Yulia Tymoshenko
Encyclopedia
Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko , née Grigyan (Ukrainian: Ґріґян), born 27 November 1960, is a Ukrainian
politician. She was the Prime Minister of Ukraine
from 24 January to 8 September 2005, and again from 18 December 2007 to 4 March 2010. She placed third in Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women 2005. Tymoshenko is the leader of the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc.
She has been a practising economist and academic. Prior to her political career, Yulia Tymoshenko was a successful but controversial businesswoman in the gas industry
, becoming by some estimates one of the richest people in the country. Before becoming Ukraine's first female Prime Minister
in 2005, Tymoshenko co-led the Orange Revolution
.
Tymoshenko was a candidate in the Ukrainian presidential elections of 2010
, but lost this election to Viktor Yanukovych
(Tymoshenko received 45.47% of the votes in the second and final round of this election). At first Tymoshenko challenged the election results, claiming the vote was rigged, but withdrew her appeal on 20 February 2010, stating, "It became clear that the court is not out to establish the truth".
Since May 2010 a number of criminal cases have been opened against Tymoshenko. On 11 October 2011, a Ukrainian court sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison after she was found guilty of abuse of office when brokering the 2009 gas deal with Russia
. The conviction is seen as "justice being applied selectively under political motivation" by the European Union
and other international organizations. Tymoshenko appealed against the sentence on 24 October 2011. On her 51st birthday an action called "Flowers for Yulia" happened in front of the Lukyanivska Prison
.
, Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union
). Her mother Ludmila Nikolaevna Telegina (née Nelepova), was born 11 August 1937, in Dnipropetrovsk
. Her father Vladimir Abramovich Grigyan was born 3 December 1937, in Dnipropetrovsk and was, according to his Soviet passport, Latvia
n. Vladimir left the family when Yulia was three years old. Tymoshenko took the surname of her mother "Telegina" – before graduating in 1977. In 1979, Tymoshenko married Oleksandr Tymoshenko
, son of a middle-level Soviet official. In 1980 their daughter Yevhenia (Eugenia) was born.
).
In 1978 Tymoshenko entered the mining department of "Dnipropetrovsk Mining Institute
". In 1979 she transferred to the Economic Department of the Dnipropetrovsk State University and majored in cybernetic engineering. In 1984 Tymoshenko graduated from the Dnipropetrovsk State University with honors (red diploma) as an engineer-economist.
In 1999, she defended a PhD dissertation at the Kiev National Economic University (Dissertation of Y. Tymoshenko "State Regulation of the tax system").
In 1988, as part of the perestroika
initiatives, Yulia and Oleksandr Tymoshenko borrowed 5000 Soviet rubles, and opened a cooperative "video rental"; perhaps with the help of Oleksander's father Gennadi Tymoshenko, who presided over (in the provincial council) a network of regional film distribution.
In 1989–1991, Yulia and Oleksandr Tymoshenko
founded and headed a Komsomol
video rental company "Terminal" in Dnipropetrovsk
(which grew to be quite successful), and later privatized
it.
In 1991 Tymoshenko established (jointly with her husband Oleksandr, Gennadi Tymoshenko and Olexandr Gravets) "The Ukrainian Petrol Corporation", a company that provided the agriculture industry of Dnipropetrovsk with fuel from 1991 to 1995. Tymoshenko worked as a General Director. From 1995 to 1997, Tymoshenko was the president of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine
, a privately owned middleman company that became the main importer of Russian natural gas to Ukraine in 1996. During that time she was nicknamed "gas princess" in light of accusations that she had been reselling enormous quantities of stolen gas and avoiding taxation of those deals. She was also accused of "having given Pavlo Lazarenko
kickbacks in exchange for her company's stranglehold on the country's gas supplies". During this period Tymoshenko was involved in business relations (either co-operative or hostile) with many important figures of Ukraine. The list includes Pavlo Lazarenko
, Viktor Pinchuk
, Ihor Kolomoyskyi
, Sergei Tigipko, Leonid Kuchma
who at that time was the President of Ukraine
. All of these are, like Tymoshenko, originally from Dnipropetrovsk. Tymoshenko has also been closely linked to the management of the Russia
n corporation, Gazprom
.
Tymoshenko is said to have acquired a significant fortune between 1990 and 1998, she became one of the wealthiest oligarchs
in Ukraine. Now she's not a businesswoman, as well politician — since 2006 Ukraine published ratings of the "100 richest Ukrainians", Tymoshenko is not present in these rankings.
, winning a record 92.3% of the vote in her constituency. In Parliament she joined the faction Constitutional Centre.
Late November 1997 the General Prosecutor of Ukraine asked the Verkhovna Rada to lift Tymoshenko's parliamentary immunity on accusations she had attempted to smuggle $26,000 from Ukraine to Moscow, Russia in 1995. Late 1997 Tymoshenko called to hold the next Ukrainian Presidential elections
not in 1999 but in the fall of 1998.
Tymoshenko was re-elected in 1998
as number 6 on the party list of Hromada
. She was again elected winning a constituency in the Kirovohrad Oblast. Tymoshenko was a leading figure in the party, and became the Chair of the Budget Committee of the Verkhovna Rada. After Hromada's party leader Pavlo Lazarenko
fled to the United States in the spring of 1999 to avoid investigations for embezzlement various faction members left Hromada to join other parliamentary faction, among them Tymoshenko who set up the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" faction.
of Viktor Yushchenko
. She officially left parliament on 2 March 2000. As energy Deputy Prime Minister, she virtually ended many corrupt arrangements in the energy sector. Under her stewardship, Ukraine's revenue collections from the electricity industry grew by several thousand percent. She scrapped the practice of barter in the electricity market, requiring industrial customers to pay for their electricity in cash. She also terminated exemptions for many organizations which excluded them from having their power disconnected. Her reforms meant that the government had sufficient funds to pay civil servants and increase salaries. Tymoshenko was fired by President Leonid Kuchma
in January 2001 after developing a conflict with oligarchs
in the industry. Soon after her dismissal, Tymoshenko took leadership of the National Salvation Committee
and became active in the Ukraine without Kuchma
-protests.
In mid-February 2001, Tymoshenko was arrested on charges of forging customs documents and smuggling gas between 1995 and 1997 (while president of United Energy Systems of Ukraine
) but was released several weeks later. Her political supporters organized several protest rallies near the Lukyanivska Prison
where she was held in custody. According to Tymoshenko, the charges were fabricated by Kuchma's regime at the behest of oligarchs threatened by her efforts to root out corruption and institute market-based reforms. In spite of being cleared of the charges, Moscow maintained an arrest warrant for Tymoshenko should she enter Russia
until her dismissal as Prime Minister four years later. This case was reopened in Ukraine on 24 October 2011.
In addition, Tymoshenko's husband, Oleksandr
, spent two years in hiding in order to avoid incarceration on charges the couple said were unfounded and politically motivated by the former Kuchma administration.
for his alleged role in the murder of the journalist Georgiy Gongadze. In this campaign, Tymoshenko first became known as a passionate, revolutionist leader, an example of this being a TV broadcast of her smashing prison windows during one of the rallies. At the time Tymoshenko wanted to organise a national referendum to impeach President Kuchma.
9 February 2001, Tymoshenko founded the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (the National Salvation Committee
merged into it), a political bloc that received 7.2% of the vote in the 2002 parliamentary election
. She is the head of the Batkivshchina
(Fatherland) political party since the party was organised in 1999.
11 August 2001 civilian and military prosecutors in Russia
opened a new criminal case against Tymoshenko accusing her of bribery. On December 27, 2005 Russian prosecutors dropped these charges. Russian prosecutors had suspended an arrest warrant when she was appointed Prime Minister in but reinstated it after she was fired in September 2005. The prosecutors suspended it again when she came to Moscow for questioning on September 25, 2005. Tymoshenko never traveled to Russia during her first seven months as Prime Minister (the first Tymoshenko Government
).
In January 2002 Tymoshenko was involved in a mysterious car accident that she survived with minor injuries – an episode some believe may have been a government assassination attempt.
attempted to create a broad opposition bloc against the incumbent President
Leonid Kuchma
in order to win the Ukrainian presidential election 2004
.
In late 2002, Tymoshenko, Oleksandr Moroz
(Socialist Party of Ukraine
), Petro Symonenko
(Communist Party of Ukraine
) and Viktor Yushchenko (Our Ukraine) issued a joint statement concerning "the beginning of a state revolution in Ukraine". In the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, the communist party stepped out of the alliance, but the other parties remained allies and Symonenko was against a single candidate from the alliance (until July 2006).
On 2 July 2004, Our Ukraine and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc established the Force of the people, a coalition which aimed to stop "the destructive process that has, as a result of the incumbent authorities, become a characteristic for Ukraine", the pact included a promise by Viktor Yushchenko to nominate Tymoshenko as Prime Minister
if Yushchenko would win the October 2004 presidential election. Tymoshenko campaigned for Yushchenko during the 2004 electoral campaign. The Yushchenko campaign publicly called for protest on 21 November 2004 (second round election day) when allegations of fraud began to spread. On November 22, 2004 massive protests broke out in cities across Ukraine: the largest, in Kiev
's Maidan Nezalezhnosti
attracted an estimated 500,000 participants. These protests became known as the Orange Revolution
. During the protests, Tymoshenko speeches on Maidan kept the momentum of the street protests going. After the cancellation of Viktor Yanukovych
's official victory and a re-run of the second round of the election Viktor Yushchenko was elected President.
under Yushchenko's presidency. On 4 February, Tymoshenko's premiership appointment was ratified by the parliament with an overwhelming majority of 373 votes (226 were required for approval).
On 28 July, Forbes named her the third most powerful woman in the world, behind only Condoleezza Rice
and Wu Yi
. However, in the magazine's list published on 1 September 2006, Tymoshenko was not included in the top 100.
Several months into her government
, internal conflicts within the post‐Revolution coalition began to damage Tymoshenko's administration. On 8 September, after the resignation of several senior officials, including the Head of the Security and Defense Council
Petro Poroshenko and Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Tomenko
, Yulia Tymoshenko's government was dismissed by President Viktor Yushchenko during a live television address to the nation. She was succeeded as Prime Minister by Yuriy Yehanurov. Yushchenko went on to criticize her work as head of the Cabinet, suggesting it had led to an economic slowdown and political conflicts within the ruling coalition.
as the leader of her Bloc
. She soon announced that she wanted to return to the post of Prime Minister.
With the Bloc coming second in the election, and winning 129 seats, many speculated that she might form a coalition with Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party and the Socialist Party of Ukraine
(SPU) to prevent the Party of Regions
from gaining power. Tymoshenko again reiterated her stance in regard to becoming Prime Minister. However, negotiations with Our Ukraine and SPU faced many difficulties as the various blocs scrapped over posts and engaged in counter-negotiations with other groupings.
On Wednesday 21 June 2006, the Ukrainian media reported that the parties had finally reached a coalition agreement, which appeared to have ended nearly three months of political uncertainty.
Tymoshenko's nomination and confirmation as new Prime Minister was expected to be straightforward. However, the nomination was preconditioned on an election of her long-term rival Petro Poroshenko from Our Ukraine as the speaker of the parliament. Tymoshenko stated that she would vote for any speaker from the coalition. Within a few days after the coalition agreement had been signed, it became clear that the coalition members mistrusted each other, since they considered it to be a deviation from parliamentary procedures in order to hold a simultaneous vote on Poroshenko as the speaker and Tymoshenko as Prime Minister.
The Party of Regions announced an ultimatum to the coalition, demanding that the parliamentary procedures be observed, asking membership in parliamentary committees to be allocated in proportion to seats held by each fraction, chairmanship in certain Parliamentary committees as well as Governorships in the administrative subdivisions won by the Party of Regions. The Party of Regions complained the coalition agreement deprived the Party of Regions and the communists of any representation in the executive and leadership in parliamentary committees while in the local regional councils won by the Party of Regions, the coalition parties were locked out of all committees as well.
Members from the Party of Regions
blocked the parliament from Thursday, 29 June through Thursday, 6 July.
Following a surprise nomination of Oleksandr Moroz
from the Socialist Party of Ukraine
as the Rada speaker and his subsequent election late on 6 July with the support of the Party of Regions, the "Orange coalition" collapsed (Poroshenko had withdrawn his candidacy and had urged Moroz to do the same on 7 July). After the creation of a large coalition of majority, led by the former prime minister Viktor Yanukovych
and composed of the Party of Regions
, Socialists
and Communists
, Viktor Yanukovych
became Prime Minister, and the other two parties were left in the wilderness. Whilst Tymoshenko immediately announced that her political force would be in opposition to the new government, Our Ukraine stalled until 4 October 2006, when it too joined the opposition. Following the 2007 Ukrainian political crisis
new elections were called.
. In the article she sharply criticized authoritarian developments under Vladimir Putin
and opposed the alleged new Russian expansionism. Consequently, the article irked Russia and more than a week after the article was published, Russia responded to the article, calling it an "anti-Russian manifesto" and "an attempt to once again draw dividing lines in Europe."
It was subsequently revealed that significant portions of the article had been paraphrased from an article written by former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
. Tymoshenko's staff denied allegations of plagiarism on the grounds that the Foreign Affairs format does not usually include attributions.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov wrote an article called "Containing Russia: Back To The Future?" for the same journal which was apparently meant to be a response to Tymoshenko. He withdrew the article before publication, accusing the editors of changing his text and said his article was subjected to "censorship".
held on 30 September 2007, Orange Revolution parties said they had won enough votes to form a governing coalition. On 3 October 2007, an almost final tally gave the alliance of Tymoshenko and President
Yushchenko a slim lead over a rival party of Prime Minister
Yanukovych. Although Yanukovych, whose party won the single biggest share of the vote, also claimed victory, one of his coalition allies, the Socialist Party of Ukraine
, failed to gain enough votes to retain seats in Parliament.
On 15 October 2007, Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc agreed to form a majority coalition in the new parliament of the 6th convocation
. On 29 November, a coalition was signed between the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc, which was associated with President Yushchenko. Both parties are affiliated with the Orange Revolution. On 18 December, Tymoshenko was once again elected as Prime Minister, supported by 226 deputies (the minimal amount needed for passage), heading the second Tymoshenko Government
.
between Georgia
and Russia
. Yulia Tymoshenko disagreed with Yushchenko's condemnation of Russia and preferred to stay neutral on the issue. Yushchenko's office accused her of taking a softer position in order to gain support from Russia in the upcoming 2010 election. Andriy Kyslynskyi, the president's deputy chief of staff, went as far as to accuse her of 'high treason'. According to BYuT, Viktor Baloha (Chief of Staff of the Presidential Secretariat) criticized the premier at every turn, accusing her of everything from not being religious enough to damaging the economy and that she was plotting to kill him, and that the accusation of 'betrayal' over Georgia was simply one of the latest and most pernicious attacks directed at the premier.
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After Tymoshenko's BYuT voted alongside the Communist Party of Ukraine
and the Party of Regions
to pass legislation that would facilitate the procedure of impeachment for future Presidents and limit the President's power while increasing the Prime Minister's powers, President Yushchenko's OU-PSD bloc pulled out of the coalition and Yushchenko promised to veto the legislation and threatened to hold an election if a new coalition was not formed soon. This resulted in the 2008 Ukrainian political crisis
, which culminated in Yushchenko announcing/calling an early parliamentary election
on 8 October 2008.
Tymoshenko was fiercely opposed to the snap election
, stating: "No politician would throw Ukraine into snap elections at this important time. But, if Yushchenko and Yanukovych – who are ideologists of snap elections – throw the country into snap elections, then they will bear responsibility for all the consequences of the global financial crisis on Ukraine". The election was initially to be held 7 December 2008, but later postponed to an unknown date. Tymoshenko had no intention of resigning until a new coalition was formed.
