverage more balanced. And there are rumours he recently declined an risible offer to sell up his stake in his media holdings ..
The Yanukovych 'family' business empire has grown dramatically in the last two years...but, as yet does not include any major mass media broadcasters. Control of such assets would of course be highly desirable in the run-up to the 2015 presidential elections...However, 29% of Inter may already be in the hands of Russia's Gazprom. Could this be a factor in 'Mentadent', [as the Inter boss is sometimes called] no longer being the president's 'flavour of the month'?
Will any or all of these three characters ever openly turn against Yanukovych? As always timing is everything...And as for Euro-integration...whatever the wishful thinkers say, this all hinges on the fate of Yulia T.
'OdessaTalk' considers an ideological split within Party of Regions has already taken place and predicts: "Two very distinct camps will emerge, both with some serious money and very public figures within them championing their respective causes!"
Khoroshkovsky runs Ukraine's most watched television channel - Inter. He has pledged to to make its news coverage more balanced. And there are rumours he recently declined an risible offer to sell up his stake in his media holdings ..
The Yanukovych 'family' business empire has grown dramatically in the last two years...but, as yet does not include any major mass media broadcasters. Control of such assets would of course be highly desirable in the run-up to the 2015 presidential elections...However, 29% of Inter may already be in the hands of Russia's Gazprom. Could this be a factor in 'Mentadent', [as the Inter boss is sometimes called] no longer being the president's 'flavour of the month'?
Will any or all of these three characters ever openly turn against Yanukovych? As always timing is everything...And as for Euro-integration...whatever the wishful thinkers say, this all hinges on the fate of Yulia T.
Friday, January 04, 2013
What is behind the Metalist Kharkiv sale?
On December 24th last year it was announced one of Ukraine's biggest soccer clubs, Metalist Kharkiv, owned by one of the country's richest businessman, Oleksandr Yaroslavsky, had been unexpectedly sold to the little-known 27-year-old businessman and lawyer from Kharkiv, Serhiy Kurchenko. Some journalists associate Kurchenko with a company called 'Gas Ukraine'....prosecutor-general of Ukraine, Viktor Pshonka's son Artem, and president Yanukovych's oldest son Oleksandr.
Yaroslavsky, or 'King of Kharkiv', as his is sometimes called, was idolised by the club's supporters, because he had built the club up to rival the best in Europe. Apart from investing large sums into the club and its stadium, he had also invested heavily in other projects in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city.
The sale came as a surprise, even though Yaroslavsky had had many personal feuds with Kharkiv's odious mayor, Hennadiy Kernes who had striven to return the club to the municipal ownership. Even Shakhtar Donetsk owner Rinat Akhmetov expressed shock when he learned Yaroslavsky had sold up the club.
There has been tentative speculation why Yaroslavsky 'could not refuse the offer he was made' after his failure to provide any clarification to the media.
The Yanukovych family, may have been keen to follow the trend of other immensely wealthy oligarchs and get their hands on the plaything of the super-rich - a big soccer club.
'Korresponden't blogger Aleksey Golobutsky criticises the sale claiming it to be a demonstration of the barbaric nature of Ukraine's investment climate. If a big player like Yaroslavsky with his connections cannot protect his investments, what chance has an outsider got?
Kernes is one of Party of Regions' biggest hitters in the region - his battles with Yaroslavsky have undoubtedly caused damage the party's image, but it would seem the Yanukovych clan calculate this is a price worth paying for the sake of expanding their business portfolio. It is unlikely than any other raider in Ukraine would be big enough to take away Yaroslavsky's pride and joy.
Yaroslavsky, or 'King of Kharkiv', as his is sometimes called, was idolised by the club's supporters, because he had built the club up to rival the best in Europe. Apart from investing large sums into the club and its stadium, he had also invested heavily in other projects in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city.
The sale came as a surprise, even though Yaroslavsky had had many personal feuds with Kharkiv's odious mayor, Hennadiy Kernes who had striven to return the club to the municipal ownership. Even Shakhtar Donetsk owner Rinat Akhmetov expressed shock when he learned Yaroslavsky had sold up the club.
There has been tentative speculation why Yaroslavsky 'could not refuse the offer he was made' after his failure to provide any clarification to the media.
The Yanukovych family, may have been keen to follow the trend of other immensely wealthy oligarchs and get their hands on the plaything of the super-rich - a big soccer club.
'Korresponden't blogger Aleksey Golobutsky criticises the sale claiming it to be a demonstration of the barbaric nature of Ukraine's investment climate. If a big player like Yaroslavsky with his connections cannot protect his investments, what chance has an outsider got?
Kernes is one of Party of Regions' biggest hitters in the region - his battles with Yaroslavsky have undoubtedly caused damage the party's image, but it would seem the Yanukovych clan calculate this is a price worth paying for the sake of expanding their business portfolio. It is unlikely than any other raider in Ukraine would be big enough to take away Yaroslavsky's pride and joy.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Lutsenko will not be forgotten
Last week I posted a blog on the second anniversary of the arrest and detention of Ukrainian former Minister of Internal Affairs Yuriy Lutsenko's arrest.
In many countries, he would have been eligible for early release or parole, but the vindictive Ukrainian regime will keep him 'banged up' in prison for just as long as they can in the hope the case will be forgotten about.
They are wrong. His case is being closely studied at the European Court of Human Rights, and many other European Foreign Ministries are also closely following his plight.
Below is a response from the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office with whom I've been in communication:
"We continue to be concerned about this case and about human rights in Ukraine. During 2012, the Minister for Europe, David Lidington, made two public statements relating to Mr Lutsenko’s case: the first was in February following Mr Lutsenko’s conviction; the second was in July following the European Court of Human Rights’ judgement. I have attached the Minister’s statements for your information. [links here and here]
Embassy officials follow developments closely including by attending briefings by Mr Lutsenko’s wife and his lawyer. We regularly raise our concerns with senior Ukrainian officials and continue to work closely with EU partners in highlighting these issues and in stressing to Ukraine the need to uphold the rule of law and respect fundamental human rights.
Yours sincerely...
Assistant Desk Officer for Ukraine | Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine Team | Foreign and Commonwealth Office | Room W2.72 | King Charles Street | London SW1A 2AH
Lutsenko will play a major role in Ukrainian politics in months and years to come...
