Yulia Tymoshenko

Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko
Юлія Володимирівна Тимошенко
Yulia Tymoshenko

Yulia Tymoshenko in 2008.


Incumbent
Assumed office 
18 December 2007
President Viktor Yushchenko
Preceded by Viktor Yanukovych
In office
24 January 2005 – 08 September 2005
Acting until 04 February 2005
President Viktor Yushchenko
Preceded by Mykola Azarov
Succeeded by Yuriy Yekhanurov

Born 27 November 1960 (1960-11-27) (age 48)
Dnipropetrovsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Nationality Ukranian
Political party BYuT
Other political
affiliations
All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland"
Spouse Oleksandr Tymoshenko
Children Eugenia Tymoshenko
Alma mater Dnipropetrovsk State University
Religion Ukrainian Orthodox
Website http://www.tymoshenko.com.ua

Yulia[1] Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko (Ukrainian: Юлія Володимирівна Тимошенко ['julijɑ ʋɔlɔ'dɪmɪriʋnɑ tɪmɔ'ʃɛnkɔ] Julia Volodymyrivna Tymošenko) (born on November 27, 1960) is a Ukrainian politician and current Prime Minister of Ukraine. She is leader of the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc.

Before becoming Ukraine's first female Prime Minister, Tymoshenko was one of the key leaders of the Orange Revolution. In this period, some Western media publications dubbed her as the "Joan of Arc of the Revolution".[2]

On July 28, 2005, Forbes magazine named her as the third most powerful woman in the world in her role as Prime Minister; behind only Condoleezza Rice and Wu Yi.[3] However in 2007, she has subsequently dropped off the list[3] but in August 2008 she reappeared on the list at number 17[4].

Prior to her political career, Yulia Tymoshenko was a successful but controversial businesswoman in the gas industry, which made her wealthy. Tymoshenko first became Prime Minister in 2005 between January 24 and September 8. She was elected again as PM on December 18, 2007 and is considered a possible candidate for the President of Ukraine in 2010.[5][6] Following the 2008 Ukrainian political crisis President Yushchenko announced Ukraine's third general election in less than three years[7]. The elections will be held December 7, 2008.[8][9] Yulia Tymoshenko has no intention to resign[10] until new coalition is formed[11] or her bloc loses the parliamentary election in early 2009.

Contents

Personal life

Tymoshenko is the daughter of Ludmila Nikolaevna Telegina and Vladimir Abramovich Grigean (her father left the family when Yulia was three years old). She was born in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine (then the Ukrainian SSR). In 1979, she married Oleksandr Tymoshenko, son of a mid-level Soviet communist party bureaucrat, and began rising through a number of positions under the Komsomol, the official Soviet Communist youth organization. She graduated from the Dnipropetrovsk State University with a degree in economics in 1984, and went on to gain a candidate degree (the equivalent of a Ph.D.) in economics. Since then, she has written about 50 papers. She was dubbed as one of the most beautiful women to ever enter politics by The Globe and Mail in 2001.

Business life

In 1989, as part of the perestroika initiatives, Yulia Tymoshenko founded and headed a Komsomol video rental chain[12] (which grew to be quite successful), and later privatized it.

Tymoshenko experienced a rise in power under the Soviet system, but it was after the demise of the Soviet Union that she rose to particular prominence, directing several energy-related companies and acquiring a significant fortune between 1990 and 1998. During privatization in Ukraine, which mirrored that in Russia in terms of corruption and mismanagement, she became one of the wealthiest[13] oligarchs in Ukraine, exporting metals.

From 1995 to 1997, Tymoshenko was the president of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine, a privately owned middleman company that became the main importer of Russian natural gas to Ukraine in 1996. During that time she was nicknamed "gas princess" in light of accusations that she has been reselling enormous quantities of stolen gas and avoiding taxation of those deals. She was also accused of "having given Pavlo Lazarenko kickbacks in exchange for her company's stranglehold on the country's gas supplies".[14]

In the business period of her life, Tymoshenko involved business relations (either co-operative or hostile) with many important figures of Ukraine, first of all, in Dnipropetrovsk. The list includes Pavlo Lazarenko, Viktor Pinchuk, Ihor Kolomoyskyi, Rinat Akhmetov, and, of course, Leonid Kuchma who at that time was the President. All of them, but Akhmetov, were originating from Dnipropetrovsk. As part of her gas-dealing business, Tymoshenko has also been closely linked to the management of the Russian Gazprom.