Early December 2008 there were negotiations between BYuT and Party of Regions
to form a coalition but after Volodymyr Lytvyn
was elected Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada
(parliament of Ukraine
) 9 December 2008 he announced the creation of a coalition between his Lytvyn Bloc, BYuT and OU-PSD. After negotiations the three parties officially signed the coalition agreement on 16 December. It was unsure if this coalition would stop the snap election although Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn predicted the Verkhovna Rada will work until 2012.
survived a second no-confidence vote in the Ukrainian Parliament (the first was rejected on 11 July 2008). In February 2009 the relations between Tymoshenko and President Yushchenko, the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine
and the oppositional
Party of Regions
remained hostile. According to Tymoshenko her conflict with the President was a political competition and not ideological antagonism, and she emphasized early in February 2009 that the "election struggle for the next presidential elections
has virtually begun".
After long being considered a possible candidate for the President of Ukraine
in 2010, Tymoshenko announced that she would stand in the presidential elections in 2010
in a statement broadcast live on national TV on 7 June 2009, despite previous statements (in 2008) she did not intend to become president. Tymoshenko did state that if she lost the presidential elections she would not challenge their results. On 12 September 2009 a tour called "With Ukraine in Heart" in support of Tymoshenko candidacy kick-started on Kiev
's Maidan Nezalezhnosti
. The popular Ukrainian singers and bands took part in the tour.
Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko formally endorsed Yulia Tymoshenko as their candidate for the next Presidential election
, the first-round ballot was scheduled to be held on 17 January 2010. Tymoshenko candidacy was also endorsed by noticeable Ukrainian politicians such as Borys Tarasyuk
, Yuriy Lutsenko
, former President Leonid Kravchuk
, the Christian Democratic Union
, the European Party of Ukraine
and Forward, Ukraine!. Analysts suggested that she was the Russian Government's preferred candidate in the election, on 3 December 2009 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
denied this. Putin stated he was cooperating with Tymoshenko as Prime Minister of Ukraine
but he was not supporting her in elections.
Tymoshenko's campaign was expected to have cost $100 to $150 million.
Tymoshenko expected early parliamentary elections
after the 2010 presidential election, but she was against this.
On 1 December 2009 Tymoshenko urged "national democratic forces" to unite after the first round of the presidential elections around the candidate who takes the largest number of votes. "If we are not able to strengthen our efforts and unite the whole national-patriotic and democratic camp of Ukraine... we will be much weaker than those who want revenge". On 5 December 2009 she declared she would go into opposition if she would lose the presidential elections, Tymoshenko also complained of flaws in the election legislation and expressed confidence of attempts to be made by her opponents to carry out vote rigging.
In the first round of the presidential election on 17 January 2010, Tymoshenko took second place with 25% of the vote and Yanukovych took first place with 35%. The two proceeded to the runoff round held on 7 February 2010 in which Yanukovych was elected President of Ukraine with 48.95% of the votes, Tymoshenko received 45.4% of the votes. Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc members immediately claimed that there was systematic and large-scale vote rigging in this run-off. However Tymoshenko herself did not issue a statement about the election until a live televised broadcast on 13 February 2010 in which she said that she would challenge the election result in court. Tymoshenko alleged widespread fraud (according to Tymoshenko, a million votes were invalid) and said Yanukovych was not legitimately elected "Whatever happens in future, he will never become the legitimately elected president of Ukraine". Tymoshenko did not call people on to the streets to protest and stated she "won't tolerate civil confrontation".
On 10 February 2010 Yanukovych called on Tymoshenko to abandon her protests and resign as Prime Minister. Yanukovych stated he wanted to form a new coalition, and may try to call snap parliamentary elections
. On 12 February Yanukovych stated he did not rule out talks with Tymoshenko if she would publicly apologize to him for the accusations she made during her election campaign. Tymoshenko's government
did not want to resign voluntarily.
On 17 February 2010 the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine, suspended the results of the election on Tymoshenko's appeal. The court suspended the Central Election Commission of Ukraine
ruling that announced that Viktor Yanukovych won the election. Tymoshenko withdrew her appeal on 20 February 2010 after the Higher Administrative Court in Kiev
rejected her petition to scrutinize documents from election districts in Crimea
and also to question election and law-enforcement officials. According to Tymoshenko "It became clear that the court is not out to establish the truth, and, unfortunately, the court is as biased as the Central Election Commission, which includes a political majority from Yanukovych". Tymoshenko also stated "At the very least there was rigging of votes using the main methods of falsification, and I think that for history this lawsuit with all the documentation will remain in the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine, and sooner or later, an honest prosecutor's office and an honest court will assess that Yanukovych wasn't elected President of Ukraine, and that the will of the people had been rigged". The same day (20 February) Tymoshenko announced that she would not challenge the results of the second round of the presidential election in the Supreme Court of Ukraine
since she believed there were no legal provisions for such an appeal.
and "Yanukovych's team" (she referred to them in the speech as "The oligarchy
"): "They need cheap labor, poor and disenfranchised people who can be forced to work at their factories for peanuts, they also need Ukraine's riches, which they have been stealing for the last 18 years." During the speech she also accused outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko
of "opening the door to massive and flagrant election rigging" days before the 7 February runoff of the January 2010 presidential election
by amending the election law. During a Cabinet of Ministers
meeting on 24 February Tymoshenko stated "The moment of truth has arrived: The decision whether or not to side with Yanukovych will show who values the preservation of Ukraine's independence and self-identity and who does not". Tymoshenko and her party, Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko, boycotted the inauguration ceremony of President
Yanukovych (on 25 February 2010).
If the Second Tymoshenko Government
could not be preserved Tymoshenko stated on 22 February 2010 she would go into Parliamentary opposition. On 3 March 2010 the Ukrainian Parliament passed a motion of no confidence in the second Tymoshenko Government
in which the cabinet was dismissed with 243 lawmakers voting in favour out of the 450 (including seven lawmakers of Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko). On 1 March 2010 Prime Minister Tymoshenko had demanded this vote herself. On 2 March 2010 the coalition had already lost the parliamentary majority. Before the vote on 3 March Prime Minister Tymoshenko again stated "If the dismissal of the government is passed today, at that very same moment our government will leave the cabinet. Our political force will cross into the opposition". Tymoshenko blamed the Lytvyn Bloc and "Our Ukraine, including the leader of Our Ukraine who announced the position of the faction" for the fall of the cabinet. Tymoshenko resigned from the Prime Minister post on 4 March 2010. Fellow BYuT member Oleksandr Turchynov
was empowered to fulfill the Prime Minister's duties until a new government was formed on 4 March 2010. On 9 and 15 March 2010 Tymoshenko called on "all of the national patriotic forces" to unite against Yanukovych. On 10 March 2010 Viktor Yushchenko
warned that her leadership of that opposition would end in disaster "Every political force that united with Tymoshenko ended badly". On 16 March a shadow government including BYuT was established. On 10 May 2010 the People's Committee to Protect Ukraine
was established of which Tymoshenko is one of the representatives. Tymoshenko was against the 2010 Ukrainian–Russian Naval Base for Natural Gas treaty
, she believes the agreements harm Ukraine’s national interests.
Ukraine
's prosecutor's office re-opened on 12 May 2010 a 2004 criminal case against Tymoshenko on accusations she had tried to bribe Supreme Court
judges. The prosecutor's main investigation section said Tymoshenko had been called in on 12 May 2010 and formally told that the case, which had been prematurely closed by the Supreme Court of Ukraine
in January 2005 without a proper investigation, had been re-opened. As she left the prosecutor's office on 12 May, Tymoshenko told journalists she had been summoned to see investigators again on 17 May and she linked the move to Russian President Medvedev's visit to Ukraine on 17–18 May 2010. Tymoshenko also claimed that she was told by "all the offices of the Prosecutor General's Office" that President Yanukovych had personally instructed the Prosecutor General's Office to find any grounds to prosecute her. In a press conference 12 May, President Yanukovych’s representative in the Verkhovna Rada
Yury Miroshnychenko dismissed Tymoshenko’s statement about Yanukovych’s personal interest in prosecuting her, Yanukovych is against political repression for criticism of the regime, Miroshnychenko stated.
On 15 December 2010 the General Prosecutor's Office instituted a criminal case against Tymoshenko, alleging that she misused funds received by Ukraine within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol
. She was officially charged on 20 December 2010. Tymoshenko denied the money had been spent on pensions and insisted it was still at the disposal of the environment ministry and called the investigation against her a witch-hunt
. Tymoshenko was not arrested, but ordered not to leave Kiev
while the inquiry was under way. In the same case the environment minister in the second Tymoshenko Government
, Georgiy Filipchuk, was detained. Filipchuk was the third minister from this government to face criminal charges since its fall in March 2010 (prosecutors charged former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko
with abuse of office early December 2010 and former economy minister Bohdan Danylyshyn was detained in the Czech Republic
in October 2010 on similar charges). Lawmakers of BYuT blocked the rostrum and presidium of the Verkhovna Rada
the next day in protest against this. The same day the European People's Party
issued a statement in which it "condemns the growth of aggressive, politically motivated pressure by the Ukrainian authorities on the opposition and its leader Yulia Tymoshenko". Tymoshenko dismissed the probe as "terror against the opposition by President Yanukovych". Earlier that month Ukraine's Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka
had stated that there were no political reasons for the interrogations of the opposition leaders Tymoshenko, Lutsenko and Oleksandr Turchynov
. According to government officials the criminal case against Tymoshenko was a legitimate attempt to uncover corruption by the previous administration. New corruption charges against Tymoshenko where filed in on 27 January 2011. She was accused of using 1,000 medical vehicles for campaigning in the presidential elections of 2010
. According to Tymoshenko the charges were false and part of "Yanukovych's campaign to silence the opposition". A third criminal case against Tymoshenko in connection with alleged abuse of power
during the 2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute
was opened on 10 April 2011. This case was labelled "absurd" by Tymoshenko. On 24 May 2011 prosecutors charged her in connection with this (third criminal) case. She was not arrested.
On 26 April 2011 Tymoshenko sued businessman Dmytro Firtash
and Swiss-based RosUkrEnergo
in a U.S. District Court in Manhattan
accusing them of "defrauding Ukraine's citizenry by manipulating an arbitration court ruling, "undermining the rule of law in Ukraine" in connection with an 2010 international arbitration court ruling in Stockholm
that ordered Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz to pay RosUkrEnergo 11 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas to compensate for fuel it had "expropriated" plus 1.1 billion bcm as a penalty.
Throughout Yanukovych's presidency Tymoshenko stayed very critical about his and the Azarov Government performance and intentions which, among others, she accused of selling out to Russia
and of being a "funeral of democracy". Tymoshenko has accused "many of Ukraine’s neighbors" of turning a blind eye to "Yanukovych’s strangulation of Ukraine’s democracy, some openly celebrate the supposed "stability" that his regime has imposed". She believes "Ukraine can return to a democratic path of development only with an active civil society
and support from the international community
".
. According to Ukrainian officials those cases were indiscriminately made to fight corruption in Ukraine
.
Tymoshenko's trial (she was charged in May 2011) over abuse of office over a natural gas imports contract signed with Russia in January 2009
started on 24 June 2011. Former President and former ally of Tymoshenko Viktor Yushchenko
testified against her during the trail; a trial he called "a normal judicial process".
Early July 2011 Ukrainian security service opened a new criminal investigation into alleged non-delivery by United Energy Systems of Ukraine
(in 1996) of goods to Russia for $405.5 million, therefore, they say, may be Russia's claims to the State budget of Ukraine (this criminal case was closed in Russia in December 2005 years by reason of lapse of time).
Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov (Russian Ministry of Defense) said that Russia has long since forgiven debt corporation UESU
and closed the case against Yulia Tymoshenko: "The new criminal case - it's cheating".
On 5 August 2011 Tymoshenko was arrested for 'ridiculing court proceedings'. In jail Tymoshenko was reported to develop a "mysterious ailment". According to Ombudsman Nina Karpachova
she was suffering from throat problems and had a fever. Tymoshenko is being held at Lukyanivska Prison
. Visits to her are restricted.
On 11 October 2011, the court found Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of power
, sentenced her to seven years in jail, and ordered to pay the state $188 million. She was convicted for exceeding her powers as Prime Minister, by ordering Naftogaz to sign the gas deal with Russia in 2009. The judge also banned her from seeking elected office for her period of imprisonment (disqualifying her from participation in the 2012 parliamentary and 2015 presidential elections). Authorities had deployed hundreds of police officers near the court, which was picketed by about 2,000 Tymoshenko supporters. Some minor clashes broke out and some arrests were made after the verdict was announced. Tymoshenko did appeal against the sentence on 24 October 2011; which she compared to Stalin's Great Terror. Tymoshenko and her followers saw the trial as political payback by President Viktor Yanukovych
, and his Party of Regions
. Both have denied this. President Yanukovych and other Government officials have hinted that the law that convicted Tymoshenko could be changed in her benefit. According to opposition politicians, this could have been done as soon as one week after Tymoshenko's conviction. However, after postponing the vote twice, the Parliament of Ukraine voted against decriminalizing abuse of office on 15 November 2011.
A 2001 criminal case on state funds embezzlement and tax evasion charges against Tymoshenko was reopened in Ukraine on 24 October 2011. Since late October 2011 Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating whether Tymoshenko was involved in the murder of Yevhen Shcherban
. With that Tymoshenko was under criminal investigation for ten criminal acts; prosecutors have claimed she had committed more criminal acts. On 4 November 2011 the Ukrainian tax police resumed four criminal cases against Tymoshenko. She was charged for these cases on 10 November 2011.
(EU) officials called the persecution of Tymoshenko "selective prosecution
of political opponents". According to Russia
the 2009 natural gas agreements "were signed on the basis of the necessary instructions from the Russian and Ukrainian Presidents", it also did urge Ukraine to ensure an impartial trial. After the verdict in the 2009 natural gas deal European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs
Catherine Ashton stated the verdict showed justice in Ukraine was being applied selectively in politically motivated prosecutions and that the Ukrainian Government handling of the case risked deep implications for its hopes of EU integration. Other reactions from European Union
politicians had a similar tone. A visit by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych
to the EU-leadership the week after the verdict was postponed, but Ukraine and the EU assured this would not affect further cooperation.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated the ruling had an "obvious anti-Russian subtext" and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
commented about the ruling "I can't quite understand why she got those seven years". A statement by the White House
stated the charges and conduct of the trial has raised serious concerns about Ukraine's commitment to democracy and the rule of law and urged Ukraine to release Tymoshenko, as well as other political leaders and former government officials. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
expressed concerns over the conviction. The Council of Europe
expressed "serious concern about the trial" and Amnesty International
called for Tymoshenko's immediate release.
. "I try to defend our interests so that we can find a balance in our relations both with the EU and Russia". Tymoshenko supports Ukraine joining NATO stating it would be "uncomfortable" for Ukraine to remain "in a void, outside all existing security systems". But, according to Tymoshenko, the question of Ukraine's joining any system of collective security would "be resolved only by referendum." Tymoshenko is in favour of close relations with the EU
, including the creation of a free trade area between Ukraine and EU and later a full membership, preferably in 2015. According to Tymoshenko: "The European project has not been completed as yet. It has not been completed because there is no full-fledged participation of Ukraine." She is against foreign intervention in internal Ukrainian affairs: "Ukraine's realization of its sovereign rights, forming a modern political nation, cannot be considered as a policy aimed against anyone". Tymoshenko does not want to expand the lease contract of the Russian Black Sea fleet in Ukraine because "The Constitution of Ukraine
quite clearly stipulates that foreign military bases cannot be deployed in Ukraine, and this constitutional clause is the fundamental basis of the state's security".