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Cheap PR scams discredit Ukraine
In my previous blog I mentioned how the authoritatively-named but entirely bogus Cologne-based outfit 'Zentrum für Interkulturelle Kooperation und Kommunikation e.V' had recently declared: 'Sergiy Arbuzov Receives the Highest Marks of Any of the Heads of Governments or Central Banks in Eastern Europe' - news which was naturally widely broadcast across Ukraine.
Arbuzov was until recently chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine, is now deputy Prime Minister. This trusted member of the Yanukovych 'Family' is widely tipped to head the cabinet of ministers in a few months time.
A recent investigation by 'Deutsche Welle' has now also confirmed this 'ZIKK' project to be and entirely fraudulent PR stunt.
Incidentally, 'Deutsche Welle' also describe another thinly disguised scam. The phantom Berlin newspaper "Berliner Tageszeitung" which is frequently quoted in the Ukrainian media, particularly in numerous anti-Tymoshenko articles, does not actually exist at all. Despite extensive efforts, 'DW' have not been able to contact anyone connected with the publication - it has no telephones or faxes, or even active email addresses.
Such stunts further disgrace the Ukrainian authorities... they are just of bunch of 'zhuliki i vory'...swindlers and thieves...
Arbuzov was until recently chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine, is now deputy Prime Minister. This trusted member of the Yanukovych 'Family' is widely tipped to head the cabinet of ministers in a few months time.
A recent investigation by 'Deutsche Welle' has now also confirmed this 'ZIKK' project to be and entirely fraudulent PR stunt.
Incidentally, 'Deutsche Welle' also describe another thinly disguised scam. The phantom Berlin newspaper "Berliner Tageszeitung" which is frequently quoted in the Ukrainian media, particularly in numerous anti-Tymoshenko articles, does not actually exist at all. Despite extensive efforts, 'DW' have not been able to contact anyone connected with the publication - it has no telephones or faxes, or even active email addresses.
Such stunts further disgrace the Ukrainian authorities... they are just of bunch of 'zhuliki i vory'...swindlers and thieves...
Arbuzov - what a 'banker'*...
The latest edition of 'Korrespondent' contains a well-researched and detailed article on Ukraine's latest rising star - recently-appointed first vice Prime Minister and a favourite if the Yanukovych clan - Serhiy Arbuzov. Most commentators agree that aging current PM Mykola Azarov is on the way out..and the so-far obscure 36 year-old Arbuzov will soon head the cabinet for benefit of Yanuk himself.
In the last few months of 2012 Arbuzov's podgy face wast thrust upon the Ukrainian man on the street on billboards and light-boxes across Kyiv in a two-month campaign that was estimated to cost up to $500,000.
The Ukrainian State Bank set up a television company, 'Bank-TV', at a cost of around $1,000,000, to broadcast never-ending panegyrics in praise of Arbuzov and the State Bank which he headed.
A few weeks ago the obscure 'German Center for Intercultural Cooperation and Communication' astonishingly reported: 'Sergiy Arbuzov Receives the Highest Marks of Any of the Heads of Governments or Central Banks in Eastern Europe'
However, 'Forbes.ua' smelled a rat. Their investigation revealed the Cologne-base German Centre was merely a highly dubious hollow shell outfit run by a Ukrainian CEO. Nevertheless their glowing reports were widely broadcast in the Ukrainian mass media to build up the young Arbuzov's image....
'Forbes' claim all of these PR schemes were dreamt up at Arbuzov's own initiative...
He loves the aura of power. When he is in Donetsk visiting his old pal - Yanukovych's elder son Oleksandr, his escort includes three vehicles filled with bodyguards...more than even Ukraine's richest oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov employs.
This is a serious creep...a real 'merchant banker...*'
p.s. 'Korrespondent's piece omits some of the more sinister aspects of Arbuzov's rapid ascent...
p.p.s. In rhyming cockney slang 'merchant banker' means 'wanker...'
In the last few months of 2012 Arbuzov's podgy face wast thrust upon the Ukrainian man on the street on billboards and light-boxes across Kyiv in a two-month campaign that was estimated to cost up to $500,000.
The Ukrainian State Bank set up a television company, 'Bank-TV', at a cost of around $1,000,000, to broadcast never-ending panegyrics in praise of Arbuzov and the State Bank which he headed.
A few weeks ago the obscure 'German Center for Intercultural Cooperation and Communication' astonishingly reported: 'Sergiy Arbuzov Receives the Highest Marks of Any of the Heads of Governments or Central Banks in Eastern Europe'
However, 'Forbes.ua' smelled a rat. Their investigation revealed the Cologne-base German Centre was merely a highly dubious hollow shell outfit run by a Ukrainian CEO. Nevertheless their glowing reports were widely broadcast in the Ukrainian mass media to build up the young Arbuzov's image....
'Forbes' claim all of these PR schemes were dreamt up at Arbuzov's own initiative...
He loves the aura of power. When he is in Donetsk visiting his old pal - Yanukovych's elder son Oleksandr, his escort includes three vehicles filled with bodyguards...more than even Ukraine's richest oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov employs.
This is a serious creep...a real 'merchant banker...*'
p.s. 'Korrespondent's piece omits some of the more sinister aspects of Arbuzov's rapid ascent...
p.p.s. In rhyming cockney slang 'merchant banker' means 'wanker...'
Thursday, December 27, 2012
No leniency toward Lutsenko
Former Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs, Yuriy Lutsenko was arrested and immediately detained almost exactly two years ago, on 26th December 2010.
On 27th February 2012 Lutsenko was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment at the behest of his political opponents who are now in power, on what were widely considered spurious and vengeful politically motivated charges. Criticism of the Ukrainian authorities's unjust treatment of Lutsenko emanated from E.U., the U.S. Department of State, and from many well-known international organisations.
On 3 July 2012, the European Court of Human Rights declared the arrest of Lutsenko had violated his human rights and ordered the Ukrainian government to pay 15,000 Euros compensation to Lutsenko for moral damages.
The ECHR are currently are currently assessing the entire case against Lutsenko and may well order his release sometime in 2013.
Since imprisonment, Lutsenko's health has declined and he has been hospitalised on several occasions.
In most civilised countries [e.g. United Kingdom], having served half his sentence for non violent crimes, Lutsenko would have been eligible either for early release, release on parole, or at minimum, transfer to an open prison with a less harsh regime.
But there is little chance of this occurring in Ukraine because Lutsenko's political enemies are sadists. The absence of such a humane gesture [which would undoubtedly improve their image] reveals their absolute contempt of western critics who accuse the Ukrainian authorities of unfairly persecuting opposition leaders.
p.s. Has any reader of this blog ever heard any word of support uttered by former president Yushchenko in support of Lutsenko?
