Tymoshenko and Yushchenko trade accusations

With Nasha Ukraina voting to leave the coalition, BYuT leader Yulia Tymoshenko urged President Yushchenko to renew the coalition even as she hurled accusations against the President in an FT article.  Below are excerpts from the interview, including a hard to believe claim that Tymoshenko  had been not been considering a run for the presidency until recent events changed her mind.  The prime minister and the president have never managed to maintain harmonious relations for long. The best way to deal with this by Tymoshenko  is to run for president and replace her long time rival with.... Tymoshenko . 

She accused Mr Yushchenko of tarnishing her image in an attempt to score points with voters ahead of next year’s presidential election.Dismissing as “comical” allegations from the president that she had plotted with the Kremlin, she insisted she had pushed to cut Russia’s grasp over Ukraine’s energy sector. She also claimed that Mr Yushchenko had protected “Russian interests” in a strategic Black Sea hydrocarbon exploration project. By cancelling the venture, “where Russian interests were camouflaged by Houston-based Vanco Energy . . . I returned Ukraine’s strategic Black Sea gas reserves”.
Asked if she would run for president next year, the prime minister said: “Before this was willing to support a single candidate. After the events of last week I am seriously considering it.
However, the prime minister has not given up on renewing the coalition. BBC Ukraine service reported that she is against early elections and believes that the best decision for the country is to renew the coalition, which collapsed when Nasha Ukraina voted to leave it.  Tymoshenko  also rejected accusations by the president that she her government had been ineffective and working against national interests. In a related note, Volodymyr Lytvyn, leader of the eponymous  party, remarked that BYuT and Party of Regions have a similar ideology, but believed that coalition between the two biggest parties is unlikely since it would quickly lead to in-fighting. However, as Yushchenko showed when he invited the PR to form a coalition in 2006,political  circumstances could lead to a PR-BYuT coalition. 

at Tuesday, September 09, 2008

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