According to Tymoshenko, Ukraine is a "unitary and indivisible state". Tymoshenko considers separatist attitudes in Ukraine unacceptable; "Love one another, from Donetsk
, Crimea
, Luhansk
, Dnipropetrovsk
, Kharkiv
, Lviv
, Ternopil
, Ivano-Frankivsk
, Kiev
and all the other corners of our native land". According to Tymoshenko, citizens in the Russian-speaking Dnipropetrovsk already understood Ukrainian in Soviet times and that problem surrounding the Russian language in Ukraine
were being "exaggerated and don't exist".
Tymoshenko opposes the introduction of Russian as a second official state language, and she does not believe the rights of Russian speakers
are violated in current Ukraine. About her own attitude towards Ukrainian, Tymoshenko has stated "that today I am thinking and living for Ukrainian... and the fact that I know Russian very well, I think it is not a secret for you... you all know that I was brought up in the Russian speaking region in Dnipropetrovsk
, to my mind, I spared no effort to speak Ukrainian
as soon as possible as I came in the Government".
The first Tymoshenko Government
planned to renationalise
3,000 firms but the cabinet was sacked before those plans could materialise. Tymoshenko believes that Ukraine's economy
is excessively monopolized. Some Ukrainian politicians and academics have described her politically as a state socialist. Tymoshenko is against privatization of the gas transportation system in Ukraine. Tymoshenko lists the recovery of the economy of Ukraine
during the 2008–2009 Ukrainian financial crisis
as one of her achievements. The second Tymoshenko Government
has spent 1.6 billion hryvnya on updating coal mines.
Tymoshenko wants to increase a rise in the general level of social standards by equalizing salaries in the industrial and social spheres and pledged in November 2009 to revamp Ukraine's hospitals and health system
within two years and tax breaks for farmers. Other economic policies included compensation for depositors who lost Soviet-era savings, price controls on food and medicines to bring inflation down, calls for a review of murky privatisations and high social spending. Tymoshenko wants to cut the number of taxes by a third, simplifying the system, and wants to cut Value Added Tax
(VAT) and offer tax breaks to importers of new technologies as well as poor regions to boost investment. In December 2009, the second Tymoshenko Government proposed creating independent anti-corruption bureaus in Ukraine.
Tymoshenko believes Ukraine could gain energy security through the development and construction of more nuclear power stations and she wants to speed up exploration and extraction of oil and natural gas
on the Black Sea shelf.
Tymoshenko is for the cancellation of Verkhovna Rada
deputies' immunity from prosecution. For Ukraine Tymoshenko prefers the proportional representation
voting system
with open list
s. Tymoshenko wants to reform the forming of state executive bodies and favours giving parliamentary opposition "real instruments of influence on the authorities
", wants Ukrainian court system reforms and wants to re-transfer executive power to local authorities. Tymoshenko want Ukrainians
"to live in a dictatorship of the constitution and the law". In the summer of 2009, Tymoshenko claimed she tried to bring together different political parties in order to amend the constitution and switch to a parliamentary form of government.
In November 2009, Tymoshenko called Ukraine "an absolutely ungovernable country" due to the changes to the Constitution of Ukraine
as a part of a political compromise between the acting authorities (former-President Kuchma) and opposition during the Orange Revolution
(Tymoshenko has argued those reform were "incomplete" and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc voted against them in December 2004). In January 2010, Tymoshenko called for urgent amendments to the Constitution via the majority of the Verkhovna Rada
after a survey or plebiscite is conducted. In April 2011 she still believed the constitution "didn't work".
In December 2010, Tymoshenko stated she might run for President in 2015; but that this also depended on her family.
In February 2011, Tymoshenko stated "Viktor Yanukovych
’s naked attempt to hijack the election that precipitated the Orange Revolution
should have resulted in his being banned from running in future elections". She also believes "building a genuine civil society
" is the best way to help democracy.
, Ukraine. Her mother's name is Ludmila Nikolaevna Telegina. Her father is Vladimir Abramovich Grigyan.
Ludmila Nikolaevna Telegina (born Nelepova), was born 11 August 1937, in Dnipropetrovsk
.
Vladimir Abramovich Grigyan was born 3 December 1937, in Dnipropetrovsk. According to his Soviet passport he was Latvia
n. His mother was Maria Yosifovna Grigyan (or Grigan), born in 1909. His father was Abram Kelmanovich Kapitalman – after graduating from "Dnipropetrovsk State University" in 1940, he was sent to work in Western Ukraine, where he worked "one academic quarter" as the director of a public school in the city Sniatyn
:
Yosif Yosifovich Grigan (registered of Latvian nationality) was born in Riga
(Latvia
), in 1884. In 1914, he moved to Yekaterinoslav (Dnipropetrovsk
), where he worked as a conductor on the train (at the "Lotsmanka" station in Dnipropetrovsk). He was arrested in 1937 and again in 1938 (because he received letters from Latvia) – and was repressed. In the prosecution of the criminal case the following was brought forward: "Grigan discredited the Soviet regime among the workers, praised the good life of the working class in the fascist countries: Germany and Poland"); served 10 years of concentration camps (1938–1948), was rehabilitated in 1963. His wife "Grigan, Elena Titovna" (1893 birth), Ukrainian, from the village of Martynivka (Kishenkovsky municipality, province of Poltava).
In the Ukrainian media there has been a lot of speculation regarding the genealogy of Tymoshenko. Some of the hypotheses have no scientific evidence (for example, the hypothesis of the Armenian origin of the surname "Grigan");
some of the hypotheses (concerning her possible Jewish roots) are seen as provocative, or could be designed to create negative PR.
About her ethnicity, Yulia Tymoshenko herself has said: "On my father’s side – everyone is Latvian for ten generations, and on my mother's side – everyone is Ukrainian for ten generations."
Tymoshenko's parents were both born in Ukraine and are, therefore, Ukrainian as defined by the Law on Citizenship of Ukraine and by the Ukrainian Constitution.
(the house belongs to relatives) and own a house in Dnipropetrovsk
. Tymoshenko has declared she never used and will never use or move into a state-owned summer house, in contrast all former-Presidents of Ukraine
are all living in state-owned dachas in Koncha-Zaspa
. According to Ukrainian media Tymoshenko lives in a estate in Koncha-Zaspa (estimated worth: $5 million), "rented from a friend for free".
Tymoshenko has publicly stated that, like most Soviet citizens, she spoke only Russian in her childhood (although Tymoshenko was studying the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian literature at the school for 10 years, as all schoolchildren in Ukraine). In January 2010 Tymoshenko stated that in Dnipropetrovsk
she did not have to speak Ukrainian
until she was 36 (ie before 1996). According to Tymoshenko her braids are a family tradition.
In her spare time, before she was imprisoned, Tymoshenko ran on a treadmill
for exercise and listened to the music of Andrea Bocelli
, Sarah Brightman
, Anna Netrebko
and Alessandro Safina
. Ukrayinska Pravda
is her favourite news source. Tymoshenko has stated she has watched the Tunisian Revolution
and Egyptian Revolution of 2011 "with joy and admiration".
.
Tymoshenko's critics have suggested that, as an oligarch, she gained her fortune improperly. Some have speculated that her familiarity with the illegal conduct of business common in Ukraine uniquely qualifies her to combat corruption—if she is willing to do so. Her former business partner, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko
, was convicted in the United States on charges of money laundering
, corruption
and fraud, the magnitude of which was in the billions of dollars.
Her transition from oligarch
to reformer was believed by many voters to be both genuine and effective. Discrepancies between her declared income and her (viewed as luxurious) lifestyle have been pointed out in the Ukrainian media.
When Tymoshenko joined the Yushchenko Government she didn’t speak Ukrainian. According to fellow Ukrainian politician Borys Tarasyuk
in 2002 Tymoshenko "only spoke Russian even when I spoke to her in Ukrainian
", but since then she has made the transition to speaking only Ukrainian.
During her second stint as Prime-Minister her ratings at opinion polls fell. Early 2008 at public opinion polls for the Ukrainian presidential election, 2009 she stood at a 30% rate but late-April 2009 that had shrunk to 15% According to a poll carried out between January 29 and February 5, 2009 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology
just over 43% of the Ukrainian voters believed Tymoshenko should leave her post, whereas just over 45% believed she should stay. According to an opinion poll carried out between February 3 and February 12, 2009 by the "Sofia" Center for Social Studies some 59.1% of those polled believed that the activities of (then) Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko where aimed at the defense of her own interests and that of her entourage, some 4.2% said her activities where aimed at the defense of interests of foreign states and some 23.9% believed that Tymoshenko worked for the sake of national interests. 77.7% of the respondents where unsatisfied with the economic policy of the second Tymoshenko Government
. Some 71.8% believed that this government was not able to lead the Ukrainian economy out of the 2008–2009 Ukrainian financial crisis
or even change the situation in Ukraine to better; 18.1% of respondents did think the that the government could do that.
Tymoshenko has been ranked three times by Forbes magazine
among the most powerful women in the world. During her first term, in 2005 she was ranked third (behind only Condoleezza Rice
and Wu Yi
), in 2008 she was ranked at number 17 and in 2009 at number 47.
According to the Ukrainian magazine Focus
Lady Yu was placed first in annual ranking of the most influential women in Ukraine in 2006–2010 (five years). During the Orange Revolution some Western media publications dubbed her the "Joan of Arc
of the Revolution". Tymoshenko was also dubbed one of the most beautiful women ever to enter politics by Daily Mail
and 20 Minutos
in 2009.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
has stated (in November 2009) he found it comfortable to work with his (then) Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko and also praised her for strengthening Ukrainian sovereignty and building stable ties with Moscow and called the second Tymoshenko Government
"efficient and a force for stability". It has been suggested by Reuters
that the Russian government, after seeing her opposition to Viktor Yushchenko
, supported her since late 2008.
Former ally and President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko stated in November 2009 "I am sure that every week, spent by Yulia Tymoshenko at the post of Prime Minister, leads the country to a catastrophe. Because of Yulia Tymoshenko – it is a crisis, crisis in everything". Yushchenko has repeatedly accused his former ally turned rival Tymoshenko of acting in the interests of Russia
, she firmly denied the allegations. On 31 May 2010 Yushchenko stated that Tymoshenko was his "worst mistake", "The most serious mistake was to give the power to her twice". Expert in Ukrainian politics Dr. Taras Kuzio
believes that he has always prioritized personal revenge against Tymoshenko over Ukraine’s national interests.
Former Ukrainian Minister of Finance of Ukraine Viktor Pynzenyk
has called Tymoshenko's decisions "normally guided by ‘adventurous populism,’" which she saw as a tool to "consolidate power in her own hands" and believed Tymoshenko should have "taken advantage of the opportunity presented by the 2008–2009 Ukrainian financial crisis
to reform".
Party of Regions
Deputy Head Borys Kolesnykov stated on February 11, 2010 "Tymoshenko was the most effective politician during the entire period of Ukraine's recent history". Former European High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana
has called Tymoshenko "a patriot regardless of the position in which you have found yourself". President Viktor Yanukovych
stated about Tymoshenko on May 13, 2010 "She likes to create a sensation. We have grown used to this extravagant woman".
Vitaly Chepinoha has closely collaborated with Tymoshenko during various elections
for more than a decade.
In some press-media Tymoshenko is sometimes referred to as Lady Yu (Ледi Ю, Леди Ю).
|-
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
politician. She was the Prime Minister of Ukraine
Prime Minister of Ukraine
The Prime Minister of Ukraine is Ukraine's head of government presiding over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of the Ukrainian government....
from 24 January to 8 September 2005, and again from 18 December 2007 to 4 March 2010. She placed third in Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women 2005. Tymoshenko is the leader of the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc.
She has been a practising economist and academic. Prior to her political career, Yulia Tymoshenko was a successful but controversial businesswoman in the gas industry
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
, becoming by some estimates one of the richest people in the country. Before becoming Ukraine's first female Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Ukraine
The Prime Minister of Ukraine is Ukraine's head of government presiding over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of the Ukrainian government....
in 2005, Tymoshenko co-led the Orange Revolution
Orange Revolution
The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter...
.
Tymoshenko was a candidate in the Ukrainian presidential elections of 2010
Ukrainian presidential election, 2010
The Ukrainian presidential election of 2010 is Ukraine's fifth presidential election since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The first round was held on January 17, 2010...
, but lost this election to Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
(Tymoshenko received 45.47% of the votes in the second and final round of this election). At first Tymoshenko challenged the election results, claiming the vote was rigged, but withdrew her appeal on 20 February 2010, stating, "It became clear that the court is not out to establish the truth".
Since May 2010 a number of criminal cases have been opened against Tymoshenko. On 11 October 2011, a Ukrainian court sentenced Tymoshenko to seven years in prison after she was found guilty of abuse of office when brokering the 2009 gas deal with Russia
2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute
The Russia–Ukraine gas dispute of 2009 was a pricing dispute between Russia and Ukraine that occurred when Russian natural gas company Gazprom refused to conclude a supply contract for 2009 unless Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz paid its accumulating debts for previous gas supplies...
. The conviction is seen as "justice being applied selectively under political motivation" by the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and other international organizations. Tymoshenko appealed against the sentence on 24 October 2011. On her 51st birthday an action called "Flowers for Yulia" happened in front of the Lukyanivska Prison
Lukyanivska Prison
Lukyanivska Prison , officially SIZO#13, is a famous historical prison in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, located in the central Lukyanivka neighborhood of the city. Though the facility is now functioning as a pre-conviction detention center it is still colloquially called a "prison"...
.
Early life and career
Yulia Tymoshenko (born Grigyan) was born 27 November 1960, in DnipropetrovskDnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
, Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
). Her mother Ludmila Nikolaevna Telegina (née Nelepova), was born 11 August 1937, in Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
. Her father Vladimir Abramovich Grigyan was born 3 December 1937, in Dnipropetrovsk and was, according to his Soviet passport, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
n. Vladimir left the family when Yulia was three years old. Tymoshenko took the surname of her mother "Telegina" – before graduating in 1977. In 1979, Tymoshenko married Oleksandr Tymoshenko
Oleksandr Tymoshenko
Oleksander Hennadiyovych Tymoshenko is the husband of the previous Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko and a businessman. Tymoshenko owns an egg farm and is the founder of two companies producing equipment for medical institutions...
, son of a middle-level Soviet official. In 1980 their daughter Yevhenia (Eugenia) was born.
Education
Tymoshenko graduated from high school in 1977 (school № 37 in DnipropetrovskDnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
).
In 1978 Tymoshenko entered the mining department of "Dnipropetrovsk Mining Institute
National Mining University of Ukraine
The National Mining University , colloquially known in Ukrainian as NGU is located in Dnipropetrovsk, the third most populous city in Ukraine. It was founded in 1899 as the Yekaterinoslav Higher Mining School...
". In 1979 she transferred to the Economic Department of the Dnipropetrovsk State University and majored in cybernetic engineering. In 1984 Tymoshenko graduated from the Dnipropetrovsk State University with honors (red diploma) as an engineer-economist.
In 1999, she defended a PhD dissertation at the Kiev National Economic University (Dissertation of Y. Tymoshenko "State Regulation of the tax system").
Business career
After graduating from the Dnipropetrovsk State University in 1984 Tymoshenko worked as an engineer-economist in a "Dnipro Machine-Building Plant" in Dnipropetrovsk (factory made missiles) until 1988.In 1988, as part of the perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
initiatives, Yulia and Oleksandr Tymoshenko borrowed 5000 Soviet rubles, and opened a cooperative "video rental"; perhaps with the help of Oleksander's father Gennadi Tymoshenko, who presided over (in the provincial council) a network of regional film distribution.