On 27th February 2012 Lutsenko was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment at the behest of his political opponents who are now in power, on what were widely considered spurious and vengeful politically motivated charges. Criticism of the Ukrainian authorities's unjust treatment of Lutsenko emanated from E.U., the U.S. Department of State, and from many well-known international organisations.
On 3 July 2012, the European Court of Human Rights declared the arrest of Lutsenko had violated his human rights and ordered the Ukrainian government to pay 15,000 Euros compensation to Lutsenko for moral damages.
The ECHR are currently are currently assessing the entire case against Lutsenko and may well order his release sometime in 2013.
Since imprisonment, Lutsenko's health has declined and he has been hospitalised on several occasions.
In most civilised countries [e.g. United Kingdom], having served half his sentence for non violent crimes, Lutsenko would have been eligible either for early release, release on parole, or at minimum, transfer to an open prison with a less harsh regime.
But there is little chance of this occurring in Ukraine because Lutsenko's political enemies are sadists. The absence of such a humane gesture [which would undoubtedly improve their image] reveals their absolute contempt of western critics who accuse the Ukrainian authorities of unfairly persecuting opposition leaders.
p.s. Has any reader of this blog ever heard any word of support uttered by former president Yushchenko in support of Lutsenko?
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Six months for looks alone...
Introducing... Ukraine's new Minister for Regional Development, Construction and Housing -
Hennadiy Temnyk
I swear I have seen this guy on a Police Station notice board 'Most Wanted list'...
Hennadiy Temnyk
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Ukraine's poor image will not be repaired by slick talk
Director of the London Ukrainian Institute, Andriy Hunder, in a VOA interview, reveals what everyone knows already - Ukraine has a very poor image in the English language global mass media. He provides 'advice' on what to do to improve this state of affairs.
Ukraine has a deservedly bad image because it is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe and since independence has been lead by greedy, narrow-minded and evil men with no vision. This has little to do with the country's culture, literature, or traditions.
Smart-talking PR hot-shots in foreign capitals who make their money polishing turds may make a few bucks persuading their clients to part with their money in an attempt to burnish the country's image, but this will not change anything.
Ukraine's grubby image will not improve without massive improvements in its governance.
A start could be made when political prisoners are released, prosecutors back off political opposition members and back off the already frail independent media, the president stops spending obscene amounts of money on his eleven palatial residences, oligarchic supporters of the ruling party stop carving up the nation's wealth in fixed privatisation 'sell-offs' etc. etc.
p.s. The London Ukrainian Institute offered a hearty welcome a few weeks ago to ex president Viktor Yushchenko, the man who, as a prosecution witness, gave highly dubious testimony at Yulia Tymoshenko's 2010 trial. Yet without Tymoshenko's unqualified support a few years previously during the Orange Revolution it is most unlikely Yushchenko would ever have made president.
One of the reasons Ukraine has such dreadful press is the blatant, widely recognised, politically motivated persecution of political opposition leaders like Tymoshenko by the current administration....aided and abetted, of course, by Yushchenko himself..
The Ukrainian Institute should make its position clear on this instead of 'brown-nosing' the discredited former president..
Ukraine has a deservedly bad image because it is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe and since independence has been lead by greedy, narrow-minded and evil men with no vision. This has little to do with the country's culture, literature, or traditions.
Smart-talking PR hot-shots in foreign capitals who make their money polishing turds may make a few bucks persuading their clients to part with their money in an attempt to burnish the country's image, but this will not change anything.
Ukraine's grubby image will not improve without massive improvements in its governance.
A start could be made when political prisoners are released, prosecutors back off political opposition members and back off the already frail independent media, the president stops spending obscene amounts of money on his eleven palatial residences, oligarchic supporters of the ruling party stop carving up the nation's wealth in fixed privatisation 'sell-offs' etc. etc.
p.s. The London Ukrainian Institute offered a hearty welcome a few weeks ago to ex president Viktor Yushchenko, the man who, as a prosecution witness, gave highly dubious testimony at Yulia Tymoshenko's 2010 trial. Yet without Tymoshenko's unqualified support a few years previously during the Orange Revolution it is most unlikely Yushchenko would ever have made president.
One of the reasons Ukraine has such dreadful press is the blatant, widely recognised, politically motivated persecution of political opposition leaders like Tymoshenko by the current administration....aided and abetted, of course, by Yushchenko himself..
The Ukrainian Institute should make its position clear on this instead of 'brown-nosing' the discredited former president..
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
A reminder of the evil men who run Ukraine..
Over six years ago [how time flies] I posted a blog about the dreadful kidnap and murder of Roman Yerokhin who was a senior officer from the main directorate of the Adminstration for Fighting Organized Crime [UBOZ].
He had been investigating a large conversion and money laundering operation linked to a Donetsk financial establishment and its alleged links to parliamentary deputies from various political factions.
Robert Stack, in his recent brilliantly researched blog, ties Yerokhin's murder to former associates of one of Ukraine's most rapidly rising political stars, the current 36 year-old head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Sergei Arbuzov.
Arbuzov, who is tipped to become Ukraine's next PM, is universally considered to have close ties with the Yanukovych family clan.
Stack's article is a chilling reminder of the nature of the guys who run Ukraine today . They have more in common with '30's Chicago than the EU. Anyone reading Stack's article will realise how far the country's leaders are from holding normal European values, and from sincerely wishing to adhere to any possible Association Agreement rules.
Why should the IMF or any other international financial institution have any dealings with such people?
Luckily, their gigantic scams are being exposed ever-more frequently.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Another slap in Yanukovych's face
Less than 24 hours after announcing he will be meeting president Putin today, president Yanukovych's official site declares the meeting has been postponed...
Humiliating, or what?
Humiliating, or what?
Monday, December 17, 2012
Yanuk will do the deal with Putin tomorrow...
Tonight big-selling 'Segodnya' reports: " It is expected the question of the new price of Russian gas for Ukraine will be decided at Putin's residence in Novo-Ogaryovo tomorrow night [Tuesday], while at the same time the presidents of Ukraine and Russia will sign documents on the start of Ukraine's accession into the Customs Union..."
This despite frantic last minute 'carrot waving' from European Commission head Manuel Barosso.. Your are wasting your time, senor..
[p.s 'Segodnya' entitle their link: "Yanukovych will create [sdelayet] a sensation in Moscow..."]
