President says his team turned against one another
n Sept. 8 dismissed his Cabinet amid allegations of corruption, saying members of the fragile coalition formed after last year’s Orange Revolution had turned against one another.
The dissolution of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s government, coupled with the president’s decision to accept the resignation of Petro Poroshenko, the powerful head of the Security and Defense Council, left Yushchenko looking increasingly isolated.
He appeared at ease, however, as he addressed journalists from Ukrainian television stations.
“I knew that there were definite conflicts between those people … (but) I hoped that there would not be enough time for intrigues,” Yushchenko said. “Those were my hopes.”
Yushchenko made his abrupt move after Poroshenko, whose agency controls Ukraine’s military and law enforcement services, and other top presidential aides were accused of corruption by some of their former Orange Revolution allies. Yushchenko called the allegations “groundless but very strong,” saying they demanded a response.
“I want people to feel that the government works in harmony … (but) they lost the team spirit and faith,” said Yushchenko, adding that “They remain my friends.”
He later said he hoped Tymoshenko and Poroshenko would remain part of his team, but they must agree to work together. He did not specify whether this meant he would consider welcoming them back into the government.
“I have spent the last three nights thinking about how to keep together that which has already separated. … The key issue was the issue of trust,” he said. “If there had been a possibility to preserve team spirit, to remain together, it would have been the best answer. We had such an agreement and during the night it was changed, but not by me.”
Vitaliy Chepinoga, spokesman for Tymoshenko, refused to comment. “Let the president speak his mind today; tomorrow we will comment,” he said. Oleksandr Turchinov, head of the State Security Service and a close Tymoshenko ally, also announced his resignation Sept. 8.
Yushchenko appointed Yuriy Yekhanurov, a former economics minister who now serves as governor of the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, as acting prime minister.
Yushchenko said conflicts between Poroshenko and Tymoshenko “became the everyday agenda.”
“The president must not be a governess who has to settle relations between them,” he said, adding that the trust between his partners “was zero.”
Oleksandr Lytvynenko, a political analyst with the Razumkov think tank, said the government’s dismissal would hurt Yushchenko.
“Doubts had already emerged about his ability to make decisions, which are beginning to damage his image not only in Ukraine, but also abroad,” he said.
“Now all of Yushchenko’s allies are running away,” said opposition lawmaker Taras Chornovil, calling it a “crisis of power.”
Yushchenko’s popularity has been waning, due largely to rising prices and the bickering in his government, and opinion polls show that Ukrainians increasingly think the country is headed in the wrong direction.
Earlier Sept. 8, Vice Prime Minister Mykola Tomenko became the second top official to step down in a week, accusing Poroshenko and others of corruption.
“I have realized that some people steal and others resign,” Tomenko, who left his post in charge of humanitarian affairs, said at a news conference. “I don’t want to bear common responsibility for people who have created a corrupt system.”
Yushchenko’s chief-of-staff, Oleksandr Zinchenko, resigned Sept. 3 and also leveled charges of corruption against high-level officials, including Poroshenko.
On Sept. 8, Poroshenko said he was resigning to avoid appearing to pressure the investigation into Zinchenko’s accusations. The Security Service on Sept. 8 ordered a special commission set up to investigate all corruption allegations against high officials.
Yushchenko rose to power on the crest of last year’s massive “Orange Revolution” protests. Poroshenko, a confectionary tycoon, helped finance and publicize them through his Channel 5 television channel, and the charismatic Tymoshenko became known as a heroine of the protests. She regularly addressed the nation from Independence Square, and her popularity today continues to rival that of Yushchenko.
“People stood on the square not because of Yushchenko but because of Tymoshenko,” Nestor Shufrich, an opposition lawmaker who often clashed with Tymoshenko, told Ukraine’s Channel 5.