In 1989–1991, Yulia and Oleksandr Tymoshenko
Oleksandr Tymoshenko
Oleksander Hennadiyovych Tymoshenko is the husband of the previous Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko and a businessman. Tymoshenko owns an egg farm and is the founder of two companies producing equipment for medical institutions...
founded and headed a Komsomol
Komsomol
The Communist Union of Youth , usually known as Komsomol , was the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Komsomol in its earliest form was established in urban centers in 1918. During the early years, it was a Russian organization, known as the Russian Communist Union of...
video rental company "Terminal" in Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
(which grew to be quite successful), and later privatized
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
it.
In 1991 Tymoshenko established (jointly with her husband Oleksandr, Gennadi Tymoshenko and Olexandr Gravets) "The Ukrainian Petrol Corporation", a company that provided the agriculture industry of Dnipropetrovsk with fuel from 1991 to 1995. Tymoshenko worked as a General Director. From 1995 to 1997, Tymoshenko was the president of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine
United Energy Systems of Ukraine
United Energy Systems of Ukraine, abbreviated to UESU , was a natural gas trading company in Ukraine. In mid of 2000s, it was the largest natural gas importer in the region. Since 2000 the company had been affected by a series of scandals....
, a privately owned middleman company that became the main importer of Russian natural gas to Ukraine in 1996. During that time she was nicknamed "gas princess" in light of accusations that she had been reselling enormous quantities of stolen gas and avoiding taxation of those deals. She was also accused of "having given Pavlo Lazarenko
Pavlo Lazarenko
Pavlo Ivanovych Lazarenko is a former Ukrainian politician and former Prime Minister who, in August 2006, was convicted and sentenced to prison in the United States for money laundering, wire fraud and extortion...
kickbacks in exchange for her company's stranglehold on the country's gas supplies". During this period Tymoshenko was involved in business relations (either co-operative or hostile) with many important figures of Ukraine. The list includes Pavlo Lazarenko
Pavlo Lazarenko
Pavlo Ivanovych Lazarenko is a former Ukrainian politician and former Prime Minister who, in August 2006, was convicted and sentenced to prison in the United States for money laundering, wire fraud and extortion...
, Viktor Pinchuk
Viktor Pinchuk
Victor Pinchuk is a Jewish-Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist. Forbes ranked him # 336 on the list of the wealthiest people in the world, with a fortune of $3.3 billion...
, Ihor Kolomoyskyi
Ihor Kolomoyskyi
Ihor Valeriyovych Kolomoyskyi , known commonly as Igor Kolomoisky is an Ukrainian business oligarch, he has Israeli and Ukrainian citizenship although dual citizenship is prohibited in Ukraine. Kolomoyskyi is the leading partner of the Privat Group and former chairman of FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk....
, Sergei Tigipko, Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma was the second President of independent Ukraine from 19 July 1994, to 23 January 2005. Kuchma took office after winning the 1994 presidential election against his rival, incumbent Leonid Kravchuk...
who at that time was the President of Ukraine
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
. All of these are, like Tymoshenko, originally from Dnipropetrovsk. Tymoshenko has also been closely linked to the management of the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n corporation, Gazprom
Gazprom
Open Joint Stock Company Gazprom is the largest extractor of natural gas in the world and the largest Russian company. Its headquarters are in Cheryomushki District, South-Western Administrative Okrug, Moscow...
.
Tymoshenko is said to have acquired a significant fortune between 1990 and 1998, she became one of the wealthiest oligarchs
Business oligarch
Business oligarch is a near-synonym of the term "business magnate", borrowed by the English speaking and western media from post-Soviet parlance to describe the huge, fast-acquired wealth of some businessmen of the former Soviet republics during the privatization in Russia and other post-Soviet...
in Ukraine. Now she's not a businesswoman, as well politician — since 2006 Ukraine published ratings of the "100 richest Ukrainians", Tymoshenko is not present in these rankings.
Early career
Yulia Tymoshenko entered politics in 1996, and was elected to the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) from the Kirovohrad OblastKirovohrad Oblast
Kirovohrad Oblast is an oblast of Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Kirovohrad.-Geography:The area of the province is , its population is 1.1 million....
, winning a record 92.3% of the vote in her constituency. In Parliament she joined the faction Constitutional Centre.
Late November 1997 the General Prosecutor of Ukraine asked the Verkhovna Rada to lift Tymoshenko's parliamentary immunity on accusations she had attempted to smuggle $26,000 from Ukraine to Moscow, Russia in 1995. Late 1997 Tymoshenko called to hold the next Ukrainian Presidential elections
Ukrainian presidential election, 1999
The Ukrainian presidential election, 1999 was a presidential election held in 1999 in Ukraine.There were 15 candidates originally with two withdrawing prior to election ....
not in 1999 but in the fall of 1998.
Tymoshenko was re-elected in 1998
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 1998
The second Ukrainian parliamentary election after the collapse of the Soviet Union took place on 29 March 1998. In comparison to the first parliamentary election, this time half of 450 parliament seats were filled by single-seat majority winners in 225 electoral regions , and the other half were...
as number 6 on the party list of Hromada
Hromada (political party)
All-Ukrainian Association "Hromada" is a Ukrainian political party registered in March 1994 and reregistered in March 2005. The party is led by former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko....
. She was again elected winning a constituency in the Kirovohrad Oblast. Tymoshenko was a leading figure in the party, and became the Chair of the Budget Committee of the Verkhovna Rada. After Hromada's party leader Pavlo Lazarenko
Pavlo Lazarenko
Pavlo Ivanovych Lazarenko is a former Ukrainian politician and former Prime Minister who, in August 2006, was convicted and sentenced to prison in the United States for money laundering, wire fraud and extortion...
fled to the United States in the spring of 1999 to avoid investigations for embezzlement various faction members left Hromada to join other parliamentary faction, among them Tymoshenko who set up the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" faction.
Deputy Prime Minister for fuel and energy
From late December 1999 to January 2001, Tymoshenko was the Deputy Prime Minister for the fuel and energy sector in the cabinetCabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
The Cabinet of Ukraine is the highest body of state executive power in Ukraine also referred to as the Government of Ukraine...
of Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
. She officially left parliament on 2 March 2000. As energy Deputy Prime Minister, she virtually ended many corrupt arrangements in the energy sector. Under her stewardship, Ukraine's revenue collections from the electricity industry grew by several thousand percent. She scrapped the practice of barter in the electricity market, requiring industrial customers to pay for their electricity in cash. She also terminated exemptions for many organizations which excluded them from having their power disconnected. Her reforms meant that the government had sufficient funds to pay civil servants and increase salaries. Tymoshenko was fired by President Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma was the second President of independent Ukraine from 19 July 1994, to 23 January 2005. Kuchma took office after winning the 1994 presidential election against his rival, incumbent Leonid Kravchuk...
in January 2001 after developing a conflict with oligarchs
Business oligarch
Business oligarch is a near-synonym of the term "business magnate", borrowed by the English speaking and western media from post-Soviet parlance to describe the huge, fast-acquired wealth of some businessmen of the former Soviet republics during the privatization in Russia and other post-Soviet...
in the industry. Soon after her dismissal, Tymoshenko took leadership of the National Salvation Committee
National Salvation Committee
The National Salvation Committee was a loose organization led by Yulia Tymoshenko from February 9, 2001.; after her dismissal as Deputy Prime Minister for fuel and energy sector in the cabinet of Viktor Yushchenko in January 2001 and during the Ukraine without Kuchma-protests. In November 2001 it...
and became active in the Ukraine without Kuchma
Ukraine without Kuchma
Ukraine without Kuchma! or UbK was a mass protest campaign preceding the Orange Revolution that took place in Ukraine in 2000–2001. Unlike the Orange Revolution the UbK was effectively extinguished by the government enforcement units followed by numerous arrests of the opposition and the...
-protests.
In mid-February 2001, Tymoshenko was arrested on charges of forging customs documents and smuggling gas between 1995 and 1997 (while president of United Energy Systems of Ukraine
United Energy Systems of Ukraine
United Energy Systems of Ukraine, abbreviated to UESU , was a natural gas trading company in Ukraine. In mid of 2000s, it was the largest natural gas importer in the region. Since 2000 the company had been affected by a series of scandals....
) but was released several weeks later. Her political supporters organized several protest rallies near the Lukyanivska Prison
Lukyanivska Prison
Lukyanivska Prison , officially SIZO#13, is a famous historical prison in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, located in the central Lukyanivka neighborhood of the city. Though the facility is now functioning as a pre-conviction detention center it is still colloquially called a "prison"...
where she was held in custody. According to Tymoshenko, the charges were fabricated by Kuchma's regime at the behest of oligarchs threatened by her efforts to root out corruption and institute market-based reforms. In spite of being cleared of the charges, Moscow maintained an arrest warrant for Tymoshenko should she enter Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
until her dismissal as Prime Minister four years later. This case was reopened in Ukraine on 24 October 2011.
In addition, Tymoshenko's husband, Oleksandr
Oleksandr Tymoshenko
Oleksander Hennadiyovych Tymoshenko is the husband of the previous Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko and a businessman. Tymoshenko owns an egg farm and is the founder of two companies producing equipment for medical institutions...
, spent two years in hiding in order to avoid incarceration on charges the couple said were unfounded and politically motivated by the former Kuchma administration.
Campaigns against Kuchma and 2002 election
Once the charges were dropped, she reassumed her place among the leaders of the grassroots campaign against President KuchmaUkraine without Kuchma
Ukraine without Kuchma! or UbK was a mass protest campaign preceding the Orange Revolution that took place in Ukraine in 2000–2001. Unlike the Orange Revolution the UbK was effectively extinguished by the government enforcement units followed by numerous arrests of the opposition and the...
for his alleged role in the murder of the journalist Georgiy Gongadze. In this campaign, Tymoshenko first became known as a passionate, revolutionist leader, an example of this being a TV broadcast of her smashing prison windows during one of the rallies. At the time Tymoshenko wanted to organise a national referendum to impeach President Kuchma.
9 February 2001, Tymoshenko founded the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (the National Salvation Committee
National Salvation Committee
The National Salvation Committee was a loose organization led by Yulia Tymoshenko from February 9, 2001.; after her dismissal as Deputy Prime Minister for fuel and energy sector in the cabinet of Viktor Yushchenko in January 2001 and during the Ukraine without Kuchma-protests. In November 2001 it...
merged into it), a political bloc that received 7.2% of the vote in the 2002 parliamentary election
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2002
Ukrainian parliamentary election of 2002 took place on March 31. Half of the deputies to Verkhovna Rada were elected on proportional basis, while the other half were elected by popular vote in single-mandate constituencies...
. She is the head of the Batkivshchina
All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland
The All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" is a political party in Ukraine, led by Yulia Tymoshenko. The party is the core of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and is the Verkhovna Rada resident since the 2002 parliamentary elections...
(Fatherland) political party since the party was organised in 1999.
11 August 2001 civilian and military prosecutors in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
opened a new criminal case against Tymoshenko accusing her of bribery. On December 27, 2005 Russian prosecutors dropped these charges. Russian prosecutors had suspended an arrest warrant when she was appointed Prime Minister in but reinstated it after she was fired in September 2005. The prosecutors suspended it again when she came to Moscow for questioning on September 25, 2005. Tymoshenko never traveled to Russia during her first seven months as Prime Minister (the first Tymoshenko Government
First Tymoshenko Government
The first Tymoshenko Government was appointed on February 4, 2005 by 373 Parliamentarians of the Verkhovna Rada . It was supported opposition factions' Parliamentarians, including three Communists, 18 Social Democratic Party of Ukraine members, 46 Regions faction members.September 8, 2005...
).
In January 2002 Tymoshenko was involved in a mysterious car accident that she survived with minor injuries – an episode some believe may have been a government assassination attempt.
Orange Revolution
In the Autumn of 2001, both Tymoshenko and Viktor YushchenkoViktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
attempted to create a broad opposition bloc against the incumbent President
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma was the second President of independent Ukraine from 19 July 1994, to 23 January 2005. Kuchma took office after winning the 1994 presidential election against his rival, incumbent Leonid Kravchuk...
in order to win the Ukrainian presidential election 2004
Ukrainian presidential election, 2004
The Ukrainian presidential election, 2004 was held on October 31, November 21 and December 26, 2004. The election was the fourth presidential election to take place in Ukraine following independence from the Soviet Union...
.
In late 2002, Tymoshenko, Oleksandr Moroz
Oleksandr Moroz
Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Moroz is a Ukrainian statesman and politician. He was the Speaker of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine twice: July 2006 to September 2007, and previously in 1994 through 1998. Moroz is one of the founders and leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine, which was an influential...
(Socialist Party of Ukraine
Socialist Party of Ukraine
The Socialist Party of Ukraine is a Socialist political party in Ukraine and part of the Verkhovna Rada from 1994 to 2007.It is one of the oldest parties and was created by the former members of the Communist Party of Ukraine in late 1991 when the Communist Party was banned...
), Petro Symonenko
Petro Symonenko
Petro Mykolayovych Symonenko is a Ukrainian politician and the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine. Symonenko was the Communist Party's candidate in both the 1999 and 2004 presidential elections. During the Ukrainian presidential election, 2010 he was the candidate of the Election...
(Communist Party of Ukraine
Communist Party of Ukraine
The Communist Party of Ukraine is a political party in Ukraine, currently led by Petro Symonenko.The party fights the Ukrainian national self-determination by identifying any Ukrainian national parties as the National-Fascist ones The Communist Party of Ukraine is a political party in Ukraine,...
) and Viktor Yushchenko (Our Ukraine) issued a joint statement concerning "the beginning of a state revolution in Ukraine". In the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, the communist party stepped out of the alliance, but the other parties remained allies and Symonenko was against a single candidate from the alliance (until July 2006).
On 2 July 2004, Our Ukraine and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc established the Force of the people, a coalition which aimed to stop "the destructive process that has, as a result of the incumbent authorities, become a characteristic for Ukraine", the pact included a promise by Viktor Yushchenko to nominate Tymoshenko as Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Ukraine
The Prime Minister of Ukraine is Ukraine's head of government presiding over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of the Ukrainian government....
if Yushchenko would win the October 2004 presidential election. Tymoshenko campaigned for Yushchenko during the 2004 electoral campaign. The Yushchenko campaign publicly called for protest on 21 November 2004 (second round election day) when allegations of fraud began to spread. On November 22, 2004 massive protests broke out in cities across Ukraine: the largest, in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
's Maidan Nezalezhnosti
Maidan Nezalezhnosti
Maidan Nezalezhnosti is the central square of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. One of the main city squares, it is located on the Khreschatyk Street...
attracted an estimated 500,000 participants. These protests became known as the Orange Revolution
Orange Revolution
The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter...
. During the protests, Tymoshenko speeches on Maidan kept the momentum of the street protests going. After the cancellation of Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
's official victory and a re-run of the second round of the election Viktor Yushchenko was elected President.
After the Orange Revolution
On 24 January 2005, Tymoshenko was appointed acting Prime Minister of UkrainePrime Minister of Ukraine
The Prime Minister of Ukraine is Ukraine's head of government presiding over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of the Ukrainian government....
under Yushchenko's presidency. On 4 February, Tymoshenko's premiership appointment was ratified by the parliament with an overwhelming majority of 373 votes (226 were required for approval).
On 28 July, Forbes named her the third most powerful woman in the world, behind only Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
and Wu Yi
Wu Yi
Wu Yi was one of four Vice Premiers of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, overseeing the country's economy until March 2008. Known as the "iron lady", Wu is one of the toughest negotiators in China's government.-Biography:...