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Ukraine is in the Customs Union already
I really liked Vitaliy Portnikov's excellent video blog today on 'RadioSvoboda', which was entitled 'Ukraine is in the Customs Union already ' [together with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan]
Here are the main points he makes:
The Custom Union is not a union of economic integration. What its members have in common is a similar economic model with the following characteristics:
No possibility of starting up a major business without the absolute approval of the president or his closest associates. Same goes for Ukraine.
Main source of income for the member countries of the C.U. is sale of raw materials. Same for Ukraine - steel, and chemicals..
Small and medium business enterprises are badly treated by the ruling authorities and not encouraged to grow and develop. All economic growth is controlled and sponsored by the government, or by oligarchic sponsors. Same for Ukraine.
Virtually all of the mass media is controlled and run by the government, or by its oligarchic sponsors. Same for Ukraine.
In other words, Ukraine is already a member of the CU - mentally, politically, economically and socially. Whether Ukraine signs an Association or other agreement with the EU will make little difference under the current administration because they have no intention of changing the rules of the game. Their sole intention in signing any possible Association Agreement is merely to maintain the current status quo.
Only when Ukraine changes internally and leaves behind its current C.U. attitudes will it be ready to sign any Association Agreement with the Europeans.
This is the harsh truth..and the Europeans should take account of it irrespective of geo-political considerations.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Forget about Europe, we're heading east...
'Forbes.ua' in one headline today, announces
'Yanukovych has led Ukraine to the Customs Union'
In today's video address to the Verkhovna Rada, Yanukovych declared :
Ukraine will gradually join the Customs Union rules, because there are a huge market for Ukrainian goods there. We will do everything in order Ukraine has a harmonious relationship with the countries of the Customs Union, not only in economic but also in the humanitarian, scientific and social fields.
[.."postupovo pryyednuvatymetsya do pravyl Mytnoho soyuzu"....]
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind
Almost exactly two years ago many opposition deputies in parliament were seriously assaulted in the parliament plenum chamber by PoR thugs as they were staging a peaceful after-hours sit-in. No criminal action was forthcoming following these events.
[Video here]
Members of the current ruling majority should have no reason to complain therefore if blood flows again, as it did at today's first session of the new parliament. Opposition deputies will be pleased with their performance today, they have left their mark. Comments on social media sites have been supportive - opposition electors voted for 'Svoboda'. in particular too 'rattle the cage'.
The PoR deputies who mocked and humiliated the opposition in previous months, claiming: 'We toyed with them like kittens', now realise what awaits..
Video from today's session here
Judging by the performance by deputies on this 'first day back at school' I predict the new parliament will soon become unworkable.
p.s. Looking at photos from today's parliament confirms how right Jay Leno was when he said: "Politics is just show business for ugly people.."
[Video here]
Members of the current ruling majority should have no reason to complain therefore if blood flows again, as it did at today's first session of the new parliament. Opposition deputies will be pleased with their performance today, they have left their mark. Comments on social media sites have been supportive - opposition electors voted for 'Svoboda'. in particular too 'rattle the cage'.
The PoR deputies who mocked and humiliated the opposition in previous months, claiming: 'We toyed with them like kittens', now realise what awaits..
Video from today's session here
Judging by the performance by deputies on this 'first day back at school' I predict the new parliament will soon become unworkable.
p.s. Looking at photos from today's parliament confirms how right Jay Leno was when he said: "Politics is just show business for ugly people.."
Monday, December 03, 2012
Why Azarov resigned today
"KyivPost" reports Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and his government have resigned immediately after approving the next year's budget, and President Viktor Yanukovych has, apparently accepted the resignation,
"Azarov and many members of his Cabinet were elected to parliament during the Oct. 28 vote, and had to file their letters of resignation to the president. They will still act as an interim government until the new one is approved. A vote in parliament is required to approve the prime minister, but ministerial appointments do not need such a vote..."
However, in Ukraine nothing is ever quite what is seems to be.
'Glavkom' provides a possible explanation for this manoeuvre, which is intended to provide Azarov with parliamentary immunity from prosecution for the duration of the soon-to-be-sworn-in parliament, and enable him to remain as acting Prime Minister, for quite a few months to come.
Immunity from criminal persecution is important - had Azarov's predecessor, Yulia Tymoshenko, been in parliament she would have been 'fireproof', but just days after her government was dismissed, criminal proceedings commenced against her. As a parliamentary deputy, Azarov can sleep easy at night for several years to come.
Constitutionally, Azarov can only hold both a parliamentary mandate and be acting PM for a period of two months, but there have been many many cases in the last few years where, by means of blatant underhand trickery, such anomalies have been allowed to remain in place.
Had he not resigned as head of the Cabinet of Ministers, he could not have been sworn in as a parliamentary deputy. This is a reason for today's action.
Update: A top PoR spokesman, the president's official spokesman in parliament, in preparation for this scheme has declared that although Azarov cannot combine two jobs according to 'the rules', this would be permissible according to higher 'principles'.
Other serious commentators confirm the likelihood of many of the recent cabinet of ministers, including Azarov, staying in place for quite a while in order that balance of force amongst Yanukovych's team of loyalists remains 'as is', perhaps until the 2015 presidential election campaign.
"Azarov and many members of his Cabinet were elected to parliament during the Oct. 28 vote, and had to file their letters of resignation to the president. They will still act as an interim government until the new one is approved. A vote in parliament is required to approve the prime minister, but ministerial appointments do not need such a vote..."
However, in Ukraine nothing is ever quite what is seems to be.
'Glavkom' provides a possible explanation for this manoeuvre, which is intended to provide Azarov with parliamentary immunity from prosecution for the duration of the soon-to-be-sworn-in parliament, and enable him to remain as acting Prime Minister, for quite a few months to come.
Immunity from criminal persecution is important - had Azarov's predecessor, Yulia Tymoshenko, been in parliament she would have been 'fireproof', but just days after her government was dismissed, criminal proceedings commenced against her. As a parliamentary deputy, Azarov can sleep easy at night for several years to come.
Constitutionally, Azarov can only hold both a parliamentary mandate and be acting PM for a period of two months, but there have been many many cases in the last few years where, by means of blatant underhand trickery, such anomalies have been allowed to remain in place.
Had he not resigned as head of the Cabinet of Ministers, he could not have been sworn in as a parliamentary deputy. This is a reason for today's action.
