Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Two things Ukrainian
Two positive things, in fact:
- Viktor Yushchenko scored an important victory in reselling the Kryvorizhstal steel plant. The first sale of this plant was at the heart of the debate over corruption in the previous government of Leonid Kuchma. Yushchenko showed some political acumen by getting the auction onto television across the country; that it earned six times the price Kuchma sold it to his cronies solidifies Yushchenko's case that the times are changing. He's after the national telecom next, and this is making the old oligarchs very uncomfortable. Remember that Yushchenko loses some power after the parliamentary elections next March, so this may be a sign that he's finally realized he's under the gun. In the case of Ukrtelekom, privatization has only been debated for the last ten years.
UPDATE: Worth noting is this report from Adrian Karatnycky in the WSJ Europe (subscriber link), indicating that Yulya Tymoshenko appears ready to throw back in with Yushchenko in a parliamentary coalition for the March elections. Had she done what Yushchenko has done with Kryvorizhstal, she'd probably still be prime minister. But the power struggle that lead to her dismissal may take a new turn. Developing... - Yushchenko will get a boost from the U.S., but not necessarily from the government. PBS' Frontline is running a story, A Murder in Kyiv, about the Gongadze case. I highly recommend this website, and look forward to the airing of the show next Tuesday night. Perhaps it will help with a recently launched probe into Kuchma's role in Gongadze's murder.