. However, in the magazine's list published on 1 September 2006, Tymoshenko was not included in the top 100.
Several months into her government
First Tymoshenko Government
The first Tymoshenko Government was appointed on February 4, 2005 by 373 Parliamentarians of the Verkhovna Rada . It was supported opposition factions' Parliamentarians, including three Communists, 18 Social Democratic Party of Ukraine members, 46 Regions faction members.September 8, 2005...
, internal conflicts within the post‐Revolution coalition began to damage Tymoshenko's administration. On 8 September, after the resignation of several senior officials, including the Head of the Security and Defense Council
National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine
National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine , locally referred by its abbreviation RNBO, is an organizational state body in Ukraine tasked with developing national security policy on domestic and international matters in advising the President of Ukraine .The Council was originally created in...
Petro Poroshenko and Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Tomenko
Mykola Tomenko
Mykola Volodymyrovych Tomenko is a Ukrainian politician and statesman. He has been a member of the Verkhovna Rada for two consecutive convocations . In Verkhovna Rada he served as the Chairman of the Freedom of Speech and Mass Media Committee...
, Yulia Tymoshenko's government was dismissed by President Viktor Yushchenko during a live television address to the nation. She was succeeded as Prime Minister by Yuriy Yehanurov. Yushchenko went on to criticize her work as head of the Cabinet, suggesting it had led to an economic slowdown and political conflicts within the ruling coalition.
2006 parliamentary election
After her dismissal Tymoshenko started to tour the country in a bid to win the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary electionUkrainian parliamentary election, 2006
The Ukrainian parliamentary election took place on March 26, 2006. Election campaigning officially began on July 7, 2005. Between November 26 and December 31, 2005 party lists of candidates were formed....
as the leader of her Bloc
Yulia Tymoshenko Electoral Bloc
The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc is the name of the bloc of political parties in Ukraine led by Yulia Tymoshenko. In Verkhovna Rada the party's faction is led by Ivan Kyrylenko. On 16 November 2010 this faction was officially renamed “Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko-Batkivschyna”...
. She soon announced that she wanted to return to the post of Prime Minister.
With the Bloc coming second in the election, and winning 129 seats, many speculated that she might form a coalition with Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party and the Socialist Party of Ukraine
Socialist Party of Ukraine
The Socialist Party of Ukraine is a Socialist political party in Ukraine and part of the Verkhovna Rada from 1994 to 2007.It is one of the oldest parties and was created by the former members of the Communist Party of Ukraine in late 1991 when the Communist Party was banned...
(SPU) to prevent the Party of Regions
Party of Regions
The Party of Regions is an Ukrainian political party created on October 26, 1997 just prior to the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary elections under the name of Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine. It was reformed later in 2001 when the party united with several others...
from gaining power. Tymoshenko again reiterated her stance in regard to becoming Prime Minister. However, negotiations with Our Ukraine and SPU faced many difficulties as the various blocs scrapped over posts and engaged in counter-negotiations with other groupings.
On Wednesday 21 June 2006, the Ukrainian media reported that the parties had finally reached a coalition agreement, which appeared to have ended nearly three months of political uncertainty.
Tymoshenko's nomination and confirmation as new Prime Minister was expected to be straightforward. However, the nomination was preconditioned on an election of her long-term rival Petro Poroshenko from Our Ukraine as the speaker of the parliament. Tymoshenko stated that she would vote for any speaker from the coalition. Within a few days after the coalition agreement had been signed, it became clear that the coalition members mistrusted each other, since they considered it to be a deviation from parliamentary procedures in order to hold a simultaneous vote on Poroshenko as the speaker and Tymoshenko as Prime Minister.
The Party of Regions announced an ultimatum to the coalition, demanding that the parliamentary procedures be observed, asking membership in parliamentary committees to be allocated in proportion to seats held by each fraction, chairmanship in certain Parliamentary committees as well as Governorships in the administrative subdivisions won by the Party of Regions. The Party of Regions complained the coalition agreement deprived the Party of Regions and the communists of any representation in the executive and leadership in parliamentary committees while in the local regional councils won by the Party of Regions, the coalition parties were locked out of all committees as well.
Members from the Party of Regions
Party of Regions
The Party of Regions is an Ukrainian political party created on October 26, 1997 just prior to the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary elections under the name of Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine. It was reformed later in 2001 when the party united with several others...
blocked the parliament from Thursday, 29 June through Thursday, 6 July.
Following a surprise nomination of Oleksandr Moroz
Oleksandr Moroz
Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Moroz is a Ukrainian statesman and politician. He was the Speaker of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine twice: July 2006 to September 2007, and previously in 1994 through 1998. Moroz is one of the founders and leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine, which was an influential...
from the Socialist Party of Ukraine
Socialist Party of Ukraine
The Socialist Party of Ukraine is a Socialist political party in Ukraine and part of the Verkhovna Rada from 1994 to 2007.It is one of the oldest parties and was created by the former members of the Communist Party of Ukraine in late 1991 when the Communist Party was banned...
as the Rada speaker and his subsequent election late on 6 July with the support of the Party of Regions, the "Orange coalition" collapsed (Poroshenko had withdrawn his candidacy and had urged Moroz to do the same on 7 July). After the creation of a large coalition of majority, led by the former prime minister Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
and composed of the Party of Regions
Party of Regions
The Party of Regions is an Ukrainian political party created on October 26, 1997 just prior to the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary elections under the name of Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine. It was reformed later in 2001 when the party united with several others...
, Socialists
Socialist Party of Ukraine
The Socialist Party of Ukraine is a Socialist political party in Ukraine and part of the Verkhovna Rada from 1994 to 2007.It is one of the oldest parties and was created by the former members of the Communist Party of Ukraine in late 1991 when the Communist Party was banned...
and Communists
Communist Party of Ukraine
The Communist Party of Ukraine is a political party in Ukraine, currently led by Petro Symonenko.The party fights the Ukrainian national self-determination by identifying any Ukrainian national parties as the National-Fascist ones The Communist Party of Ukraine is a political party in Ukraine,...
, Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
became Prime Minister, and the other two parties were left in the wilderness. Whilst Tymoshenko immediately announced that her political force would be in opposition to the new government, Our Ukraine stalled until 4 October 2006, when it too joined the opposition. Following the 2007 Ukrainian political crisis
2007 Ukrainian political crisis
The political crisis in Ukraine lasted from April to June of 2007 was part of political stand off between coalition and opposition factions of Verkhovna Rada that led to the unscheduled Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2007...
new elections were called.
2007 Foreign Affairs article
Tymoshenko wrote an article called "Containing Russia" in the May–June 2007 edition of the journal Foreign AffairsForeign Affairs
Foreign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
. In the article she sharply criticized authoritarian developments under Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
and opposed the alleged new Russian expansionism. Consequently, the article irked Russia and more than a week after the article was published, Russia responded to the article, calling it an "anti-Russian manifesto" and "an attempt to once again draw dividing lines in Europe."
It was subsequently revealed that significant portions of the article had been paraphrased from an article written by former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
. Tymoshenko's staff denied allegations of plagiarism on the grounds that the Foreign Affairs format does not usually include attributions.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov wrote an article called "Containing Russia: Back To The Future?" for the same journal which was apparently meant to be a response to Tymoshenko. He withdrew the article before publication, accusing the editors of changing his text and said his article was subjected to "censorship".
2007 parliamentary election
Following balloting in the 2007 parliamentary electionsUkrainian parliamentary election, 2007
Early parliamentary elections in Ukraine took place on 30 September 2007. The date of the election was determined following agreement between the President Viktor Yushchenko, the Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Moroz on 27 May 2007, in an attempt...
held on 30 September 2007, Orange Revolution parties said they had won enough votes to form a governing coalition. On 3 October 2007, an almost final tally gave the alliance of Tymoshenko and President
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
Yushchenko a slim lead over a rival party of Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Ukraine
The Prime Minister of Ukraine is Ukraine's head of government presiding over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of the Ukrainian government....
Yanukovych. Although Yanukovych, whose party won the single biggest share of the vote, also claimed victory, one of his coalition allies, the Socialist Party of Ukraine
Socialist Party of Ukraine
The Socialist Party of Ukraine is a Socialist political party in Ukraine and part of the Verkhovna Rada from 1994 to 2007.It is one of the oldest parties and was created by the former members of the Communist Party of Ukraine in late 1991 when the Communist Party was banned...
, failed to gain enough votes to retain seats in Parliament.
On 15 October 2007, Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc agreed to form a majority coalition in the new parliament of the 6th convocation
Convocation
A Convocation is a group of people formally assembled for a special purpose.- University use :....
. On 29 November, a coalition was signed between the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc, which was associated with President Yushchenko. Both parties are affiliated with the Orange Revolution. On 18 December, Tymoshenko was once again elected as Prime Minister, supported by 226 deputies (the minimal amount needed for passage), heading the second Tymoshenko Government
Second Tymoshenko Government
The second Tymoshenko Government was appointed on December 18, 2007 as a coalition between Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko and Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc , OU-PSD is the party of then-President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, following the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election...
.
Prime Minister 2007–2010, and 2008 political crisis
The coalition of Tymoshenko's Bloc (BYuT) and Yushchenko's Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc (OU-PSD) was put at risk due to differing opinions on the ongoing 2008 South Ossetia War2008 South Ossetia war
The 2008 South Ossetia War or Russo-Georgian War was an armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia on one side, and Russia and separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other....
between Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Yulia Tymoshenko disagreed with Yushchenko's condemnation of Russia and preferred to stay neutral on the issue. Yushchenko's office accused her of taking a softer position in order to gain support from Russia in the upcoming 2010 election. Andriy Kyslynskyi, the president's deputy chief of staff, went as far as to accuse her of 'high treason'. According to BYuT, Viktor Baloha (Chief of Staff of the Presidential Secretariat) criticized the premier at every turn, accusing her of everything from not being religious enough to damaging the economy and that she was plotting to kill him, and that the accusation of 'betrayal' over Georgia was simply one of the latest and most pernicious attacks directed at the premier.
Communist Party of Ukraine
The Communist Party of Ukraine is a political party in Ukraine, currently led by Petro Symonenko.The party fights the Ukrainian national self-determination by identifying any Ukrainian national parties as the National-Fascist ones The Communist Party of Ukraine is a political party in Ukraine,...
and the Party of Regions
Party of Regions
The Party of Regions is an Ukrainian political party created on October 26, 1997 just prior to the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary elections under the name of Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine. It was reformed later in 2001 when the party united with several others...
to pass legislation that would facilitate the procedure of impeachment for future Presidents and limit the President's power while increasing the Prime Minister's powers, President Yushchenko's OU-PSD bloc pulled out of the coalition and Yushchenko promised to veto the legislation and threatened to hold an election if a new coalition was not formed soon. This resulted in the 2008 Ukrainian political crisis
2008 Ukrainian political crisis
The 2008 Ukrainian political crisis started after President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc withdrew from the governing coalition following a vote on a bill to limit the President's powers in which the Prime Minister's Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko voted with the opposition...
, which culminated in Yushchenko announcing/calling an early parliamentary election
Next Ukrainian parliamentary election
On February 1, 2011 the Verkhovna Rada set the election date for the next Ukrainian parliamentary election for October 28, 2012. The elections will use a mixed voting system with a 5% election threshold and the participation of blocs of political parties will not be allowed anymore...
on 8 October 2008.
Tymoshenko was fiercely opposed to the snap election
Snap election
A snap election is an election called earlier than expected. Generally it refers to an election in a parliamentary system called when not required , usually to capitalize on a unique electoral opportunity or to decide a pressing issue...
, stating: "No politician would throw Ukraine into snap elections at this important time. But, if Yushchenko and Yanukovych – who are ideologists of snap elections – throw the country into snap elections, then they will bear responsibility for all the consequences of the global financial crisis on Ukraine". The election was initially to be held 7 December 2008, but later postponed to an unknown date. Tymoshenko had no intention of resigning until a new coalition was formed.
Early December 2008 there were negotiations between BYuT and Party of Regions
Party of Regions
The Party of Regions is an Ukrainian political party created on October 26, 1997 just prior to the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary elections under the name of Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine. It was reformed later in 2001 when the party united with several others...
to form a coalition but after Volodymyr Lytvyn
Volodymyr Lytvyn
Volodymyr Mykhailovych Lytvyn is a Ukrainian politician and the current Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament. Having previously served in that position from 2002 until 2006, he was re-elected in December 2008 after his party agreed to join the former coalition of Yulia...
was elected Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's unicameral parliament. The speaker presides over the parliament and its procedures. They are elected by secret ballot from the parliament's deputy ranks...
(parliament of Ukraine
Verkhovna Rada
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a chairman...
) 9 December 2008 he announced the creation of a coalition between his Lytvyn Bloc, BYuT and OU-PSD. After negotiations the three parties officially signed the coalition agreement on 16 December. It was unsure if this coalition would stop the snap election although Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn predicted the Verkhovna Rada will work until 2012.
2010 Presidential election
On 5 February 2009 the second Tymoshenko cabinetSecond Tymoshenko Government
The second Tymoshenko Government was appointed on December 18, 2007 as a coalition between Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko and Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc , OU-PSD is the party of then-President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, following the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election...
survived a second no-confidence vote in the Ukrainian Parliament (the first was rejected on 11 July 2008). In February 2009 the relations between Tymoshenko and President Yushchenko, the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine
Secretariat of the President of Ukraine
The Presidential Administration or unofficially Bankova is an administrative body set up to assist the President of Ukraine, Ukraine's head of state. The main purpose of the Administration is to provide administrative, advisory, analytical, and legal assistance to the President...
and the oppositional
Opposition (parliamentary)
Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. Note that this article uses the term government as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning the administration or the cabinet rather than the state...
Party of Regions
Party of Regions
The Party of Regions is an Ukrainian political party created on October 26, 1997 just prior to the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary elections under the name of Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine. It was reformed later in 2001 when the party united with several others...
remained hostile. According to Tymoshenko her conflict with the President was a political competition and not ideological antagonism, and she emphasized early in February 2009 that the "election struggle for the next presidential elections
Ukrainian presidential election, 2010
The Ukrainian presidential election of 2010 is Ukraine's fifth presidential election since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The first round was held on January 17, 2010...
has virtually begun".
After long being considered a possible candidate for the President of Ukraine
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
in 2010, Tymoshenko announced that she would stand in the presidential elections in 2010
Ukrainian presidential election, 2010
The Ukrainian presidential election of 2010 is Ukraine's fifth presidential election since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The first round was held on January 17, 2010...
in a statement broadcast live on national TV on 7 June 2009, despite previous statements (in 2008) she did not intend to become president. Tymoshenko did state that if she lost the presidential elections she would not challenge their results. On 12 September 2009 a tour called "With Ukraine in Heart" in support of Tymoshenko candidacy kick-started on Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
's Maidan Nezalezhnosti
Maidan Nezalezhnosti
Maidan Nezalezhnosti is the central square of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. One of the main city squares, it is located on the Khreschatyk Street...
. The popular Ukrainian singers and bands took part in the tour.
Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko formally endorsed Yulia Tymoshenko as their candidate for the next Presidential election
Ukrainian presidential election, 2010
The Ukrainian presidential election of 2010 is Ukraine's fifth presidential election since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The first round was held on January 17, 2010...
, the first-round ballot was scheduled to be held on 17 January 2010. Tymoshenko candidacy was also endorsed by noticeable Ukrainian politicians such as Borys Tarasyuk
Borys Tarasyuk
Borys Ivanovych Tarasyuk is a Ukrainian politician. He has twice served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. He is from Zhytomyr Oblast. Tarasyuk studied international relations and international law at National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, and graduated in 1975...