Update: A top PoR spokesman, the president's official spokesman in parliament, in preparation for this scheme has declared that although Azarov cannot combine two jobs according to 'the rules', this would be permissible according to higher 'principles'.
Other serious commentators confirm the likelihood of many of the recent cabinet of ministers, including Azarov, staying in place for quite a while in order that balance of force amongst Yanukovych's team of loyalists remains 'as is', perhaps until the 2015 presidential election campaign.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Dynamo Kyiv fans protest against alleged injustice against one of their own
Today, Sunday, a mass protest by many thousands of Kyiv Dynamo football club supporters took place in the centre of the capital. Video here
They were protesting against the harsh sentences passed on two supporters' leaders, Dmytro Pavlychenko, and his 19-year old son Serhiy, who were found guilty of murdering a judge in March 2011.
The victim, Judge Serhiy Zubkov, had previously ordered an extension to their apartment to be demolised.
Evidence presented by the prosecutors at the trial was highly suspect and circumstantial. Another court had ruled against the Kyiv prosecutor's office for flagrant procedural violations during the investigation of the murder.
Zubkov was shot twice and stabbed in what looked like a professional 'hit'. He had previously been involved in high-profile Kyiv property construction disputes, so it is possible the Palvychenko's are merely the 'fall guys'.
More photos from 'Segodnya' here
Sunday's demonstration seemed to pass by peacefully, but the anger and determination of the marchers was unmistakeable. It is fair to conclude, that if people feel strongly about and injustice, they will go out on the street to protest - a worry for the authorities...
They were protesting against the harsh sentences passed on two supporters' leaders, Dmytro Pavlychenko, and his 19-year old son Serhiy, who were found guilty of murdering a judge in March 2011.
The victim, Judge Serhiy Zubkov, had previously ordered an extension to their apartment to be demolised.
Evidence presented by the prosecutors at the trial was highly suspect and circumstantial. Another court had ruled against the Kyiv prosecutor's office for flagrant procedural violations during the investigation of the murder.
Zubkov was shot twice and stabbed in what looked like a professional 'hit'. He had previously been involved in high-profile Kyiv property construction disputes, so it is possible the Palvychenko's are merely the 'fall guys'.
More photos from 'Segodnya' here
Sunday's demonstration seemed to pass by peacefully, but the anger and determination of the marchers was unmistakeable. It is fair to conclude, that if people feel strongly about and injustice, they will go out on the street to protest - a worry for the authorities...
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Quiet revolution, stage one
I liked this follow-up analysis on last month's parliamentary elections:
"....this election was heavily ruled by the protest sentiments, although they had remained unnoticed by sociologists up until election day. Therefore we believe we have witnessed a quiet revolution. A sort of a latent Maydan * [Maydan (Ukrainian for square) is deemed a symbol of the Orange revolution]. It might not have fully evolved into a revolution yet but it is its first stage because, as we see it, the first stage of the Orange revolution happened when the opposition won the 2002 election. Even though back then President Kuchma's administration managed to snatch the initiative and form the parliamentary majority, two years later the same parliament backed up the Orange revolution....Unless the authorities understand the scale of the protest sentiments, they will be hit by the second wave of the tsunami.."
And with a possible/probable? economic crisis looming....will there be only one way to go?
"....this election was heavily ruled by the protest sentiments, although they had remained unnoticed by sociologists up until election day. Therefore we believe we have witnessed a quiet revolution. A sort of a latent Maydan * [Maydan (Ukrainian for square) is deemed a symbol of the Orange revolution]. It might not have fully evolved into a revolution yet but it is its first stage because, as we see it, the first stage of the Orange revolution happened when the opposition won the 2002 election. Even though back then President Kuchma's administration managed to snatch the initiative and form the parliamentary majority, two years later the same parliament backed up the Orange revolution....Unless the authorities understand the scale of the protest sentiments, they will be hit by the second wave of the tsunami.."
And with a possible/probable? economic crisis looming....will there be only one way to go?
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Break for a week or two..
Your blogger is currently experiencing a few problems, which should be resolved in a week's time or two. Hopefully I will be able continue posting then..LEvko
I
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Monday, November 12, 2012
Kozhara has no credibility
Several brave members of Ukraine's Central Electoral Commission, including its deputy head, Zhanna Usenko-Chorna have been highly critical of the manner in which last month's parliamentary elections were conducted - their comments resonate with the damning assessments produced the OSCE/ODIHR and other international observers.
The head of the CEC, Volodymyr Shapoval, has been critical of judges who had interfered in the electoral process, and has called for them to be punished.
Shapoval agreed with some of his CEC colleagues who wanted results in several constituencies to be annulled, but he, and they were outvoted.
Now Foreign Policy Advisor to the Ukrainian President, Leonid Kozhara, who has been set to visit western capitals to whitewash the election process and results, has publicly criticised these people on PoR's official website: "The CEC is not a political body and its members should stay out of politics. Any inconsiderate frivolous political statements undermine the Ukraine's image in the world, and those who resort to dirty political insinuations have to understand this."
Your blogger considers the CEC's job is to conduct free and fair elections. They have every right to make comments on whether they succeeded or not in their task, and provide details of specific failings.
p.s. Kozhara's trip has been terrible. Last Friday he was torn to pieces by a well-briefed BBC interviewer on the 'Hardtalk' programme. His arguments looked as phony as his dodgy hairpiece....He may even get promoted soon..
The head of the CEC, Volodymyr Shapoval, has been critical of judges who had interfered in the electoral process, and has called for them to be punished.
Shapoval agreed with some of his CEC colleagues who wanted results in several constituencies to be annulled, but he, and they were outvoted.
Now Foreign Policy Advisor to the Ukrainian President, Leonid Kozhara, who has been set to visit western capitals to whitewash the election process and results, has publicly criticised these people on PoR's official website: "The CEC is not a political body and its members should stay out of politics. Any inconsiderate frivolous political statements undermine the Ukraine's image in the world, and those who resort to dirty political insinuations have to understand this."
Your blogger considers the CEC's job is to conduct free and fair elections. They have every right to make comments on whether they succeeded or not in their task, and provide details of specific failings.
p.s. Kozhara's trip has been terrible. Last Friday he was torn to pieces by a well-briefed BBC interviewer on the 'Hardtalk' programme. His arguments looked as phony as his dodgy hairpiece....He may even get promoted soon..
