Blue &Yellow: Politics and Economics in Ukraine

But so bitter is the disappointment in the orange team, so strong the craving for stability which (at least visually) he represents and so deep the suspicion, rational or otherwise, of Ms Tymoshenko that even in western Ukraine some voters may back Mr Yanukovich in the second round. This is partly Mr Yushchenko’s work—in many ways, he has done more for Mr Yanukovich’s campaign than Mr Yanukovich himself. Indeed, destroying Ms Tymoshenko, his erstwhile orange colleague, seems now to be Mr Yushchenko’s only goal. Whereas most of Mr Yushchenko’s former allies have agreed to back Ms Tymoshenko, he is implicitly backing Mr Yanukovich. He spent much of his final press conference on January 12th attacking Ms Tymoshenko, earning him fulsome praise from Mr Yanukovich’s camp. As the incumbent prime minister, Ms Tymoshenko’s rating has also been dented by Ukraine’s severe economic crisis.