, Yuriy Lutsenko
Yuriy Lutsenko
Yuriy Vitaliyovych Lutsenko is a Ukrainian politician and statesman and former Minister of Internal Affairs, he occupied this post in the two Cabinets of Yulia Tymoshenko and in Cabinets of Yuriy Yekhanurov, and Viktor Yanukovych...
, former President Leonid Kravchuk
Leonid Kravchuk
Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk is a Ukrainian politician, the first President of Ukraine serving from December 5, 1991 until his resignation on July 19, 1994, a former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and People's Deputy of Ukraine serving in the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine faction.After a...
, the Christian Democratic Union
Christian Democratic Union (Ukraine)
The Christian Democratic Union is a political party in Ukraine. On December 2, 2002, in Athens, Greece the party became a member of Centrist Democrat International. It is negotiated now its associated membership in the European People's Party...
, the European Party of Ukraine
European Party of Ukraine
The European Party of Ukraine is a Ukrainian political party that has a centre-right/liberal character.-History:In the parliamentary elections on 30 September 2007, the party was part of the Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc alliance, that won 72 out of 450 seats.The party supported Yulia...
and Forward, Ukraine!. Analysts suggested that she was the Russian Government's preferred candidate in the election, on 3 December 2009 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
denied this. Putin stated he was cooperating with Tymoshenko as Prime Minister of Ukraine
Prime Minister of Ukraine
The Prime Minister of Ukraine is Ukraine's head of government presiding over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of the Ukrainian government....
but he was not supporting her in elections.
Tymoshenko's campaign was expected to have cost $100 to $150 million.
Tymoshenko expected early parliamentary elections
Next Ukrainian parliamentary election
On February 1, 2011 the Verkhovna Rada set the election date for the next Ukrainian parliamentary election for October 28, 2012. The elections will use a mixed voting system with a 5% election threshold and the participation of blocs of political parties will not be allowed anymore...
after the 2010 presidential election, but she was against this.
On 1 December 2009 Tymoshenko urged "national democratic forces" to unite after the first round of the presidential elections around the candidate who takes the largest number of votes. "If we are not able to strengthen our efforts and unite the whole national-patriotic and democratic camp of Ukraine... we will be much weaker than those who want revenge". On 5 December 2009 she declared she would go into opposition if she would lose the presidential elections, Tymoshenko also complained of flaws in the election legislation and expressed confidence of attempts to be made by her opponents to carry out vote rigging.
In the first round of the presidential election on 17 January 2010, Tymoshenko took second place with 25% of the vote and Yanukovych took first place with 35%. The two proceeded to the runoff round held on 7 February 2010 in which Yanukovych was elected President of Ukraine with 48.95% of the votes, Tymoshenko received 45.4% of the votes. Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc members immediately claimed that there was systematic and large-scale vote rigging in this run-off. However Tymoshenko herself did not issue a statement about the election until a live televised broadcast on 13 February 2010 in which she said that she would challenge the election result in court. Tymoshenko alleged widespread fraud (according to Tymoshenko, a million votes were invalid) and said Yanukovych was not legitimately elected "Whatever happens in future, he will never become the legitimately elected president of Ukraine". Tymoshenko did not call people on to the streets to protest and stated she "won't tolerate civil confrontation".
On 10 February 2010 Yanukovych called on Tymoshenko to abandon her protests and resign as Prime Minister. Yanukovych stated he wanted to form a new coalition, and may try to call snap parliamentary elections
Next Ukrainian parliamentary election
On February 1, 2011 the Verkhovna Rada set the election date for the next Ukrainian parliamentary election for October 28, 2012. The elections will use a mixed voting system with a 5% election threshold and the participation of blocs of political parties will not be allowed anymore...
. On 12 February Yanukovych stated he did not rule out talks with Tymoshenko if she would publicly apologize to him for the accusations she made during her election campaign. Tymoshenko's government
Second Tymoshenko Government
The second Tymoshenko Government was appointed on December 18, 2007 as a coalition between Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko and Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc , OU-PSD is the party of then-President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, following the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election...
did not want to resign voluntarily.
On 17 February 2010 the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine, suspended the results of the election on Tymoshenko's appeal. The court suspended the Central Election Commission of Ukraine
Central Election Commission of Ukraine
The Central Election Commission of Ukraine ; sometimes referred to as the Central Electoral Commission of Ukraine) is a permanent and independent collegiate body of the Ukrainian government.- Mission and Authority :...
ruling that announced that Viktor Yanukovych won the election. Tymoshenko withdrew her appeal on 20 February 2010 after the Higher Administrative Court in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
rejected her petition to scrutinize documents from election districts in Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
and also to question election and law-enforcement officials. According to Tymoshenko "It became clear that the court is not out to establish the truth, and, unfortunately, the court is as biased as the Central Election Commission, which includes a political majority from Yanukovych". Tymoshenko also stated "At the very least there was rigging of votes using the main methods of falsification, and I think that for history this lawsuit with all the documentation will remain in the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine, and sooner or later, an honest prosecutor's office and an honest court will assess that Yanukovych wasn't elected President of Ukraine, and that the will of the people had been rigged". The same day (20 February) Tymoshenko announced that she would not challenge the results of the second round of the presidential election in the Supreme Court of Ukraine
Supreme Court of Ukraine
The Supreme Court of Ukraine is the highest judicial body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction in Ukraine.The Court derives its authority from the Constitution of Ukraine, but much of its structure is outlined in legislation...
since she believed there were no legal provisions for such an appeal.
Yanukovych presidency
During a nationally televised address on 22 February Tymoshenko said of President-elect of Ukraine Viktor YanukovychViktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
and "Yanukovych's team" (she referred to them in the speech as "The oligarchy
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
"): "They need cheap labor, poor and disenfranchised people who can be forced to work at their factories for peanuts, they also need Ukraine's riches, which they have been stealing for the last 18 years." During the speech she also accused outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
of "opening the door to massive and flagrant election rigging" days before the 7 February runoff of the January 2010 presidential election
Ukrainian presidential election, 2010
The Ukrainian presidential election of 2010 is Ukraine's fifth presidential election since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The first round was held on January 17, 2010...
by amending the election law. During a Cabinet of Ministers
Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
The Cabinet of Ukraine is the highest body of state executive power in Ukraine also referred to as the Government of Ukraine...
meeting on 24 February Tymoshenko stated "The moment of truth has arrived: The decision whether or not to side with Yanukovych will show who values the preservation of Ukraine's independence and self-identity and who does not". Tymoshenko and her party, Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko, boycotted the inauguration ceremony of President
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
Yanukovych (on 25 February 2010).
If the Second Tymoshenko Government
Second Tymoshenko Government
The second Tymoshenko Government was appointed on December 18, 2007 as a coalition between Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko and Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc , OU-PSD is the party of then-President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, following the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election...
could not be preserved Tymoshenko stated on 22 February 2010 she would go into Parliamentary opposition. On 3 March 2010 the Ukrainian Parliament passed a motion of no confidence in the second Tymoshenko Government
Second Tymoshenko Government
The second Tymoshenko Government was appointed on December 18, 2007 as a coalition between Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko and Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc , OU-PSD is the party of then-President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, following the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election...
in which the cabinet was dismissed with 243 lawmakers voting in favour out of the 450 (including seven lawmakers of Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko). On 1 March 2010 Prime Minister Tymoshenko had demanded this vote herself. On 2 March 2010 the coalition had already lost the parliamentary majority. Before the vote on 3 March Prime Minister Tymoshenko again stated "If the dismissal of the government is passed today, at that very same moment our government will leave the cabinet. Our political force will cross into the opposition". Tymoshenko blamed the Lytvyn Bloc and "Our Ukraine, including the leader of Our Ukraine who announced the position of the faction" for the fall of the cabinet. Tymoshenko resigned from the Prime Minister post on 4 March 2010. Fellow BYuT member Oleksandr Turchynov
Oleksandr Turchynov
Oleksandr Valentynovych Turchynov is a Ukrainian politician, a screenwriter, a Doctor of Economic Studies. He also was acting Prime Minister after former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's government was dismissed on March 3, 2010...
was empowered to fulfill the Prime Minister's duties until a new government was formed on 4 March 2010. On 9 and 15 March 2010 Tymoshenko called on "all of the national patriotic forces" to unite against Yanukovych. On 10 March 2010 Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
warned that her leadership of that opposition would end in disaster "Every political force that united with Tymoshenko ended badly". On 16 March a shadow government including BYuT was established. On 10 May 2010 the People's Committee to Protect Ukraine
People's Committee to Protect Ukraine
The People's Committee to Protect Ukraine is a political movement in Ukraine formed May 2010. The committee intends to hold a mass protest campaign in Ukraine against the policies of President Viktor Yanukovych.-Goals:...
was established of which Tymoshenko is one of the representatives. Tymoshenko was against the 2010 Ukrainian–Russian Naval Base for Natural Gas treaty
2010 Ukrainian–Russian Naval Base for Natural Gas treaty
The Russian Ukrainian Naval Base for Gas treaty, widely referred to as the Kharkiv Accords or the Kharkiv Pact in the Russian and Ukrainian media, is a treaty between Ukraine and Russia whereby the Russian lease on naval facilities in Crimea would be extended beyond 2017 by 25 years with an...
, she believes the agreements harm Ukraine’s national interests.
Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
's prosecutor's office re-opened on 12 May 2010 a 2004 criminal case against Tymoshenko on accusations she had tried to bribe Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Ukraine
The Supreme Court of Ukraine is the highest judicial body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction in Ukraine.The Court derives its authority from the Constitution of Ukraine, but much of its structure is outlined in legislation...
judges. The prosecutor's main investigation section said Tymoshenko had been called in on 12 May 2010 and formally told that the case, which had been prematurely closed by the Supreme Court of Ukraine
Supreme Court of Ukraine
The Supreme Court of Ukraine is the highest judicial body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction in Ukraine.The Court derives its authority from the Constitution of Ukraine, but much of its structure is outlined in legislation...
in January 2005 without a proper investigation, had been re-opened. As she left the prosecutor's office on 12 May, Tymoshenko told journalists she had been summoned to see investigators again on 17 May and she linked the move to Russian President Medvedev's visit to Ukraine on 17–18 May 2010. Tymoshenko also claimed that she was told by "all the offices of the Prosecutor General's Office" that President Yanukovych had personally instructed the Prosecutor General's Office to find any grounds to prosecute her. In a press conference 12 May, President Yanukovych’s representative in the Verkhovna Rada
Verkhovna Rada
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a chairman...
Yury Miroshnychenko dismissed Tymoshenko’s statement about Yanukovych’s personal interest in prosecuting her, Yanukovych is against political repression for criticism of the regime, Miroshnychenko stated.
On 15 December 2010 the General Prosecutor's Office instituted a criminal case against Tymoshenko, alleging that she misused funds received by Ukraine within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol
Kyoto Protocol
The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , aimed at fighting global warming...
. She was officially charged on 20 December 2010. Tymoshenko denied the money had been spent on pensions and insisted it was still at the disposal of the environment ministry and called the investigation against her a witch-hunt
Witch-hunt
A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...
. Tymoshenko was not arrested, but ordered not to leave Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
while the inquiry was under way. In the same case the environment minister in the second Tymoshenko Government
Second Tymoshenko Government
The second Tymoshenko Government was appointed on December 18, 2007 as a coalition between Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko and Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc , OU-PSD is the party of then-President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, following the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election...
, Georgiy Filipchuk, was detained. Filipchuk was the third minister from this government to face criminal charges since its fall in March 2010 (prosecutors charged former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko
Yuriy Lutsenko
Yuriy Vitaliyovych Lutsenko is a Ukrainian politician and statesman and former Minister of Internal Affairs, he occupied this post in the two Cabinets of Yulia Tymoshenko and in Cabinets of Yuriy Yekhanurov, and Viktor Yanukovych...
with abuse of office early December 2010 and former economy minister Bohdan Danylyshyn was detained in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
in October 2010 on similar charges). Lawmakers of BYuT blocked the rostrum and presidium of the Verkhovna Rada
Verkhovna Rada
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a chairman...
the next day in protest against this. The same day the European People's Party
European People's Party
The European People's Party is a pro-European centre-right European political party. The EPP was founded in 1976 by Christian democratic parties, but later it increased its membership to include conservative parties and parties of other centre-right perspectives.The EPP is the most influential of...
issued a statement in which it "condemns the growth of aggressive, politically motivated pressure by the Ukrainian authorities on the opposition and its leader Yulia Tymoshenko". Tymoshenko dismissed the probe as "terror against the opposition by President Yanukovych". Earlier that month Ukraine's Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka
Viktor Pshonka
Viktor Pavlovych Pshonka is the current Prosecutor General of Ukraine since November 4, 2010. From November 2003 till December 2004 and again since 2006 he had been a Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine...
had stated that there were no political reasons for the interrogations of the opposition leaders Tymoshenko, Lutsenko and Oleksandr Turchynov
Oleksandr Turchynov
Oleksandr Valentynovych Turchynov is a Ukrainian politician, a screenwriter, a Doctor of Economic Studies. He also was acting Prime Minister after former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's government was dismissed on March 3, 2010...
. According to government officials the criminal case against Tymoshenko was a legitimate attempt to uncover corruption by the previous administration. New corruption charges against Tymoshenko where filed in on 27 January 2011. She was accused of using 1,000 medical vehicles for campaigning in the presidential elections of 2010
Ukrainian presidential election, 2010
The Ukrainian presidential election of 2010 is Ukraine's fifth presidential election since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The first round was held on January 17, 2010...
. According to Tymoshenko the charges were false and part of "Yanukovych's campaign to silence the opposition". A third criminal case against Tymoshenko in connection with alleged abuse of power
Abuse of Power
Abuse of Power is a novel written by radio talk show host Michael Savage.- Plot :Jack Hatfield is a hardened former war correspondent who rose to national prominence for his insightful, provocative commentary...
during the 2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute
2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute
The Russia–Ukraine gas dispute of 2009 was a pricing dispute between Russia and Ukraine that occurred when Russian natural gas company Gazprom refused to conclude a supply contract for 2009 unless Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz paid its accumulating debts for previous gas supplies...
was opened on 10 April 2011. This case was labelled "absurd" by Tymoshenko. On 24 May 2011 prosecutors charged her in connection with this (third criminal) case. She was not arrested.
On 26 April 2011 Tymoshenko sued businessman Dmytro Firtash
Dmytro Firtash
Dmytro Firtash is a Ukrainian businessman and billionaire .Firtash first steps in business where in in the food industry in the early 1990s before moving into gas trading....
and Swiss-based RosUkrEnergo
RosUkrEnergo
RosUkrEnergo is a Swiss-registered venture company that transports natural gas from Turkmenistan to East European countries. 50% of the company is owned by Gazprom, through its daughter Swiss-registered Rosgas Holding A.G., and another 50% by Swiss-registered private company Centragas Holding A.G.,...
in a U.S. District Court in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
accusing them of "defrauding Ukraine's citizenry by manipulating an arbitration court ruling, "undermining the rule of law in Ukraine" in connection with an 2010 international arbitration court ruling in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
that ordered Ukraine's state energy company Naftogaz to pay RosUkrEnergo 11 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas to compensate for fuel it had "expropriated" plus 1.1 billion bcm as a penalty.
Throughout Yanukovych's presidency Tymoshenko stayed very critical about his and the Azarov Government performance and intentions which, among others, she accused of selling out to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and of being a "funeral of democracy". Tymoshenko has accused "many of Ukraine’s neighbors" of turning a blind eye to "Yanukovych’s strangulation of Ukraine’s democracy, some openly celebrate the supposed "stability" that his regime has imposed". She believes "Ukraine can return to a democratic path of development only with an active civil society
Civil society
Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...
and support from the international community
International community
The international community is a term used in international relations to refer to all peoples, cultures and governments of the world or to a group of them. The term is used to imply the existence of common duties and obligations between them...