Friday, November 09, 2012
Opposition candidates in disputed constituencies will continue to fight despite Azarov's offer
PM Azarov, in an official statement on the government site, has just said:
"The Government is seriously concerned about the situation which arose regarding the counting of votes in the elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in some single member districts.
As Prime Minister of Ukraine I've repeatedly spoken out about this.
Meanwhile, succession of events encourages us to officially call upon political parties and candidates, who're caught up in conflicts of counting votes, to stop these conflicts and to start a dialogue with each other."
I watched several opposition candidates from the 13 disputed single mandate constituencies as they were interviewed on Thursday's Mykola Knyazhytsky show on TVi. What struck me was their quiet dignity, intelligence and determination.
The stories they told were all very similar. The 'protocols' resulting from parallel vote counting at the lowest level were generally satisfactory [primarily because when these votes were 'totted up' at polling stations there was little chance of knowing for sure how the vote was going overall in the constituencies.] These protocols are in the public domain.
But once the protocols together with voting slips were delivered to constituency electoral commissions and it quickly became clear from the numbers on the protocols that bad news awaited the pro-authority candidates, the 'funny business' started. This took the form of power cuts and black-outs inside the building, unnecessary 'time-outs' and delaying tactics by the counters, seizure of votes in back-rooms by unknown persons of 'sporting appearance', tampering of bags containing the votes, and so on.
Most of these opposition candidates on the tv show were academics, doctors, bosses of small to medium businesses etc. They were standing against very prominent multi-millionaire businessmen who, in many cases, employ hundreds of persons [including security staff ]in the areas where they were standing for election...
These high-power businessmen say in self-justification of their criminal behaviour: 'Look, I have grown my business here and brought hundreds of jobs...what have these opposition candidates brought, what can they do for you?' As if this gives them the right to cheat...
Encouragingly the opposition candidates who considered they were cheated, declared they will continue their fight for justice using the enormous amount of evidence they have accumulated for as long as necessary. They complained however, that the dozens of law suits already put before judges challenging results, have all been, so far, treated with contempt and ignored.
p.s Yevheniya Tymoshenko on British Channel 4 TV interview here
"The Government is seriously concerned about the situation which arose regarding the counting of votes in the elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in some single member districts.
As Prime Minister of Ukraine I've repeatedly spoken out about this.
Meanwhile, succession of events encourages us to officially call upon political parties and candidates, who're caught up in conflicts of counting votes, to stop these conflicts and to start a dialogue with each other."
I watched several opposition candidates from the 13 disputed single mandate constituencies as they were interviewed on Thursday's Mykola Knyazhytsky show on TVi. What struck me was their quiet dignity, intelligence and determination.
The stories they told were all very similar. The 'protocols' resulting from parallel vote counting at the lowest level were generally satisfactory [primarily because when these votes were 'totted up' at polling stations there was little chance of knowing for sure how the vote was going overall in the constituencies.] These protocols are in the public domain.
But once the protocols together with voting slips were delivered to constituency electoral commissions and it quickly became clear from the numbers on the protocols that bad news awaited the pro-authority candidates, the 'funny business' started. This took the form of power cuts and black-outs inside the building, unnecessary 'time-outs' and delaying tactics by the counters, seizure of votes in back-rooms by unknown persons of 'sporting appearance', tampering of bags containing the votes, and so on.
Most of these opposition candidates on the tv show were academics, doctors, bosses of small to medium businesses etc. They were standing against very prominent multi-millionaire businessmen who, in many cases, employ hundreds of persons [including security staff ]in the areas where they were standing for election...
These high-power businessmen say in self-justification of their criminal behaviour: 'Look, I have grown my business here and brought hundreds of jobs...what have these opposition candidates brought, what can they do for you?' As if this gives them the right to cheat...
Encouragingly the opposition candidates who considered they were cheated, declared they will continue their fight for justice using the enormous amount of evidence they have accumulated for as long as necessary. They complained however, that the dozens of law suits already put before judges challenging results, have all been, so far, treated with contempt and ignored.
p.s Yevheniya Tymoshenko on British Channel 4 TV interview here
Thursday, November 08, 2012
The opposition's dilemma
Because the Central Electoral Commission have so far not been able to complete their count in some single mandate constituencies the authorities [under the instruction of the president] have grudgingly approved legally highly dubious reruns of the elections in five of the more than one dozen most hotly disputed simple majority constituencies. These re-elections could take place, by next March at the earliest, maybe. It seems the three opposition forces that will enter parliament have, kind of, agreed to this.
In your blogger's opinion both the authorities and the opposition are not behaving entirely correctly and are 'jumping the gun'.
According to Ukrainian law, the Central Electoral Commission have until next Monday to produce final election results..The CEC have not finished their task until this deadline is reached - they should not yet be allowed to 'wash their hands' of their responsibilities. The evidence of malfeasance which they must obviously possess has to be passed to law enforcement bodies to deal with.
If the CEC's stance remains unchanged until after next Monday, the opposition should make it absolutely clear - there is solid evidence of fraud in the 13 disputed constituencies and they will not accept the swearing in of any deputies for these constituencies. The opposition should insist any possible rerun election must first be preceded by criminal proceedings against wrongdoers in these constituences whose deeds made it necessary for additional elections to be held.
Mykola Knyazhytsky in his blog describes the opposition's dilemma. It should not tamely accept the authorities' ideas of compromise - but because the legal system in the country is in the firm grip of the president, fair judgements are unlikely too.
He goes on: "For the opposition the position is very uncomfortable. Despite the high vote of confidence which the opposition parties received, they are not strong enough to resist an organised and cynical government machine. It would be better to gather strength and present a united front in the next presidential election [in 2015].
But the government has placed the opposition in a position where it will be impossible for them to acquiesce to cynical fraud in some consitituences. That is why the government must revoke their decision and recognize the unfalsified election results according to the original protocols [which are already in the public domain], or the atmosphere will gradually becomes revolutionary, despite all of the talk that Ukrainians are most unwilling to take such radical steps. If the opposition agrees to this current brazen lawlessness, it will have to take some of the responsibility for it because it will be with their tacit consent that Ukraine turns into authoritarian regime of the type seen in Belarus and Russia."
p.s. From a cynical point of view many of the so called independents who have won in the single mandate consitituencies [and also the communist deputies] would be delighted to see a finely balanced parliament. It would make their vote far more valuable in monetary terms....
The Communists did surprisingly well too and will be no pushovers....why should the 'independent' new members of parliament declare with whom they will vote if the Communists have not yet made their own position clear....PoR will have to dig deep into their depleted money bags..
p.p.s. A good explanation for the rise of 'Svoboda' here
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Opposition leaders sell out...