Present private life

Tymoshenko without her trademark hair braids.

Yulia Tymoshenko is married to Oleksandr Tymoshenko. During the early years of her political career, the two were parted for years when Mr. Tymoshenko was escaping arrest. The couple rarely appear together in public. They have a daughter Yevhenia (born in 1980).[12] Yevhenia graduated from a British university and now lives in Ukraine with her husband, rock-musician Sean Carr.

Symbolic hairstyle

Tymoshenko's plaited hairstyle became iconic at the time of the Orange Revolution.[15] When asked whether she visits a professional hairdresser, she responded that she does her hairstyle herself.[15] According to image consultant Oleh Pokalchuk, Lesya Ukrainka's hairstyle inspired the over-the-head braid.[16]

Political career

Early career

Yulia Tymoshenko moved into politics in 1996, and was elected to the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) from the Kirovohrad Oblast, winning a record 92.3% of the vote in her constituency. She was re-elected in 1998 and 2002. In 1998, she became the Chair of the Budget Committee of Verkhovna Rada.

From 1999 to 2001, Tymoshenko was the Deputy Prime Minister for fuel and energy sector in the cabinet of Viktor Yushchenko. She was fired by President Leonid Kuchma in January 2001 after developing a conflict with the oligarchs in the industry.

In February 2001, Tymoshenko was arrested on charges of forging customs documents and smuggling of gas between 1995 and 1997 (while president of United Energy Systems of Ukraine) but was released several weeks later. Her political supporters organized several protest rallies near the Lukyanivska Prison where she was held in custody. According to Tymoshenko, the charges were fabricated by Kuchma's regime, under the influence of oligarchs threatened by her efforts to root out corruption and institute market-based reforms. In spite of being cleared of the charges, Moscow maintained an arrest warrant for Tymoshenko should she enter Russia until her dismissal as Prime Minister over 4 years later.

In addition, Tymoshenko's husband, Oleksandr, spent two years in hiding in order to avoid incarceration on charges the couple said were unfounded and politically motivated by the former Kuchma administration.

Campaigns against Kuchma and 2002 election

Once the charges were dropped, she became one of the leaders of street-level campaigns against President Kuchma for his alleged role in the murder of the journalist Georgiy R. Gongadze. In this campaign, Tymoshenko first became known as a passionate revolutionary-like leader, an example of this being a TV broadcast of her smashing prison windows during one of the rallies.

The following year Tymoshenko was involved in a mysterious car accident that she survived with minor injuries—an episode some believe may have been a government assassination attempt.[17] During this time, she founded Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (Блок Юлії Тимошенко), a political bloc that received 7.2 percent of the vote in the 2002 parliamentary election. She is the head of the Batkivshchina (Fatherland) political party.

Tymoshenko's critics have suggested that, as an oligarch, she gained her fortune improperly. Some have speculated that her familiarity with the illegal conduct of business common in Ukraine uniquely qualifies her to combat corruption—if she is willing to do so. Her former business partner, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, was convicted in the United States on charges of billions-worth money laundering, corruption and fraud.[18]

Despite this questionable past, her transition from oligarch to reformer was believed by many to be both genuine and effective. As energy Deputy Prime Minister, she virtually ended many corrupt arrangements in the energy sector. Under her stewardship, Ukraine's revenue collections from the electricity industry grew by several thousand per cent. She scrapped the practice of barter in the electricity market, requiring industrial customers to pay for their electricity in cash. She also terminated exemptions for many organizations which excluded them from having their power disconnected. Her reforms meant that the government had sufficient funds to pay civil servants and increase salaries.

After the Orange Revolution

Yulia Tymoshenko in Parliament, February 4, 2005.
Yulia Tymoshenko meeting with the United States President George W. Bush on April 1, 2008.

On January 24, 2005 she was appointed as acting Prime Minister of Ukraine under Yushchenko's presidency. On February 4, 2005, at 2:54 p.m. (Eastern European Time), Yulia Tymoshenko was ratified by the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) by an overwhelming majority of 373 votes (226 were required for approval).[12][19]

On July 28, 2005, Forbes magazine named her third most powerful woman in the world, behind only Condoleezza Rice and Wu Yi.[3] However, in the magazine's list published on September 1, 2006, Tymoshenko did not even make the top 100.

