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"The actions of Viktor Yushchenko supporters raise deep concerns," reads a text upheld by the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv and Odessa regional councils, and the High Council of the Crimean Autonomous Republic. "All attempts to illegally and forcefully overturn the results of the election cannot be justified even by the presence of violations during the second round of the presidential election in Ukraine." "The violations were recorded in all regions of the country and thousands of them were carried out by Yushchenko supporters. We are appalled by the gross insults from the mouths of opposition leaders toward millions of Ukrainian people...

Ukraine’s richest, most powerful people have stayed out of the spotlight during the five days of what’s being called the Ukrainian opposition’s “Orange Revolution.” That’s no surprise, as opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has been calling them “bandits” during rallies, and saying they belong in jail after robbing the Ukrainian nation of its riches and suppressing democracy. Many believe that if the opposition takes control of the government, Ukraine’s so-called “oligarchs” – who backed the candidacy of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych - could be tried for stealing state property, election fraud, and other crimes. This group includes Presidential Administration head Viktor...

VIENNA, Austria — What ails Viktor Yushchenko? As Ukraine's popular pro-Western opposition leader claimed victory Tuesday in hotly contested presidential elections, the mystery surrounding an appearance-altering illness that twice prompted him to check into a Vienna hospital persisted. Yushchenko accused the Ukrainian authorities of poisoning him. His detractors suggested he'd eaten some bad sushi. Adding to the intrigue, the Austrian doctors who treated him have asked foreign experts to help determine if his symptoms may have been caused by toxins found in biological weapons. Medical experts said they may never know for sure what befell Yushchenko. But the illness, whatever...

What is the current administration’s endgame in Eastern Europe? Barack Obama has condemned Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine and called on all Americans to impose sanctions on Russia even if doing so hurts the United States economy. His statements make him sound like a strong ally of Ukraine, ready to do whatever it takes to protect innocents from harm. But there is more to this story than meets the eye. When you examine Obama’s career, you find that he has done everything in his power to encourage the current invasion. Just seven months after Obama was sworn in as a...

Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky has never made any secret of his loathing for President Vladimir Putin, but in an interview in his London exile the controversial tycoon went one step further with a vow to mount a coup. "President Putin violates the constitution and any violent action on the opposition's part is justified today, and that includes taking power by force, which is exactly what I am working at," the oligarch, looking vibrant despite five years in self-imposed exile, told AFP at his Piccadilly office. For the past 18 months, "we have been preparing to take power by force in...

[subtitle: New law bans Soviet street names, statues and other reminders of communist past, as some question priorities.] In a country where at least 4,000 localities had a main thoroughfare named after Lenin, outlawing remnants of the Soviet era like street names and statues was bound to cause problems... The phenomenon is so common now that it has its own name -- "Leninopad" or "Lenin-fall," a phrase that echoes the Ukrainian word for snowfall...

The arrest of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko on August 5 derails Ukraine’s integration into Europe at the same time as its relations with Russia are poor (video of arrest here: www.pravda.com.ua/photo-video/2011/08/5/6454611/). Supporters of opposition politician Yulia Tymoshenko rally outside the court building The disunited opposition has rallied to Tymoshenko’s side with Arseniy Yatseniuk’s Front for Change issuing a press release “The rubicon has been crossed. Democracy has come to an end. The authorities have become a regime” and warned “no regime ever wins a war against its own people” (http://frontzmin.org/). European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek condemned the arrest while Western...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxPAdmlZCHI&feature=player_embedded

Monument to organizer of Jewish pogroms to be erected in Kiev A monument to Symon Petlyura will be erected in Kiev downtown. As Kommersant-Ukraine newspaper informs, the monument will be unveiled in the framework of events to honor the 80th anniversary of Petlyura’s death. The monument will be erected by December 1, 2006 at the intersection of Volodimerska Street and Taras Shevchenko Avenue in Kiev downtown. On May 16, 2005, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko signed a decree ‘On Perpetuation of the Memory of Ukrainian People’s Republic and Western-Ukrainian People’s Republic Outstanding Figures’, in which Symon Petlyura was named among outstanding...

Russia says it will pump more gas to Europe after various countries said their supplies had fallen by up to 40% after Moscow cut Ukraine's provision. France, Italy, Germany and Poland were among those reporting falling volumes. Russia said it was sending an extra 95m cubic metres a day to make up for gas "stolen" by Ukraine. Ukraine denies it has siphoned off $25m (£15m) worth of gas from a pipeline crossing its territory after Russia cut off its supply in a price dispute. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom raised the price of 1,000 cubic metres of gas from $50 to...