There are 13 electoral constituencies were journalists and local opposition forces claim systematic cheating took place during last week's elections:- constituency numbers 11, 14, 20, 90, 94, 132, 183, 194, 197, 211, 214,216, 223. Many serious allegations and much evidence of fraud have been accumulated in these constituencies. Any perpetrators found guilty of election fraud should go to prison for many years.
Yet now Yatseniuk, Klychko and Tyhnybok have timidly agreed to a recount in just five of these - numbers 94, 132, 194, 197, 223, and forgotten entirely about the remainder.
They have sold out...they have sold out their supporters who so bravely have tried to protect their constitutional right to free and fair elections across the country.
They have crumbled so publicly that the electorate will never trust them to carry out any of their manifesto proposals again were they were ever to get into power [not much likelyhood of that now]. Even though the parties of Yatseniuk, Klychko and Tyhnybok received about 48% of votes cast, compared to Regional's 30% by the party lists, even despite this moral victory, they have crumbled, thus providing more ammunition to those who declare the so-called opposition leaders have been 'bought out' a long time ago - it certainly looks like it.
p.s. Excellent analysis on Ukraine's elections from Mykola Riabchuk here
Yet now Yatseniuk, Klychko and Tyhnybok have timidly agreed to a recount in just five of these - numbers 94, 132, 194, 197, 223, and forgotten entirely about the remainder.
They have sold out...they have sold out their supporters who so bravely have tried to protect their constitutional right to free and fair elections across the country.
They have crumbled so publicly that the electorate will never trust them to carry out any of their manifesto proposals again were they were ever to get into power [not much likelyhood of that now]. Even though the parties of Yatseniuk, Klychko and Tyhnybok received about 48% of votes cast, compared to Regional's 30% by the party lists, even despite this moral victory, they have crumbled, thus providing more ammunition to those who declare the so-called opposition leaders have been 'bought out' a long time ago - it certainly looks like it.
p.s. Excellent analysis on Ukraine's elections from Mykola Riabchuk here
Sunday, November 04, 2012
President struck dumb
The situation following last Sunday's parliamentary elections is rapidly spinning out of control. For the sake of a handful of disputed single mandate constituency seats, mainly in the Kyiv area, the ruling coalition are making a mockery of Ukrainian democracy [an oxymoron if ever there was one].
There is a strong possibility that the combined newly-elected opposition forces will rip up their mandates and not enter the V.R. causing a constitutional crisis, probably forcing a second election.
Where is the president? Your are supposed to be an authoritarian fixer, not an indecisive bozo!
Show some leadership!
Have no doubt, the gangsters are back..
'KyivPost' ran this story on Friday: 'Bloody vote count in Mykolayiv Oblast as police clash with opposition'
However, they missed much of the important background to this story...
Just over a month ago I posted a blog about how V.R. deputy Artem Pshonka, son of current Prosecutor-General Viktor Pshonka, was trying to seize the Mykolayiv-based 'Agrofirma Kornatskykh' agro-company by the dirtiest of means. 'ORD' website call Pshonka Jr. 'raider No.1 in Ukraine'. His dad Viktor is an old pal of Yanukovych from the bad old days in Donetsk...
It so happened that the owner of this agro-company, Arkady A. Kornatsky, was an election candidate in the oblast despite being forced to go abroad because of possible risk of arrest...and he won the election, beating his closest rival, Deputy Chairman of the Oblast State Administration and PoR candidate, Vitaliy Travyanko, by about 4000 votes or 39.66% of votes cast against 34.09%. These results were posted on the official Central Electoral Commission website on 29th October.
'ORD' now describes how after news of Kornyatsky's victory spread, all hell broke loose. The 15,000 hectares of land Pshonka Sr. was attempting to steal from Kornatsky could possibly slip out out of his grasp as a result.
During the evening of 30th October police stormed the premises of District Election Commission number 132 in Pervomaysk, Mykolaiv led by the Regional Governor, Mykola Kruglov. [Kruglov was PM Azarov's deputy when the latter ran the State Tax Administration]. A squad of 'Berkut' special forces, some still in civilian dress, blocked the entrance of the building, kicked out the head Constituency Electoral Commission, and unknown persons entered to feed 'fresh data' into the election commission computer. A few minutes later the Central Electoral Commission website was amended and Travyanko declared the winner. These guys did not even bother to change the figures from some stations for other candidates on the list, they added other votes to Travyanko only on the summary page so their fraud was obvious.
'ORD' reports "In Pervomaysk there is almost a civil war. "KAMAZ" trucks have blocked the centre and all entrances to the city. Twice, on the night of 1st and the 2nd November 2012 "Berkut" troops used tear gas in the premises of the district election commission. Prosecutor General Pshonka and Governor of Mykolayiv region Kruglov are brutally preventing the declaration of the owner of the Arcadia farm, Kornatsky, as winner of the elections because Pshonka wants to seize the15 000 hectares he owns for for his son."
It is clear that without personal guarantees of immunity from Prosecutor General of Ukraine, from Pshonka himself, no-one would have dared to steal the results in such an open manner or involve "Berkut" in this shocking deed.
There have been many protests, beatings, and much unrest as these crooks, having committed their fraud so crudely, are left with no option but to destroy voting slips favouring Kornatsky.
The brave deputy head of the CEC, Zhanna Usenko-Chorna, has said: "The whole country watched, international observers...electors. For many hours we witnessed that Kornatsky was victor, winning by 4299 votes. Then after a very short time, changes were introduced into the system, and by very peculiar means, data is introduced in favour of Vitaliy Travyanko, votes begin to dribble in from two candidates/donors.".
The head of the Constituency Electoral Commission may had suffered a heart attack...and the CEC are going to 'rework' the results from the Pervomaysk constituency, 'checking every comma'. [The Prosecutor-General's office will no doubt be informed of any fraud, eh?]
Scenes such as these described have been repeated elsewhere in Ukraine these last few days, though in Pervomaysk thelaw enforcement officials have been particularly brutal and most determined to crush any protests against falsification. PM Azarov claimed these elections to have been the best in the history of independent Ukraine....
p.s. more photos from Pervomaysk here
Thursday, November 01, 2012
Steamroller beginning to stutter?
Interesting discussion in tonight's 'Politklub' with Vitaliy Portnikov on the independent TVi channel.
