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EASTWEEK
Weekly analytical newsletter on Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Caucasus and Central Asia (also available in Polish as Tydzień na Wschodzie)

Contents

No. 8(201) | 2010-02-24
Also available in PDF

Analyses

  • President Medvedev to reform the police

    The measures undertaken by Medvedev should be seen as an image-building measure designed to consolidate the impression that the president is responsive to the public criticism of members of the state apparatus and effectively monitors the institutions of force.

  • Kazakhstan: The president's son-in-law at the centre of a corruption scandal

    The scandal, which broke out several weeks after Kazakhstan took over the chairmanship of the OSCE, has put President Nazarbayev, who is very conscious about image issues, in an extremely difficult situation. It may force Astana to be more cautious in contacts with Beijing, and that would certainly play into the hands of Russia.
     

Events

 

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Ukraine: Yulia Tymoshenko refuses to recognise Yanukovych as president
EASTWEEK

2010-02-24

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On 21 February, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko unexpectedly dropped the appeal she had filed with the Supreme Administrative Court against the announcement of the election results. On the following day, she made a televised statement in which she refused to recognise Viktor Yanukovych as president. The statement means that Tymoshenko hopes that an early parliamentary election will be called soon, and – even though the state is in a critical situation – does not intend to reach any compromise with Yanukovych and the Party of Regions.

By challenging the election result, Tymoshenko did not seek to have it overturned (she was aware that this would not be possible), but rather wanted to undermine the legality of the election, and hence also of Yanukovych's presidency, in the eyes of public opinion. When the court decided that the media would not be admitted to the trial, Tymoshenko decided it was better to drop the appeal to prevent it from being thrown out by the court. Subsequently, she attacked the president elect in very harsh words, claiming that "the court had turned into a farce directed by the Yanukovych staff" and that he himself "had come to power through fraud". She also categorically rejected the proposal for her Bloc to form a parliamentary coalition with the Party of Regions.
It appears that Tymoshenko's current strategy is to try to stay in power by consolidating the coalition of her supporters and, failing that, to seek an early parliamentary election. <TAO>

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