UKRAINE
Vladimir Putin Viktor Yanukovych
The Soviet Union collapsed more than 20 years ago, yet genuine democracy is still a stranger in most of the
former republics. Russia still views the former Soviet republics as part of its orbit and has repeatedly intervened
when they’ve made moves to go their own way. The Ukrainian crisis erupted in November when President
Yanukovych was weighing a trade deal with the European Union, that would have reoriented his country
toward Western Europe and away from Russia. This is exactly the sort of development that sets off alarm bells in
Moscow. Russian President Putin promptly stepped in and offered Ukraine $15 billion in subsidies, including
reduced prices on Russian natural gas. Putin has various tools to undermine Ukraine, such as erecting trade
barriers and rationing deliveries of natural gas. Yanukovych accepted Moscow’s offer and walked away from
the EU deal. This set off the Ukrainian protesters, who’ve been camped in the streets of the capital Kiev for the
past three months. Anti-Yanukovych protesters face suppression and deadly clashes with police. An arrest
warrant has been issued for Yanukovych, and his whereabouts are currently unknown.
Yulia Tymoshenko
In 2011, the former Ukrainian Prime
Minister and opponent of
Yanukovych was charged with
abuse of power and embezzlement,
and was sentenced to seven years
in prison. She was recently released
from jail as the opposition took
control of parliament.
Viktor Yushchenko
The former Ukrainian President claims he was poisoned with dioxin
by political opponents. After two rounds of voting in 2004 - and
reports of many irregularities and abuses across the country such as
organized multiple voting and extra votes for Yanukovych after the
polls closed - the final official result was a 3% margin of victory for
Yanukovych. Allegations of electoral fraud and discrepancy
between exit polls and the final tally prompted Yushchenko and his
supporters to refuse to recognize the results. After thirteen days of
massive popular protests that became known as the Orange
Revolution, the election results were overturned. Yushchenko
proclaimed a victory for the opposition and won the third round of
voting with 52% of the vote. However, in 2006 Yushchenko dismissed
Tymoshenko and appointed Yanukovych to be the new Prime
Minister. In 2010, Yanukovych was elected president.