Below is a summary of some of the comments made by journalists taking part:
On the topic of whether western observers should pull their punches in their election reports:
"We cannot expect [or demand] our decent west European friends to call black white just so Ukraine does not somehow drift eastwards...we should not expect them to compromise their principles.."
Not unexpectedly, there have been significant reports of election fraud during the counting of votes, but we should really scrutinise how seriously law enforcement agencies react and deal with these allegations...this will be the true test of fair elections..
The sentence for election fraud is 3-5 years in prison...and there is great suspicion of the bodies involved in running the election, because of bad experiences in the past...The ugly scenes and battles in several high-profile constituencies, particularly around Kyiv, over just a few seats, risks making things appear much worse that they were. It was therefore a bad mistake for the pro-ruling party candidates to so deliberately and openly attempt to cheat in these few seats. It was widely reported on the day immediately after polling day, that from what western observers saw, the results of elections would be acceptable to EU countries. This prompted a second wave of frauds, particularly in the single mandate, simple majority constituencies, where counting was being deliberately drawn out.
Some of these 'mazhorytarka' candidates are former Party of Regions' deputies who were excluded from their party lists, because they were deemed to be not important enough to figure on the higher rung positions where the likelihood of entering parliament on the party list would be higher. They were left to some degree to run and fund their own campaigns. There are some grounds to assume these guys will take their deputy responsibilities more seriously, having run their own campaigns, and they may even harbour some bitterness toward their party bosses who put them out in the cold to fight their own battles whilst favouring others having 'better connections'.
As a result, the fresh parliament will not be stable....the new boys will have their noses in the air [looking toward the 2015 presidential elections]...it will be difficult for authorities to maintain a solid majority...every law,..especially those linked to taxation and the economy and affecting the 'madzoritarshchyky;, most of whom are significant businessmen in the own right, will have to be negotiated. The 50% party list, 50% 'mazhorytarka' system that produced a 'tilted playing field' may well turn out to have weakened internal discipline inside Party of Regions.
'Svoboda' seem to be the only party not controlled by Ukraine's oligarchic political puppetmasters. They seem to be the only party ready to stand up for the common man against oligarch-controlled parties..including those of the opposition. [The stout defence of their candidates in disputed constituencies bears this out]. This may account for their success particularly in the Kyiv region where, until now, they have been nowhere.
The Communist party was the only realistic place where anti-PoR voters could go in the eastern part of the country, even though everyone was aware they could well side with PoR again. Inside their hearts, the Communists will be bitter that many of their votes were stolen by their probable allies. Their leader, Petro Symonenko may fancy one more shot at the presidency in 2015 - this will also affect his attitude to PoR inn the new parliament.
These views were not all held by the guests on Pornikov's programme, by any means, it's just I thought they seemed to be the most reasonable ones.
p.s. IMO Svoboda may have benefited from the imprisonment of Tymoshenko and Lutsenko. Voters who voted for Svoboda because they felt it was time to 'fight fire with fire', may well have voted otherwise - for Batkivshchyna - had the two opposition leaders been free. Their undoubted electioneering skills would have been most useful during the campaign, it is reasonable to assume therefore that their imprisonment did affect the result of Sunday's polls.
p.p.s. Polish periodical's estimate of how much was spent on the election campaign:
Below is a summary of some of the comments made by journalists taking part:
On the topic of whether western observers should pull their punches in their election reports:
"We cannot expect [or demand] our decent west European friends to call black white just so Ukraine does not somehow drift eastwards...we should not expect them to compromise their principles.."
Not unexpectedly, there have been significant reports of election fraud during the counting of votes, but we should really scrutinise how seriously law enforcement agencies react and deal with these allegations...this will be the true test of fair elections..
The sentence for election fraud is 3-5 years in prison...and there is great suspicion of the bodies involved in running the election, because of bad experiences in the past...The ugly scenes and battles in several high-profile constituencies, particularly around Kyiv, over just a few seats, risks making things appear much worse that they were. It was therefore a bad mistake for the pro-ruling party candidates to so deliberately and openly attempt to cheat in these few seats. It was widely reported on the day immediately after polling day, that from what western observers saw, the results of elections would be acceptable to EU countries. This prompted a second wave of frauds, particularly in the single mandate, simple majority constituencies, where counting was being deliberately drawn out.
Some of these 'mazhorytarka' candidates are former Party of Regions' deputies who were excluded from their party lists, because they were deemed to be not important enough to figure on the higher rung positions where the likelihood of entering parliament on the party list would be higher. They were left to some degree to run and fund their own campaigns. There are some grounds to assume these guys will take their deputy responsibilities more seriously, having run their own campaigns, and they may even harbour some bitterness toward their party bosses who put them out in the cold to fight their own battles whilst favouring others having 'better connections'.
As a result, the fresh parliament will not be stable....the new boys will have their noses in the air [looking toward the 2015 presidential elections]...it will be difficult for authorities to maintain a solid majority...every law,..especially those linked to taxation and the economy and affecting the 'madzoritarshchyky;, most of whom are significant businessmen in the own right, will have to be negotiated. The 50% party list, 50% 'mazhorytarka' system that produced a 'tilted playing field' may well turn out to have weakened internal discipline inside Party of Regions.
'Svoboda' seem to be the only party not controlled by Ukraine's oligarchic political puppetmasters. They seem to be the only party ready to stand up for the common man against oligarch-controlled parties..including those of the opposition. [The stout defence of their candidates in disputed constituencies bears this out]. This may account for their success particularly in the Kyiv region where, until now, they have been nowhere.
The Communist party was the only realistic place where anti-PoR voters could go in the eastern part of the country, even though everyone was aware they could well side with PoR again. Inside their hearts, the Communists will be bitter that many of their votes were stolen by their probable allies. Their leader, Petro Symonenko may fancy one more shot at the presidency in 2015 - this will also affect his attitude to PoR inn the new parliament.
These views were not all held by the guests on Pornikov's programme, by any means, it's just I thought they seemed to be the most reasonable ones.
p.s. IMO Svoboda may have benefited from the imprisonment of Tymoshenko and Lutsenko. Voters who voted for Svoboda because they felt it was time to 'fight fire with fire', may well have voted otherwise - for Batkivshchyna - had the two opposition leaders been free. Their undoubted electioneering skills would have been most useful during the campaign, it is reasonable to assume therefore that their imprisonment did affect the result of Sunday's polls.
p.p.s. Polish periodical's estimate of how much was spent on the election campaign:
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