".
2011 trial and imprisonment
Beginning in May 2010, a number of criminal cases were opened against Tymoshenko. Also a number of criminal cases were opened against officials from the second Tymoshenko GovernmentSecond Tymoshenko Government
The second Tymoshenko Government was appointed on December 18, 2007 as a coalition between Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko and Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc , OU-PSD is the party of then-President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, following the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election...
. According to Ukrainian officials those cases were indiscriminately made to fight corruption in Ukraine
Corruption in Ukraine
Corruption is a widespread and growing problem in Ukrainian society. In 2011's Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index Ukraine slipped to the 152th place of 183 countries and territories assessed. Ukraine has slipped from the 134th place in 2010 and the 118th place in 2007...
.
Tymoshenko's trial (she was charged in May 2011) over abuse of office over a natural gas imports contract signed with Russia in January 2009
2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute
The Russia–Ukraine gas dispute of 2009 was a pricing dispute between Russia and Ukraine that occurred when Russian natural gas company Gazprom refused to conclude a supply contract for 2009 unless Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz paid its accumulating debts for previous gas supplies...
started on 24 June 2011. Former President and former ally of Tymoshenko Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
testified against her during the trail; a trial he called "a normal judicial process".
Early July 2011 Ukrainian security service opened a new criminal investigation into alleged non-delivery by United Energy Systems of Ukraine
United Energy Systems of Ukraine
United Energy Systems of Ukraine, abbreviated to UESU , was a natural gas trading company in Ukraine. In mid of 2000s, it was the largest natural gas importer in the region. Since 2000 the company had been affected by a series of scandals....
(in 1996) of goods to Russia for $405.5 million, therefore, they say, may be Russia's claims to the State budget of Ukraine (this criminal case was closed in Russia in December 2005 years by reason of lapse of time).
Colonel-General Leonid Ivashov (Russian Ministry of Defense) said that Russia has long since forgiven debt corporation UESU
United Energy Systems of Ukraine
United Energy Systems of Ukraine, abbreviated to UESU , was a natural gas trading company in Ukraine. In mid of 2000s, it was the largest natural gas importer in the region. Since 2000 the company had been affected by a series of scandals....
and closed the case against Yulia Tymoshenko: "The new criminal case - it's cheating".
On 5 August 2011 Tymoshenko was arrested for 'ridiculing court proceedings'. In jail Tymoshenko was reported to develop a "mysterious ailment". According to Ombudsman Nina Karpachova
Nina Karpachova
Nina Karpachova is a Ukrainian lawyer and politician. She has been Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights since 1998.-Before politics:...
she was suffering from throat problems and had a fever. Tymoshenko is being held at Lukyanivska Prison
Lukyanivska Prison
Lukyanivska Prison , officially SIZO#13, is a famous historical prison in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, located in the central Lukyanivka neighborhood of the city. Though the facility is now functioning as a pre-conviction detention center it is still colloquially called a "prison"...
. Visits to her are restricted.
On 11 October 2011, the court found Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of power
Abuse of Power
Abuse of Power is a novel written by radio talk show host Michael Savage.- Plot :Jack Hatfield is a hardened former war correspondent who rose to national prominence for his insightful, provocative commentary...
, sentenced her to seven years in jail, and ordered to pay the state $188 million. She was convicted for exceeding her powers as Prime Minister, by ordering Naftogaz to sign the gas deal with Russia in 2009. The judge also banned her from seeking elected office for her period of imprisonment (disqualifying her from participation in the 2012 parliamentary and 2015 presidential elections). Authorities had deployed hundreds of police officers near the court, which was picketed by about 2,000 Tymoshenko supporters. Some minor clashes broke out and some arrests were made after the verdict was announced. Tymoshenko did appeal against the sentence on 24 October 2011; which she compared to Stalin's Great Terror. Tymoshenko and her followers saw the trial as political payback by President Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
, and his Party of Regions
Party of Regions
The Party of Regions is an Ukrainian political party created on October 26, 1997 just prior to the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary elections under the name of Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine. It was reformed later in 2001 when the party united with several others...
. Both have denied this. President Yanukovych and other Government officials have hinted that the law that convicted Tymoshenko could be changed in her benefit. According to opposition politicians, this could have been done as soon as one week after Tymoshenko's conviction. However, after postponing the vote twice, the Parliament of Ukraine voted against decriminalizing abuse of office on 15 November 2011.
A 2001 criminal case on state funds embezzlement and tax evasion charges against Tymoshenko was reopened in Ukraine on 24 October 2011. Since late October 2011 Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating whether Tymoshenko was involved in the murder of Yevhen Shcherban
Yevhen Shcherban
Yevhen Shcherban was a Ukrainian businessman and politician from the Donetsk Oblast.In the mid-1990s, Shcherban was among the richest people in Ukraine and prominent and influential member of parliament for the Liberal Party of Ukraine. He and his wife were assassinated at Donetsk Airport in...
. With that Tymoshenko was under criminal investigation for ten criminal acts; prosecutors have claimed she had committed more criminal acts. On 4 November 2011 the Ukrainian tax police resumed four criminal cases against Tymoshenko. She was charged for these cases on 10 November 2011.
Foreign reactions
In August 2011 United States and European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
(EU) officials called the persecution of Tymoshenko "selective prosecution
Selective prosecution
In jurisprudence, selective prosecution is a procedural defense in which a defendant argues that they should not be held criminally liable for breaking the law, as the criminal justice system discriminated against them by choosing to prosecute...
of political opponents". According to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
the 2009 natural gas agreements "were signed on the basis of the necessary instructions from the Russian and Ukrainian Presidents", it also did urge Ukraine to ensure an impartial trial. After the verdict in the 2009 natural gas deal European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy is the main co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy within the European Union...
Catherine Ashton stated the verdict showed justice in Ukraine was being applied selectively in politically motivated prosecutions and that the Ukrainian Government handling of the case risked deep implications for its hopes of EU integration. Other reactions from European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
politicians had a similar tone. A visit by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
to the EU-leadership the week after the verdict was postponed, but Ukraine and the EU assured this would not affect further cooperation.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated the ruling had an "obvious anti-Russian subtext" and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
commented about the ruling "I can't quite understand why she got those seven years". A statement by the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
stated the charges and conduct of the trial has raised serious concerns about Ukraine's commitment to democracy and the rule of law and urged Ukraine to release Tymoshenko, as well as other political leaders and former government officials. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he...
expressed concerns over the conviction. The Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
expressed "serious concern about the trial" and Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
called for Tymoshenko's immediate release.
Political positions
Tymoshenko wants her country to become a member of the EU, while she is also concerned about antagonizing RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. "I try to defend our interests so that we can find a balance in our relations both with the EU and Russia". Tymoshenko supports Ukraine joining NATO stating it would be "uncomfortable" for Ukraine to remain "in a void, outside all existing security systems". But, according to Tymoshenko, the question of Ukraine's joining any system of collective security would "be resolved only by referendum." Tymoshenko is in favour of close relations with the EU
Ukraine and the European Union
Relations between Ukraine and the European Union are currently shaped via the European Neighbourhood Policy , a foreign policy instrument of the EU designed for the countries it borders....
, including the creation of a free trade area between Ukraine and EU and later a full membership, preferably in 2015. According to Tymoshenko: "The European project has not been completed as yet. It has not been completed because there is no full-fledged participation of Ukraine." She is against foreign intervention in internal Ukrainian affairs: "Ukraine's realization of its sovereign rights, forming a modern political nation, cannot be considered as a policy aimed against anyone". Tymoshenko does not want to expand the lease contract of the Russian Black Sea fleet in Ukraine because "The Constitution of Ukraine
Constitution of Ukraine
The Constitution of Ukraine is the nation's fundamental law. The constitution was adopted and ratified at the 5th session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 28 June 1996. The constitution was passed with 315 ayes out of 450 votes possible .Other laws and other normative legal acts of Ukraine...
quite clearly stipulates that foreign military bases cannot be deployed in Ukraine, and this constitutional clause is the fundamental basis of the state's security".
According to Tymoshenko, Ukraine is a "unitary and indivisible state". Tymoshenko considers separatist attitudes in Ukraine unacceptable; "Love one another, from Donetsk
Donetsk
Donetsk , is a large city in eastern Ukraine on the Kalmius river. Administratively, it is a center of Donetsk Oblast, while historically, it is the unofficial capital and largest city of the economic and cultural Donets Basin region...
, Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
, Luhansk
Luhansk
Luhansk also known as Lugansk is a city in southeastern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Luhansk Oblast . The city itself is also designated as its own separate municipality within the oblast...
, Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
, Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
, Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
, Ternopil
Ternopil
Ternopil , is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical region of Galicia...
, Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk is a historic city located in the western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast, municipality....
, Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
and all the other corners of our native land". According to Tymoshenko, citizens in the Russian-speaking Dnipropetrovsk already understood Ukrainian in Soviet times and that problem surrounding the Russian language in Ukraine
Russian language in Ukraine
Russian is a minority language in Ukraine It is the most common first language in Donbass and Crimea regions, the predominant language in large cities in the East and South of the country...
were being "exaggerated and don't exist".
Tymoshenko opposes the introduction of Russian as a second official state language, and she does not believe the rights of Russian speakers
Russian language in Ukraine
Russian is a minority language in Ukraine It is the most common first language in Donbass and Crimea regions, the predominant language in large cities in the East and South of the country...
are violated in current Ukraine. About her own attitude towards Ukrainian, Tymoshenko has stated "that today I am thinking and living for Ukrainian... and the fact that I know Russian very well, I think it is not a secret for you... you all know that I was brought up in the Russian speaking region in Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
, to my mind, I spared no effort to speak Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
as soon as possible as I came in the Government".
The first Tymoshenko Government
First Tymoshenko Government
The first Tymoshenko Government was appointed on February 4, 2005 by 373 Parliamentarians of the Verkhovna Rada . It was supported opposition factions' Parliamentarians, including three Communists, 18 Social Democratic Party of Ukraine members, 46 Regions faction members.September 8, 2005...
planned to renationalise
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
3,000 firms but the cabinet was sacked before those plans could materialise. Tymoshenko believes that Ukraine's economy
Economy of Ukraine
The economy of Ukraine is an emerging free market, with a gross domestic product that fell sharply for the first 10 years of its independence from the Soviet Union and then experienced rapid growth from 2000 until 2008...
is excessively monopolized. Some Ukrainian politicians and academics have described her politically as a state socialist. Tymoshenko is against privatization of the gas transportation system in Ukraine. Tymoshenko lists the recovery of the economy of Ukraine
Economy of Ukraine
The economy of Ukraine is an emerging free market, with a gross domestic product that fell sharply for the first 10 years of its independence from the Soviet Union and then experienced rapid growth from 2000 until 2008...
during the 2008–2009 Ukrainian financial crisis
2008–2009 Ukrainian financial crisis
Ukraine was hit heavily by the late-2000s recession, the World Bank expects Ukraine's economy to shrink 15% in 2009 with inflation being 16.4%....
as one of her achievements. The second Tymoshenko Government
Second Tymoshenko Government
The second Tymoshenko Government was appointed on December 18, 2007 as a coalition between Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko and Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc , OU-PSD is the party of then-President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, following the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election...
has spent 1.6 billion hryvnya on updating coal mines.
Tymoshenko wants to increase a rise in the general level of social standards by equalizing salaries in the industrial and social spheres and pledged in November 2009 to revamp Ukraine's hospitals and health system
Health in Ukraine
-Demographic decline:Ukraine is considered to be in a demographic crisis due to its high death rate and a low birth rate. The current Ukrainian birth rate is 11 births/1,000 population, and the death rate is 16.3 deaths/1,000 population...
within two years and tax breaks for farmers. Other economic policies included compensation for depositors who lost Soviet-era savings, price controls on food and medicines to bring inflation down, calls for a review of murky privatisations and high social spending. Tymoshenko wants to cut the number of taxes by a third, simplifying the system, and wants to cut Value Added Tax
Value added tax
A value added tax or value-added tax is a form of consumption tax. From the perspective of the buyer, it is a tax on the purchase price. From that of the seller, it is a tax only on the "value added" to a product, material or service, from an accounting point of view, by this stage of its...
(VAT) and offer tax breaks to importers of new technologies as well as poor regions to boost investment. In December 2009, the second Tymoshenko Government proposed creating independent anti-corruption bureaus in Ukraine.
Tymoshenko believes Ukraine could gain energy security through the development and construction of more nuclear power stations and she wants to speed up exploration and extraction of oil and natural gas
Natural gas in Ukraine
Ukraine has natural gas reserves of 1.1 trillion cubic meters and is ranked 24th among country's with proved reserves of natural gas.In 2008 Ukraine's gas production was 21.014 billion cubic meters with natural gas output rising 1.7% to 19.985 bcm...
on the Black Sea shelf.
Tymoshenko is for the cancellation of Verkhovna Rada
Verkhovna Rada
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a chairman...
deputies' immunity from prosecution. For Ukraine Tymoshenko prefers the proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
voting system
Voting system
A voting system or electoral system is a method by which voters make a choice between options, often in an election or on a policy referendum....
with open list
Open list
Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected...
s. Tymoshenko wants to reform the forming of state executive bodies and favours giving parliamentary opposition "real instruments of influence on the authorities
Government of Ukraine
Government of Ukraine is often associated with the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. However it should be considered that Ukraine is a country under a semi-presidential system with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government...
", wants Ukrainian court system reforms and wants to re-transfer executive power to local authorities. Tymoshenko want Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
"to live in a dictatorship of the constitution and the law". In the summer of 2009, Tymoshenko claimed she tried to bring together different political parties in order to amend the constitution and switch to a parliamentary form of government.
In November 2009, Tymoshenko called Ukraine "an absolutely ungovernable country" due to the changes to the Constitution of Ukraine
Constitution of Ukraine
The Constitution of Ukraine is the nation's fundamental law. The constitution was adopted and ratified at the 5th session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 28 June 1996. The constitution was passed with 315 ayes out of 450 votes possible .Other laws and other normative legal acts of Ukraine...
as a part of a political compromise between the acting authorities (former-President Kuchma) and opposition during the Orange Revolution
Orange Revolution
The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter...
(Tymoshenko has argued those reform were "incomplete" and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc voted against them in December 2004). In January 2010, Tymoshenko called for urgent amendments to the Constitution via the majority of the Verkhovna Rada
Verkhovna Rada
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a chairman...
after a survey or plebiscite is conducted. In April 2011 she still believed the constitution "didn't work".
In December 2010, Tymoshenko stated she might run for President in 2015; but that this also depended on her family.
In February 2011, Tymoshenko stated "Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
’s naked attempt to hijack the election that precipitated the Orange Revolution
Orange Revolution
The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter...
should have resulted in his being banned from running in future elections". She also believes "building a genuine civil society
Civil society
Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...
" is the best way to help democracy.
Genealogy, family and personal life
Yulia Tymoshenko (born Grigyan; was born 27 November 1960, in DnipropetrovskDnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
, Ukraine. Her mother's name is Ludmila Nikolaevna Telegina. Her father is Vladimir Abramovich Grigyan.
Ludmila Nikolaevna Telegina (born Nelepova), was born 11 August 1937, in Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
.
