Putin Calls Tymoshenko ‘Yulia Vladimirovich’

After royally pissing Putin off with that Ukraine-EU gas deal and nearly forfeiting the $5B loan, Tymoshenko went to Moscow to please the man.

And guess what? The man's got himself on his mind. Here’s how he referred to Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko (Vladimirovna in Russian):

Russian PM Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin: Today, we've already talked in private meetings and we've talked eye-to-eye with...with Yulia Vladimirovich...uh...with Yulia Vladimirovna...

He went on to address the issue of Ukraine’s solvency, lecturing Tymoshenko and airing his lingering dislike of the EU at the same time.

Putin: The price of the shipment is 5 billion dollars. Go to Brussels...
Reporter: And do what?

Putin: And get 5 billion dollars and pay Gazprom. That’s it.
Reporter: Uh...

Putin: And that’s...the whole matter, down to the last kopeck. The issue being raised here is us financing this issue.

I think I found a picture of Yulia Vladimirovich.



Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/120730.html Original sources:
http://stb.ua
http://tsn.ua

Politspoofs from Obozrevatel

Yushchenko, Tymoshenko, Yanukovych, Firtash, Boiko, Lyovochkin, Putin, Medvedev, gas, the $5B loan... It's all in there!

Enjoy these political spoofs, brought to you by Obozrevatel and based on Nu, pogodi! (Well, Just You Wait!), the Soviet equivalent of Tom and Jerry.





My favorite line (translation mine):

Yushchenko: Країну ми прокутім/This country we'll be looting
Tymoshenko: Бабла одолжит Путин/We'll get the dough from Putin
Yanukovych: Он воздух портит, выпуская газ/He spoils the air with his gas

Videos uploaded from:
http://video.oboz.ua/movie.php?aWQ9MjU0MTkmdnQ9MA
http://video.oboz.ua/movie.php?aWQ9MjU0MjAmdnQ9MA

Watch More of the Yushchenko-Tymoshenko Duel

Enjoy a few more moments from the Tuesday meeting of the RNBO (Rada natsionalnoyi bezpeky i oborony, or National Security and Defense Council).

President Yushchenko: First, the gas price is raised unjustifiably high, then validol is administered: must be hard on you, eh? We’re giving you a boundless loan so that you can pay for what you can’t cover. Then, this loan must be repaid. The budget will not repay this money. It’s understood. The National Bank of Ukraine will say that it has a reserve limit below which it will not go. There’s only one way to service the debt of national state monopoly NAK Naftogaz: its bankruptcy...a bankruptcy with all the assets to be sold toward the settlement of the loan.

PM Tymoshenko: In fact, an attempt was made today — and it’s in progress now — to break all the direct agreements between NAK Naftogaz and Gazprom and to revert to the corrupt shadowy intermediaries RosUkrEnergo. Just in case, I want to tell you that the 11 billion cubic meters of [technological] gas that state enterprise NAK Naftogaz and the entire Ukraine obtained at a discount price of $159.3 — they now want, via an RNBO resolution, to return it to RosUkrEnergo, a private entity, from which they plan to make a profit of at least 4 billion dollars.

Interestingly, the RNBO website does not offer an English version (not even a crappy one) and yet boasts a highly creative English-language URL: http://www.rainbow.gov.ua.

At least, the penny-wise and dollar-stupid leprechauns in the government drop some hints as to the whereabouts of the proverbial pot of gold.


Video uploaded from:
http://obozrevatel.com/_site/src/test/news_video.aspx?_id=285318
Original source:
http://5.ua

Yushchenko Calls $5B Loan 'Molotov-Ribbentrop Protocol' (Updated)

Speaking at a national security meeting Tuesday, President Yushchenko breathed fire at PM Tymoshenko’s dealings with Russia and emphatically denied role in corrupt gas schemes.



I translated some of the juicy quotes (as originally quoted by Ukrayinska Pravda):

The hardest thing morally and psychologically is to comment on the fact that behind these two grand gas agreements a secret Molotov-Ribbentrop protocol was made, when it comes to the $5B loan on the part of Russia.

I find it revolting that, as part of the consultations, without the approval of the head of state, without the approval of parliament, the zero option is being considered.

See No. 11 where it says “the prospects of ratifying the zero option agreement.”

These are serious questions for the Ukrainian nation, ones that should not depend on the improvisation of one person, regardless of the person’s high rank.

The most cynical argument of the last few years was this: work without intermediaries. Should I say the government is working poorly, I get accused of being related to RosUkrEnergo.

I don’t want this, I’m sick of this. I was not involved in your stinky gas for a single day in my life — [it’s not true] that I had some sort of private interest in it, that either I or my family had some private interest in it! I have the honor to say this time and again.

“Not a single word of Mr. Yushchenko is true,” Tymoshenko struck back.

More quotes from Tymoshenko:

As Prime Minister, to cover the planned budget deficit, I contacted several countries to get loans as usual. Today, I’m having talks with all the countries, and all this hogwash that is being said — about some zero options, about the betrayal of national interests — these are non-negotiables.

If we manage to agree with any country in the world, it will be just a simple loan agreement with a market interest rate.

I haven't seen it for the life of me. There’s no Prime Minister’s signature on it. I don’t know where these photocopies came from.

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/2/10/89393.htm
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/2/10/89395.htm
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/2/10/89399.htm
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/2/10/89401.htm
Video uploaded from:
http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/113160.html
Original source:
http://5.ua

Tymo Seeks $5B Loan from Russia to Plug Budget Holes

At a time when Russia is nearly suing Ukraine — thus eroding Tymoshenko’s reassurance that neither side would sue the other — Tymoshenko decides to borrow some money from Russia.

Instead of heeding the call to balance the budget, voiced by President Yushchenko and Finance Minister Pynzenyk, she takes her business elsewhere.

On Thursday, she sent a delegation to Moscow angling for a loan of $5B at an interest rate of LIBOR +8 to +9% for a period of 5 to 7 years, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia reports. Ukrayinska Pravda obtained a copy of the delegation's directives.

In Ukraine, the buck never stops. In Russia, they made big bucks during the oil boom. Like the IMF, they know what they want, and their interests never stop with the interest rate.

As a condition of granting the loan, Moscow requests the following:

• Ratification of the so called “zero option” agreement whereby Russia assumes liability for all debts owed by the USSR while the other former Soviet republics abandon their respective claims on assets owned by the USSR

• Resolution of disputes concerning Ukraine’s claims on Soviet property abroad and Russia’s claims on property in Ukraine

• Recognition of debts owed by Ukrainian enterprises to Vneshekonombank as government debt

Is that too much to ask? Tymoshenko doesn’t think so.

So there she is, beating a path to Putin’s door, trading favors, and doing whatever it takes to get the presidency — whatever the cost.

It must have been the missing link in her Ukrainian Breakthrough program.

Tymoshenko has admitted to getting Russia's approval for the loan, but has denied accepting the conditions listed above.

"It's not true," she said, despite the “zero option” being clearly stated as No. 11 in the directives.

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/2/7/89267.htm
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/2/7/89279.htm
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/2/7/89285.htm
http://www.dt.ua/2000/2020/65376/