Several months into her government, numerous inner conflicts inside the post‐Revolution coalition began to damage Tymoshenko's administration. On September 8, 2005, after the resignation of several senior officials including the Head of the Security and Defence Council Petro Poroshenko and Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Tomenko, Yulia Tymoshenko's government was dismissed by President Viktor Yushchenko during a live TV address to the nation. She was succeeded by Yuriy Yehanurov. Later, the President criticized her work as head of the Cabinet, suggesting it had led to an economic slowdown and political conflicts within the ruling coalition.

2006 parliamentary election

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After her dismissal Tymoshenko started to tour the country in a bid to win the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election as the leader of her Bloc. She soon announced that she wanted to return to the post of Prime Minister.

With the Bloc coming second in the election, and winning 129 seats, many speculated that she might form a coalition with Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party and the Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU) to prevent the Party of Regions from gaining power. Tymoshenko again reiterated her stance in regard to becoming Prime Minister. However, negotiations with Our Ukraine and SPU faced many difficulties as the various blocs scrapped over posts and engaged in counter-negotiations with other groupings.

On Wednesday June 21, 2006, the Ukrainian media reported that the parties had finally reached a coalition agreement, which appeared to have ended nearly three months of political uncertainty.[20]

Tymoshenko's nomination and confirmation as new Prime Minister was expected to be straightforward. However, the nomination was preconditioned on an election of her long-term rival Petro Poroshenko from Our Ukraine as the speaker of the parliament. Within a few days after the coalition agreement had been signed, it became clear that the coalition members mistrusted each other, since they considered it to be a deviation from parliamentary procedures in order to hold a simultaneous vote on Poroshenko as the speaker and Tymoshenko as Prime Minister.

To aggravate matters, opposition members from the Party of Regions blocked the parliament from Thursday, June 29[21] through Thursday, July 6.[22]

The Party of Regions announced an ultimatum to the coalition, demanding that the parliamentary procedures be observed, asking membership in parliamentary committees to be allocated in proportion to seats held by each fraction, chairmanship in certain Parliamentary committees as well as Governorships in the administrative subdivisions won by the Party of Regions. The coalition agreement deprived the Party of Regions and the communists of any representation in the executive and leadership in parliamentary committees[23] while in the local regional councils won by the Party of Regions, the coalition parties were locked out of all committees as well.

Following a surprise nomination of Oleksandr Moroz from the Socialist Party of Ukraine as the Rada speaker and his subsequent election late on July 6 with the support of the Party of Regions, the "Orange coalition" collapsed. After the creation of a large coalition of majority, led by the former prime minister Viktor Yanukovych and composed of the Party of Regions, Socialists and Communists, Viktor Yanukovych became Prime Minister, and the other two parties were left in the wilderness. Whilst Tymoshenko immediately announced that her political force would form a shadow cabinet to the current government, Our Ukraine stalled until October 4, 2006, when it too joined the opposition.[24]

2007 Foreign Affairs article

Tymoshenko wrote an article called "Containing Russia" in the May-June 2007 edition of the journal Foreign Affairs.[25][26] In the article she sharply criticized authoritarian developments under Vladimir Putin and opposed the alleged new Russian expansionism. Consequently, the article irked Russia and more than a week before the article was published, Russia responded to the article, calling it an "anti-Russian manifesto" and "an attempt to once again draw dividing lines in Europe."[27] Although the article was initially considered to be an attack on Russia, Tymoshenko's argument was more nuanced than the title of the article suggests. For example, at no point in the article does Tymoshenko mention or call for Ukraine to become a member of NATO, the most serious point of friction between Russia and Ukraine. Indeed, it voices great sympathy for the leaders of Russia and their "anguished struggle to overcome generations of Soviet misrule."[28]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov wrote an article called "Containing Russia: Back To The Future?"[29] for the same journal which was apparently meant to be a response to Tymoshenko. He withdrew the article before publication, accusing the editors of changing his text and said his article was subjected to "censorship".[30]

2007 parliamentary election

Following balloting in the 2007 parliamentary elections held on September 30, 2007, Orange Revolution parties said they had won enough votes to form a governing coalition. As of October 3, 2007, an almost final tally gave the alliance of Tymoshenko and President Yushchenko a slim lead over a rival party of Prime Minister Yanukovych. Although Yanukovych, whose party won the single biggest share of the vote, also claimed victory[31], one of his coalition allies, the Socialist Party of Ukraine, failed to gain enough votes to retain seats in Parliament.