Varvara Yushchenko, mother of newly-elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, has died at the age of 88. Varvara Yushchenko passed away after “a long and serious illness” in a hospital in the capital Kiev, where she spent the last few months, said a statement from the president’s press office. After funeral rites in Kiev, Yushchenko will be buried in her hometown of Horyzhyvka, in Ukraine’s north, it said. The statement offered no other details. A mathematics teacher, Varvara Yushchenko was born in 1918. Widowed for many years, she is survived by two sons, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Not only do a small number of extraordinarily wealthy business clans control most of Ukraine's economy, but they grew accustomed to tremendous access to political power under Kuchma. As unpopular as Russian President Vladimir Putin has become in the West for his assault against Russia's oligarchs, Yushchenko has little choice but to do the same against Ukraine's oligarchs. No one should be surprised if Yushchenko very soon singles out one oligarch to reverse a number of illegal privatizations under Kuchma as an example for other oligarchs of what is to come. Yushchenko's drive to expel oligarchs from direct influence in...

One of the most inspiring events of 2004 happened on the year's last weekend: the election of pro-Western democrat Viktor Yushchenko, who had to overcome everything from poisoning to voter fraud to claim Ukraine's presidency. The triumph of the Orange Revolution should dispel the quaint notion still prevalent in many Western universities and foreign ministries that democracy is a luxury good suitable only for rich countries with a tradition of liberalism stretching back centuries. Ukraine fits no one's criteria of a promising democracy: Its per capita income of $5,400 a year is lower than Algeria's or Turkmenistan's; it has a...

It is this reporter's opinion that often behind a great man is the driving force of a great woman. Never was this truer than in the case of Kateryna Chumachenko Yushchenko, the American-raised wife of the newly elected leader of the Ukraine. This tough-minded, savvy businesswoman hails from Chicago; the daughter of an electrician and a seamstress, Kateryna grew up steeped in the traditions of her ancestral homeland. She graduated from Georgetown University and became known for her commitment to freewheeling capitalism. But Ukrainian democracy was the zeal of her life. During WWII, Kateryna's parents were forced to emigrate to...

UKRAINIANJOURNAL.com WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2004 Front Page Nation Business Editorial Feature Opinion About us Survey Copyright Contact Top News As Kuchma confidants die suspiciously, another crony flees Ukraine Journal Staff Report KIEV, Dec. 28 – Ihor Bakay, a close financial confidant of outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, fled Ukraine amid a range of suspicious deaths reported ahead of an anticipated change of power in Ukraine. Bakay most recently handled finances for the Kuchma administration. He is thought to be one of the richest men in Ukraine and is believed to have made his fortune while leading Naftogaz Ukrayiny, the state oil...

KYIV. Dec 29 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko said on Wednesday that he planned to name Yulia Tymoshenko his prime minister. "There is a protocol under which my parliamentary group [representing his Our Ukraine party] and I are to use our resources to mobilize support by my parliamentary group for the candidate Yulia Volodymyrivna [Tymoshenko]," Yushchenko told reporters in Kyiv.

Ukraine's opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has urged his supporters to prevent a planned cabinet meeting from going ahead on Wednesday. Mr Yushchenko, declared winner of the re-run presidential election, said the "illegal government" should not be allowed to meet. The planned meeting is due to be chaired by his defeated rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. Mr Yushchenko urged supporters to renew their blockade of government offices. Results unofficial "In what country is it possible for a government that has been dismissed to say that it doesn't want to go? No meeting of an illegitimate government can take place," he told...

CHICAGO (AP) In buses and rented vans, Ukrainian Americans from across the Midwest converged on the Ukrainian Consulate to cast their votes Sunday in a fiercely waged presidential election between the Kremlin-backed prime minister and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko. Officials estimated 5,000 people would vote at the downtown consulate, some driving from as far away as Detroit and Oklahoma to make their voices heard in the third vote of a presidential election that has been tainted by allegations of poisoning and fraud. Many of the voters arriving at the consulate Sunday wore orange scarves and hats the color of the...

GUEST OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Oxford, England LAST week I stood among flag-waving demonstrators in Independence Square in Kiev and heard the leader of Ukraine's "orange revolution," Viktor Yushchenko, triumphantly declare that Ukraine was a European country. Not Western, not merely democratic, and obviously not American - European. Yesterday in Brussels, the leaders of the 25 member states of the European Union agreed to open negotiations with Turkey next year to join the union. Mr. Yushchenko, meanwhile, who will probably be elected president on Dec. 26, is also expected to seek a promise of eventual membership in the European Union for Ukraine...

Russian behavior throughout the Ukrainian crisis has fueled talk about Russian neoimperialism. The specter of Moscow-inspired separatism in eastern Ukraine reflects the worst fears of analysts on both sides of the Atlantic and brings back talk of a new Cold War. In short order, no matter what happens in Ukraine, we are likely to hear calls for a policy toward Russia drawn from the Cold War: neo-containment. That's the wrong prescription. Consider the evidence of Russian neoimperialism. Heavy meddling in Ukrainian domestic politics is but the latest manifestation of a trend that began long before the crisis in Kiev. Neoimperialist...