Medvedev Wants Ukraine to ‘Make the Right Choice’

If you’re a sovereign nation that neighbors Russia, you can count on a biiiiig Christmas wish list!

Q: Who is our Russian candidate in...uh…the course of this presidential campaign in Ukraine, if anyone?

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev: Ha...well...uh...it’s probably Viktor Andreyevich* Yushchenko, if we proceed from the notion that the bul...the bulk of...uh...my...uh...statements on the Ukrainian subject coming from me...from me were in connection with the actions of the incumbent president. On a serious note, Russia certainly doesn’t have and cannot have its own candidates there. Uh...Ukraine is a self-reliant state, a sovereign state, where the president will be determined by the people. And I’m confident that they are capable of sorting through both the political declarations and the course of the difficult political struggle that’s going on there — they almost have twenty candidates there, I think. In summary, the one thing I would very much want is that the next...president of Ukraine — and we naturally will accept any choice of the Ukrainian people (it’s evident, it’s a norm of international law) — would be inclined toward good, cordial — brotherly, if you will — relations with our country: uh...so that the Russian language would out of harm’s way, so that bilateral contacts would be allowed to develop, so that our joint economic projects would develop, so that there wouldn’t be this strange kind of yearning to dive into some foreign military bloc that...uh...will unnerve a large number of people. I’d want this kind of partnership. And I...I very much want — I’m pretty much counting on it — that the Ukrainians make the right choice.

*Patronymic transliterated from Russian

Indeed, for Russia, it’s a tough call.

Tymoshenko: supports Russia v. Georgia, consorts with Yanukovych, signs a whorrible gas deal, and giggles at Putin’s jokes.

Yanukovych: attends United Russia events, dumps Tymoshenko, promises to make Russian a second official language, but abwhores the gas deal.

Anyway, here’s the Kremlin's “right choice” in 2004.

Starring: Kuchma, Putin, Yanukovych (as Kuchma’s heir), Medvedev (as Putin’s chief of staff), and Medvedchuk (as Kuchma’s chief of staff). A friend of Medvedev, Medvedchuk now backs Tymoshenko.

As you can see, Medvedev doesn't always behave like an elitist. Unlike Putin.



Whether it’s Candyman or White Tigress, all is grist to the Kremlin mill in 2010.

All except maybe Yushchenko, who has a windmill of his own and denies striking a power-sharing (Ya prez/Yu PM) deal with Yanukovych.

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/143198.html
Original source: http://www.1tv.ru

Tymoshenko Ducks Questions on Cooperation With Kremlin

Here's how the lady in white handled the hard questions in her interview on Inter.

PM Yulia Tymoshenko: Today, we absolutely can’t have snap elections.

Interviewer: You will contest the decree?
Tymoshenko: I am convinced that this should be done so that there will be no elections. We don’t want elections because it means more chaos, and what’s interesting is that the elections are almost scheduled for New Year’s Eve. That’s when people will be eating olivye and vinehret and will be counting the ballots. It’s insanity, it must be stopped.

Interviewer: You believe the elections won’t take place?
PM Yulia Tymoshenko: I know they won’t take place.

Interviewer: They say that the Kremlin made a bet on you as Ukraine’s next president.

Tymoshenko: Let’s skip this question because, first of all, it’s not yet clear who will make it to the presidential election, and, second, it seems to be that it’s not really appropriate to frame questions that way. Let’s move on to questions like…where it’s clear that…uh…that actually a constructive answer could be provided because [otherwise] I now would start responding to this with nasty things. That’s not necessary [giggles].

Interviewer: When did you last meet Viktor Volodymyrovych Medvedchuk?
Tymoshenko: [pause] I think time is up.

Interviewer: You don’t feel like talking about it?
Tymoshenko: I thank you very much, I thank you very much. It was a wonderful interview. I think we’ve discussed all the important subjects.

Interviewer: Thank you.

Who is Mr. Medvedchuk? Former President Kuchma’s chief of staff and a friend of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. Cooperation between Medvedchuk and Tymoshenko has been widely reported by sources close to Medvechuk and by President Yushchenko.

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/99096.html
Original source: http://inter.ua

Tymoshenko Responds to Accusations of Treason

Recently, deputy chief of the Presidential Secretariat Andriy Kyslynsky accused PM Yulia Tymoshenko of pussyfooting on the Russian invasion of Georgia and lobbying for Russia’s use of the Odesa-Brody pipeline.

He also alleged that Tymoshenko has held secret meetings with pro-Russian power brokers and associates of former President Kuchma on board luxury yachts off Sardinia. It was there that, according to the Presidential Secretariat, she traded Ukraine’s vital interests for the Kremlin’s support, which includes a $1B slush fund for her presidential campaign in 2010.

Watch Tymoshenko’s response.

Such statements by small-time officials do not warrant commentary but, to be honest, they warrant the services of a…well, a good carpenter to have the plaque at the Presidential Secretariat replaced with one that would read "Ward Number Six." Never in my whole life have I been to Sardinia, neither now nor before, and…[giggles]…if the Presidential Secretariat doubts that, they can ask the sardines that swim around Sardinia…[giggles]…and I think that even the sardines will testify that…and they can tell categorically that the Prime Minister hasn’t been there.

Whether honest or not, her answer sounds like a canned joke, doesn’t it?

Even if Tymoshenko did not have secret relations on that island Sardinia, her widely-publicized tandem with Kuchma’s henchman Medvedchuk, a friend of President Medvedev, makes the connection all the more dangerous. In the legendary “Candyman” (2004) video, starring Kuchma, Yanukovych, Medvedchuk and guest-starring Putin and Medvedev, you can find Medvedchuk on Medvedev’s right side.

According to Obozrevatel, which ran a detailed story on Tymoshenko’s vacation, EU intelligence agencies track vessel movement via satellite and share their data with the SBU. That’s how, Obozrevatel says, Tymoshenko’s presence on board luxury yachts that belong to Shufrych and Medvedchuk.

Among the people Tymoshenko met with, Obozrevatel names Dmytro Firtash of RosUkrEnergo, Serhiy Lyovochkin of the Party of Regions, as well as “unidentified Russians that could be prominent entrepreneurs and politicians.”

So what’s in it for Ukraine? Now that President Medvedev-Putin has rubber-stamped the Duma’s recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Crimea could be next on his list. The weaker Ukraine gets, the stronger the temptation to apply the same scenario becomes.

With this cautionary tale in mind, theories regarding "Tymoshenko's treason" range between two possibilities. On the one hand, the Presidential Secretariat may simply be playing the Russian card — in an attempt to resuscitate Yushchenko’s approval ratings. But on the other hand, having an Octopussy run for president would hardly be a bon voyage for Ukraine.

It’s important that Ukrainian politicians and presidential hopefuls unite against the threat of Russian irredentism and remain on the right side.

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/93505.html