On October 15, 2007, Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc agreed to form a majority coalition in the new parliament of the 6th convocation.[32] On November 29, a coalition was signed between the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc, which is associated with President Yushchenko. Both parties are affiliated with the Orange Revolution. On December 18, Tymoshenko was once again elected as Prime Minister, supported by 226 deputies (minimal amount needed for passage).[33] She served her first term as Prime Minister from 24 January 2005 to 8 September 2005. On 18 December 2007 she became Prime Minister for the second time.[34]

2008 political crisis

Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko & President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev on October 3, 2008

The coalition of Tymoshenko's Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko and Yushchenko's Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc was put at risk due to differing opinions on the ongoing 2008 South Ossetia War between Georgia and Russia. Yulia Tymoshenko disagreed with Yushchenko's condemnation of Russia and preferred to stay neutral on the issue. Yushchenko's office accused her of taking a softer position in order to gain support from Russia in the upcoming 2010 election. Andriy Kyslynskyi, the president's deputy chief of staff, went as far as to call her a 'traitor'.[35] According to BYuT, Viktor Baloha (Chief of Staff of the Presidential Secretariat) had criticized the premier at every turn, accusing her of everything from not being religious enough to damaging the economy and that she was plotting to kill him and that the accusation of 'betrayal' over Georgia was simply one of the latest and most pernicious attacks directed at the premier.[36][37][38][39][40]

After Tymoshenko BYuT voted alongside the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Party of Regions to pass legislation that would facilitate the procedure of impeachment for President[41] and limiting the President's power while increasing the Prime Minister's powers President Yushchenko's bloc pulled out of the coalition and Yushchenko promised to veto legislation[42][43] and threatened an election if a new coalition was not formed soon. This resulted in the 2008 Ukrainian political crisis, which culminated in dissolution of the Ukrainian parliament on October 8, 2008.[44] While visiting Italy President Yushchenko announced Ukraine's third general election in less than three years in a pre-recorded speech on Ukrainian television.[7] Tymoshenko was fiercely opposed to the snap election stating: "No politician would throw Ukraine into snap elections at this important time. But, if Yushchenko and Yanukovych – who are ideologists of snap elections – throw the country into snap elections, then they will bear responsibility for all the consequences of the global financial crisis on Ukraine".[45]