Vladimir Abramovich Grigyan was born 3 December 1937, in Dnipropetrovsk. According to his Soviet passport he was Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
n. His mother was Maria Yosifovna Grigyan (or Grigan), born in 1909. His father was Abram Kelmanovich Kapitalman – after graduating from "Dnipropetrovsk State University" in 1940, he was sent to work in Western Ukraine, where he worked "one academic quarter" as the director of a public school in the city Sniatyn
Sniatyn
Sniatyn is a city located in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, in western Ukraine along the Prut river. It is the administrative center of the Sniatynsky Raion , and is located at around . The current estimated population is around 10,500 ....
:
- "In SniatynSniatynSniatyn is a city located in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, in western Ukraine along the Prut river. It is the administrative center of the Sniatynsky Raion , and is located at around . The current estimated population is around 10,500 ....
, as well as throughout Western UkraineWestern UkraineWestern Ukraine may refer to:* Generally, the territories in the West of Ukraine* Eastern Galicia* West Ukrainian National Republic...
... installed Soviet government, new institutions were formed. They sent young cadres from the eastern regions of Ukraine. One of them was A. K. Kapitelman. Unfortunately, the material evidence of his work in Sniatyn, you can not find : any Sniatyn or in Ivano-FrankivskIvano-FrankivskIvano-Frankivsk is a historic city located in the western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast, municipality....
. In the regional state archives – were not preserved documents about the schools and district education departments for the period 1940–1941". In the autumn the 1940th was mobilized into the army, killed at the front (World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
) on 8 November 1944, with the rank of "lieutenantLieutenantA lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
communications".
Yosif Yosifovich Grigan (registered of Latvian nationality) was born in Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
(Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
), in 1884. In 1914, he moved to Yekaterinoslav (Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
), where he worked as a conductor on the train (at the "Lotsmanka" station in Dnipropetrovsk). He was arrested in 1937 and again in 1938 (because he received letters from Latvia) – and was repressed. In the prosecution of the criminal case the following was brought forward: "Grigan discredited the Soviet regime among the workers, praised the good life of the working class in the fascist countries: Germany and Poland"); served 10 years of concentration camps (1938–1948), was rehabilitated in 1963. His wife "Grigan, Elena Titovna" (1893 birth), Ukrainian, from the village of Martynivka (Kishenkovsky municipality, province of Poltava).
In the Ukrainian media there has been a lot of speculation regarding the genealogy of Tymoshenko. Some of the hypotheses have no scientific evidence (for example, the hypothesis of the Armenian origin of the surname "Grigan");
some of the hypotheses (concerning her possible Jewish roots) are seen as provocative, or could be designed to create negative PR.
About her ethnicity, Yulia Tymoshenko herself has said: "On my father’s side – everyone is Latvian for ten generations, and on my mother's side – everyone is Ukrainian for ten generations."
Tymoshenko's parents were both born in Ukraine and are, therefore, Ukrainian as defined by the Law on Citizenship of Ukraine and by the Ukrainian Constitution.
Family
- Father – Vladimir Grigyan (born 3 December 1937, in DnipropetrovskDnipropetrovskDnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
) - Mother – Lyudmila Telegina (born 11 August 1937, in Dnipropetrovsk).
- Husband – Oleksandr TymoshenkoOleksandr TymoshenkoOleksander Hennadiyovych Tymoshenko is the husband of the previous Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko and a businessman. Tymoshenko owns an egg farm and is the founder of two companies producing equipment for medical institutions...
(born 11 June 1960), businessman, married Yulia Telegina in 1979. Father of Olexander — Gennadi Tymoshenko. - Daughter – Yevhenia (Eugenia) Carr (née Tymoshenko) (born 20 February 1980) – a graduate of the London School of EconomicsLondon School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
(in politics and philosophy). - Son-in-law – Sean Carr (born 10 August 1968) – English rock musician, leader of the British band "Death Valley Screamers" (see YouTube video "Bonnie and Clyde"), owner of several stores in the UK.
Personal life
Tymoshenko and her husband rent a house in KievKiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
(the house belongs to relatives) and own a house in Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
. Tymoshenko has declared she never used and will never use or move into a state-owned summer house, in contrast all former-Presidents of Ukraine
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
are all living in state-owned dachas in Koncha-Zaspa
Koncha-Zaspa
Koncha-Zaspa is a historic neighbourhood in the Holosiiv Raion of the city of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is located in the southern part of the city....
. According to Ukrainian media Tymoshenko lives in a estate in Koncha-Zaspa (estimated worth: $5 million), "rented from a friend for free".
Tymoshenko has publicly stated that, like most Soviet citizens, she spoke only Russian in her childhood (although Tymoshenko was studying the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian literature at the school for 10 years, as all schoolchildren in Ukraine). In January 2010 Tymoshenko stated that in Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
she did not have to speak Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
until she was 36 (ie before 1996). According to Tymoshenko her braids are a family tradition.
In her spare time, before she was imprisoned, Tymoshenko ran on a treadmill
Treadmill
A treadmill is an exercise machine for running or walking while staying in one place. The word treadmill traditionally refers to a type of mill which was operated by a person or animal treading steps of a wheel to grind grain...
for exercise and listened to the music of Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli, is an Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist. Born with poor eyesight, he became blind at the age of twelve following a soccer accident....
, Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She is famous for possessing a vocal range of over 3 octaves and singing in the whistle register...
, Anna Netrebko
Anna Netrebko
Anna Yuryevna Netrebko is an Russian operatic soprano. She now holds dual Russian and Austrian citizenship and currently resides in Vienna. She has been nicknamed "La Bellissima" by fans.-Biography:...
and Alessandro Safina
Alessandro Safina
Alessandro Safina is an Italian operatic tenor.Born in Siena, Italy, Safina's love of opera was encouraged early in life by his mother encouraged his eagerness. His father was also a singer....
. Ukrayinska Pravda
Ukrayinska Pravda
Ukrayinska Pravda is a popular Ukrainian internet newspaper, founded by Georgiy R. Gongadze in April, 2000...
is her favourite news source. Tymoshenko has stated she has watched the Tunisian Revolution
Tunisian revolution
The Tunisian Revolution is an intensive campaign of civil resistance, including a series of street demonstrations taking place in Tunisia. The events began in December 2010 and led to the ousting of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011...
and Egyptian Revolution of 2011 "with joy and admiration".
Cultural and political image
Tymoshenko is a voluble public performer. Her fiery rhetoric made her an icon of the Orange RevolutionOrange Revolution
The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter...
.
Tymoshenko's critics have suggested that, as an oligarch, she gained her fortune improperly. Some have speculated that her familiarity with the illegal conduct of business common in Ukraine uniquely qualifies her to combat corruption—if she is willing to do so. Her former business partner, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko
Pavlo Lazarenko
Pavlo Ivanovych Lazarenko is a former Ukrainian politician and former Prime Minister who, in August 2006, was convicted and sentenced to prison in the United States for money laundering, wire fraud and extortion...
, was convicted in the United States on charges of money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
, corruption
Corporate crime
In criminology, corporate crime refers to crimes committed either by a corporation , or by individuals acting on behalf of a corporation or other business entity...
and fraud, the magnitude of which was in the billions of dollars.
Her transition from oligarch
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
to reformer was believed by many voters to be both genuine and effective. Discrepancies between her declared income and her (viewed as luxurious) lifestyle have been pointed out in the Ukrainian media.
When Tymoshenko joined the Yushchenko Government she didn’t speak Ukrainian. According to fellow Ukrainian politician Borys Tarasyuk
Borys Tarasyuk
Borys Ivanovych Tarasyuk is a Ukrainian politician. He has twice served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. He is from Zhytomyr Oblast. Tarasyuk studied international relations and international law at National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, and graduated in 1975...
in 2002 Tymoshenko "only spoke Russian even when I spoke to her in Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
", but since then she has made the transition to speaking only Ukrainian.
During her second stint as Prime-Minister her ratings at opinion polls fell. Early 2008 at public opinion polls for the Ukrainian presidential election, 2009 she stood at a 30% rate but late-April 2009 that had shrunk to 15% According to a poll carried out between January 29 and February 5, 2009 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology
Kyiv International Institute of Sociology
Kyiv International Institute of Sociology is a Ukrainian organization conducting sociological research in the following fields:* social and socioeconomic research* marketing research* political research* health studies...
just over 43% of the Ukrainian voters believed Tymoshenko should leave her post, whereas just over 45% believed she should stay. According to an opinion poll carried out between February 3 and February 12, 2009 by the "Sofia" Center for Social Studies some 59.1% of those polled believed that the activities of (then) Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko where aimed at the defense of her own interests and that of her entourage, some 4.2% said her activities where aimed at the defense of interests of foreign states and some 23.9% believed that Tymoshenko worked for the sake of national interests. 77.7% of the respondents where unsatisfied with the economic policy of the second Tymoshenko Government
Second Tymoshenko Government
The second Tymoshenko Government was appointed on December 18, 2007 as a coalition between Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko and Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc , OU-PSD is the party of then-President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, following the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election...
. Some 71.8% believed that this government was not able to lead the Ukrainian economy out of the 2008–2009 Ukrainian financial crisis
2008–2009 Ukrainian financial crisis
Ukraine was hit heavily by the late-2000s recession, the World Bank expects Ukraine's economy to shrink 15% in 2009 with inflation being 16.4%....
or even change the situation in Ukraine to better; 18.1% of respondents did think the that the government could do that.
Tymoshenko has been ranked three times by Forbes magazine
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
among the most powerful women in the world. During her first term, in 2005 she was ranked third (behind only Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...
and Wu Yi
Wu Yi
Wu Yi was one of four Vice Premiers of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, overseeing the country's economy until March 2008. Known as the "iron lady", Wu is one of the toughest negotiators in China's government.-Biography:...
), in 2008 she was ranked at number 17 and in 2009 at number 47.
According to the Ukrainian magazine Focus
Focus (Ukrainian magazine)
Focus is a national Ukrainian weekly news magazine in Russian language published in Kiev and distributed throughout the country. The base auditory of the magazine are the people of high and above high level of income between 25 to 45 years of age that live in the 40 biggest metropolises of Ukraine...
Lady Yu was placed first in annual ranking of the most influential women in Ukraine in 2006–2010 (five years). During the Orange Revolution some Western media publications dubbed her the "Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
of the Revolution". Tymoshenko was also dubbed one of the most beautiful women ever to enter politics by Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
and 20 Minutos
20 minutos
20 minutos is a free Spanish newspaper, with local editions in several Spanish cities, published by "Multiprensa & Mas S.L.", a company founded in Madrid in 1999....
in 2009.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
has stated (in November 2009) he found it comfortable to work with his (then) Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko and also praised her for strengthening Ukrainian sovereignty and building stable ties with Moscow and called the second Tymoshenko Government
Second Tymoshenko Government
The second Tymoshenko Government was appointed on December 18, 2007 as a coalition between Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko and Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc , OU-PSD is the party of then-President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko, following the 2007 Ukrainian parliamentary election...
"efficient and a force for stability". It has been suggested by Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
that the Russian government, after seeing her opposition to Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
, supported her since late 2008.
Former ally and President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko stated in November 2009 "I am sure that every week, spent by Yulia Tymoshenko at the post of Prime Minister, leads the country to a catastrophe. Because of Yulia Tymoshenko – it is a crisis, crisis in everything". Yushchenko has repeatedly accused his former ally turned rival Tymoshenko of acting in the interests of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, she firmly denied the allegations. On 31 May 2010 Yushchenko stated that Tymoshenko was his "worst mistake", "The most serious mistake was to give the power to her twice". Expert in Ukrainian politics Dr. Taras Kuzio
Taras Kuzio
Dr. Taras Kuzio is an academic and expert in Ukrainian political, economic and security affairs. He has written influential articles on contemporary Ukrainian issues.-Education and qualifications:...
believes that he has always prioritized personal revenge against Tymoshenko over Ukraine’s national interests.
Former Ukrainian Minister of Finance of Ukraine Viktor Pynzenyk
Viktor Pynzenyk
Viktor Mykhailovych Pynzenyk is a Ukrainian politician, economist, and former Minister of Finance...
has called Tymoshenko's decisions "normally guided by ‘adventurous populism,’" which she saw as a tool to "consolidate power in her own hands" and believed Tymoshenko should have "taken advantage of the opportunity presented by the 2008–2009 Ukrainian financial crisis
2008–2009 Ukrainian financial crisis
Ukraine was hit heavily by the late-2000s recession, the World Bank expects Ukraine's economy to shrink 15% in 2009 with inflation being 16.4%....
to reform".
Party of Regions
Party of Regions
The Party of Regions is an Ukrainian political party created on October 26, 1997 just prior to the 1998 Ukrainian parliamentary elections under the name of Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine. It was reformed later in 2001 when the party united with several others...
Deputy Head Borys Kolesnykov stated on February 11, 2010 "Tymoshenko was the most effective politician during the entire period of Ukraine's recent history". Former European High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana
Javier Solana
Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga, KOGF is a Spanish physicist and Socialist politician. After serving in the Spanish government under Felipe González and Secretary General of NATO , he was appointed the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary...
has called Tymoshenko "a patriot regardless of the position in which you have found yourself". President Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
stated about Tymoshenko on May 13, 2010 "She likes to create a sensation. We have grown used to this extravagant woman".
Vitaly Chepinoha has closely collaborated with Tymoshenko during various elections
Elections in Ukraine
Elections in Ukraine gives information on election and election results in Ukraine.Ukraine elects on national level a head of state and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people...
for more than a decade.
In some press-media Tymoshenko is sometimes referred to as Lady Yu (Ледi Ю, Леди Ю).
Multimedia about Yulia Tymoshenko
- 2004 – 29 November, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27OJM7OlX30&feature=relatedTymoshenko's speech in Donetsk on Akhmetov's Channel "Ukraine" – during the Orange RevolutionOrange RevolutionThe Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter...
] (Timoshenko in the orange shirt of Donetsk team "Shakhtar"). - 2007 – campaign videos about "Ivan, Galia, and the Vampire-Yanukovich" in support of BYuT; the parliamentary elections-2007.
- 2009 – a documentary film "Julia" (studio «Coppola Productions») in support of Yulia Tymoshenko on "Presidential Election-2010".
- 2009 – concert at the "Independence Square"-Maydan (Kiev) in honor of Yulia Tymoshenko's nomination as a candidate for the presidency; the song "Yulia, Yulia, Ukraine" (Nastya Kamenskih; and "Potap"); 29 October 2009.
- 2009 – "The Red Heart", a clip of Yulia Timoshenko's presidential election-2010; 2 December 2009.
- 2010 – clip of the opposition on "the first year of the Yanukovych's reign."
- 2011 — a documentary film (25 minutes), which was shown at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, October 8, 2011 — "The trial of Yulia Tymoshenko. The true story".
- 2011 — Tymoshenko rendered a verdict. Kiev, October 11, 2011.
- 2001 — Africans about Ukraine and Tymoshenko. October, 2011.
Further reading
(article is updated on an occasional basis)- The Report: Emerging Ukraine 2007, Oxford Business Group, 2007, ISBN 978-1-902339-68-9
External links
- Official website
- Audio & Video about Yulia Tymoshenko avi, mp3
- Tymoshenko photo archive 2000–2009
- Tymoshenko's opinion commentaries at Project Syndicate.
- Prime Minister at Government Portal
- Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc website
- Korrespondent.net profile
- Time magazine profile
- Ukraine PM makes Elle front cover (19 April 2005, BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
) - BBC Audio & Video about Yulia Tymoshenko including an audio interview with Yulia Tymoshenko from 15 April 2005
- Yulia Tymoshenko approval rating (2001–2010, by Razumkov CentreRazumkov CentreRazumkov Centre , or fully the Ukrainian Centre for Economic and Political Studies named after Olexander Razumkov , is a Ukrainian non-governmental public policy think tank....
think-tank)
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