Ukrainian Leader Fires His Government
MOSCOW, Sept. 8 - President Viktor A. Yushchenko of Ukraine dismissed his prime minister and the rest of the cabinet today as internal divisions and accusations of corruption splintered the political coalition that led last year's popular uprising against his predecessor's autocratic government.
Mr. Yushchenko appointed a regional governor and former aide, Yury I. Yekhanurov, as acting prime minister, replacing Yulia V. Tymoshenko, a fiery reformer whose leadership proved politically popular, but also divisive and debilitating in government.
One of her strongest allies, the chairman of the Ukrainian Security Services, Oleksandr V. Turchinov, who had not been dismissed, resigned in protest almost immediately afterward. He warned that Mr. Yushchenko's decision "threatened the national security of Ukraine," the service's spokeswoman said in a telephone interview, citing his resignation letter.
Mr. Yushchenko, in somber remarks broadcast on national television, said he had acted to end internal struggles for power among those who organized what became known as the "Orange Revolution," when tens of thousands poured into the streets of Kiev to protest a fraudulent presidential election last fall.
He described his decision as a reluctant, though necessary one, saying pointedly that as president he "should not baby-sit" his squabbling aides.
"Ukraine was losing momentum, including economic pace," he said, as transcribed and translated by the British Broadcasting Service. "I think members of my team listened to the president but did not hear him. And today I have cut the Gordian knot, however difficult it may be."
Barely seven months after his inauguration promised a newly transparent and democratic era, Mr. Yushchenko has found himself facing a political crisis - with his closest aides not only deeply divided, but also facing accusations of the sort that dogged his predecessor, Leonid D. Kuchma.
He announced the government's dismissal only hours after the second senior aide in a week resigned, accusing Mr. Yushchenko's government of creating "a system of corruption." Oleksandr O. Zinchenko, his former campaign manager, resigned as chief of staff last Saturday and later accused the administration of being "even worse" that Mr. Kuchma's. That thrust into public internal divisions that have simmered for months, hindering the government's work.
A third aide at the center of the accusations, Petro Poroshenko, the secretary of the newly empowered Security and Defense Council, also announced his resignation today. He denied accusations of corruption, but said he would step aside to avoid the appearance of thwarting an investigation into the charges. "For me, honor and dignity remain a higher value than my post," he said in a statement, Interfax reported.
Since taking office, Ms. Tymoshenko and Mr. Poroshenko emerged as powerful rivals within the government, vying for influence and political power. Yulia Tishchenko of the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research in Kiev said in a telephone interview that Mr. Yushchenko's crisis was a result of a new government structure that gave both officials greater powers than their predecessors had, though overlapping ones.
"Each of the members of the new team wanted to get as much authority as they could, which was not good for the system," she said.
At the heart of the internal divisions - and evidently the source of the accusations of corruption have been the government's efforts to review some of the dubious privatizations that took place during Mr. Kuchma's presidency. Ms. Tymoshenko has been a proponent of reviewing dozens of privatization deals, at times contradicting Mr. Yushchenko's more modest goals to review only some of them.
The latest conflict involved a court ruling that overturned the 2003 privatization of a major steel factory, Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant. The new owner, Viktor Pinchuk, Mr. Kuchma's son-in-law and one of the country's richest men, appealed, but in the meantime minority shareholders elected a new management team.
Mr. Pinchuk and the plant's workers rallied last week, declaring the shareholders meeting illegal and confronting riot police sent to enforce the court's order in a tense standoff. Mr. Pinchuk, in an interview at the time, accused Ms. Tymoshenko of trying to wrest control of the plant for her allies.
In his remarks today, Mr. Yushchenko referred to the showdown, saying that while the court's order was "deeply correct," he lamented "the intrigues behind the scenes" that nearly resulted in an armed clash.
"The finale of the story had nothing to do with attempts to hand the company from a gang over to the state," he said, "but it appeared that it was handed over from one gang to another. Therefore the people had a right to protest."
He did not elaborate.
It remains to be seen whether Mr. Yushchenko's action will staunch a slippage of popular support among Ukrainians, whose enthusiasm for his democratic, market-oriented reforms appears to have diminished because of inflation and signs of an economic slowdown, as well as the government's in-fighting.
It is not even certain that the parliament - fractured into blocks led by many of those dismissed today - will confirm Mr. Yekhanurov or the cabinet he forms.
Ms. Tymoshenko, who leads her own faction in the parliament, did not immediately comment on her dismissal, but aides said she would hold a news conference in Kiev on Friday.
Her dismissal came as Ukraine's political parties, including those opposed to Mr. Yushchenko's government have begun jockeying for support in advance of parliamentary elections next March. Those elections have added significance because of an agreement that resolved the disputed presidential elections.
Mr. Yushchenko, Mr. Kuchma and parliamentary leaders cleared the way for a rerun of last November's disputed runoff that initially declared Yiktor F. Yanukovich the winner by agreeing to expand the authority of the parliament, giving its deputies the power to choose a prime minister and the rest of the government.
Ms. Tishchenko said that the parliamentary faction led by Ms. Tymoshenko showed signs of winning greater support, at the expense of the party Mr. Yushchenko once led, Our Ukraine.
Mr. Yushchenko referred poignantly and personally to the country's current state, citing the poisoning that disfigured his face on the eve of last year's election - a crime that has yet to be solved.
"A year ago I ran for president not to see key state institutions struggling to find understanding and failing to find accord and mutual trust," he said. "That is not what I sought as I have been walking for a year with a face that is not mine."
Wrestling with Corruption
www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2005/08/13/international/20050813_CORRUPTION_FEATURE.html
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