Footnotes and references

  1. Tymoshenko's first name is variously transliterated as Yuliya, Yulia, Iulia, or Julia.
  2. Westcott, Kathryn. "The queen of Ukraine's image machine", BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-10-05. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 MacDonald, Elizabeth; Chana R. Schoenberger (July 28, 2005). "The 100 Most Powerful Women", Forbes. Retrieved on 2007-10-05. 
  4. "The 100 Most Powerful Women", Forbes (August 27, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-08-27. 
  5. Feifer, Gregory (October 2, 2007). "Ukraine's Tymoshenko Likely Prime Minister", National Public Radio. Retrieved on 2007-10-05. 
  6. Olearchyk, Roman; Stefan Wagstyl (October 2, 2007). "A tough and populist maverick", Financial Times. Retrieved on 2007-10-05. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 "Snap election called in Ukraine", BBC News (8 October 2008). Retrieved on 2008-10-08. 
  8. Ukraine calls early election, Reuters, October 8, 2008.
  9. "Ukraine president calls election for December". Irish Times (2008-10-09). Retrieved on 2008-10-09.
  10. "Tymoshenko Not Intending To Resign". Ukrainian News Agency (October 10, 2008).
  11. "Tymoshenko won’t resign until a new coalition is formed". UNIAN (October 10, 2008).
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Biography of Yulia Tymoshenko". Personal web site of Yulia Tymoshenko. Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
  13. According to Matthew Brzezinski (author of "Casino Moscow: A Tale of Greed and Adventure on Capitalism's Wildest Frontier"), "gained control over nearly 20% of Ukraine's gross national product, an enviable position that probably no other private company in the world could boast." Quoted by James Meek, "The millionaire revolutionary," The Guardian (26/11/2004).
  14. James Meek,"The millionaire revolutionary", The Guardian (26 November 2004)
  15. 15.0 15.1 Billen, Andrew (May 20, 2006). "Crowning glory awaits the Orange heir apparent", Kyiv Post. Retrieved on 2007-10-05. 
  16. Westcott, Kathryn. "The queen of Ukraine's image machine", BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-10-05. 
  17. "Ukraine opposition leader injured", BBC News (January 29, 2002). Retrieved on 2007-10-05. 
  18. "Former Ukraine PM is jailed in US", BBC News (August 25, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-08-26. 
  19. Laws of Ukraine. Presidential decree No. 144/2005: On the recognition of Y. Tymoshenko as the Prime Minister of Ukraine. Passed on 2004-02-04. (Ukrainian)
  20. "Ukraine's former Orange allies reach coalition deal, Tymoshenko to be PM", Kyiv Post. Retrieved on 2006-08-26. 
  21. "Sit-in disrupts Ukraine assembly", BBC News (June 29, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-08-26. 
  22. "Yanukovych called off the blockade", Ukrayinska Pravda (July 6, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-08-26. 
  23. "The Party of Regions Demands 10 Parliamentary Committees", Ukrayinska Pravda (July 5, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-08-26. 
  24. "Roman Bezsmertnyi: Our Ukraine transfers to opposition". Official web-site of Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc. Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
  25. Y. TYMOSHENKO, "Containing Russia" in Foreign Affairs, May–June 2007, pp. 69–83.
  26. I. KHRESTIN, "The Kremlin’s Issue with Foreign Affairs" in The Weekly Standard, April 17, 2007.
  27. Russian Embassy to South Africa, Russian MFA Information and Press Department Commentary Regarding a Question from RIA Novosti Concerning Yulia Tymoshenko’s Article ‘Containing Russia’ in the Journal Foreign Afffairs.
  28. Foreign Affairs, Vol. 86 No.3, p.82
  29. The Article by Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov "Containing Russia: Back to the Future?"
  30. RFERL.
  31. "Orange bloc edges to poll victory", BBC News (October 3, 2007). Retrieved on 2006-08-26. 
  32. "Ukrainian Parliament Continues Shift Towards Yushchenko" (in Russian), Korrespondent (October 15, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-15. 
  33. "Parliament named Tymoshenko as the Prime Minister of Ukraine" (in Russian), Korrespondent (December 18, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-18. 
  34. >"Youtube" (in Ukrainian), Youtube: Yulia Tymoshenko elected Prime-Minister (December 18, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-18. 
  35. "Ukraine PM accused of 'high treason' over Georgia", EurActiv (2008-08-20). Retrieved on 2008-09-10. 
  36. "Newsletter for the international community providing views and analysis from the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT)" (PDF), Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko (2008-09-08). Retrieved on 2008-09-08. 
  37. "Baloha: Tymoshenko not Orthodox, she practices another faith", UNIAN (2008-07-29). Retrieved on 2008-07-29. 
  38. "Baloha: Tymoshenko promised Putin not to support Ukraine`s joining NATO MAP", UNIAN (2008-07-16). Retrieved on 2008-07-16. 
  39. "Baloha accuses Tymoshenko of deliberate destroying coalitionUNIAN" (2008-04-10). Retrieved on 2008-04-10. 
  40. "Baloha calls on to sack Ministers from government’s economic bloc", UNIAN (2008-04-15). Retrieved on 2008-04-15. 
  41. "Tymoshenko "calms down" Baloha saying his chief must not be concerned", Ukrainian Independent Information Agency (2008-09-01). Retrieved on 2008-09-10. 
  42. "Why Ukraine's Pro-Western Coalition Split", Time (2008-09-04). Retrieved on 2008-09-10. 
  43. "Yushchenko May Dissolve Ukraine Parliament, Call Vote", Bloomberg (2008-09-03). Retrieved on 2008-09-10. 
  44. "Ukraine gets third election in three years". Radio Netherlands (2008-10-08). Retrieved on 2008-10-08.
  45. "Tymoshenko to propose creating “megacoalition” during NSDC meeting". Personal web site of Yulia Tymoshenko (20 October 2008).

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Viktor Yanukovych
Prime Minister of Ukraine
2007 – present
Incumbent
Preceded by
Mykola Azarov
Prime Minister of Ukraine
2005
Succeeded by
Yuriy Yekhanurov
Party political offices
Preceded by
Office created
Leader of Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc
2001 – present
Incumbent
Persondata
NAME Tymoshenko, Yulia Volodymyrivna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Ukrainian politician
DATE OF BIRTH November 27, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Dnipropetrovsk, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukrainian SSR
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH