Yulia in the Sky With Diamonds

Q: What’s the difference between middle-class Ukrainians and upper-class Ukrainians?

A: Middle-class Ukrainians make up about 5% of the population. By contrast, upper-class Ukrainians run the government (or have friends/relatives there) and often report middle-class incomes.

Take PM/gasocialite Yulia Tymoshenko.

She cloaks herself in her Louis Vuitton attire and flies off to Luxembourg, begging for a $4B loan to compensate for her Putin-leaning gas deal.


She dresses to impress.



She puts on a $550 Louis Vuitton scarf, complete with the LV logo, as if to tell the EU how badly she needs the money.


No wonder, she gets the finger (as of this writing).

By the way, until April 2009, when she filed her 2008 tax returns, she had reported lower-middle-class earnings (by European standards).

According to her 2004-2007 tax returns, she had owned neither cars nor stock nor real estate. Not bad for someone who lives in a splendid mansion worth several million dollars. Initially, she claimed to have bought it but then claimed to have rented it, with no rent whatsoever quoted in her tax returns.

Now, take her aide, Olha Trehubova.


This government official obviously wants to keep up with her boss — or even surpass her boss. While in Luxembourg, she wore a waterproof Ulysse Nardin watch — 18 carats of gold plus a diamond-laced dial — worth $25,430.






The two ladies go way back — back to Tymoshenko’s “Gas Princess” years: In the mid ‘90s, Tymoshenko’s company, United Energy Systems of Ukraine, was trading billions of dollars in natural gas.

A longtime confidante of Tymoshenko, Trehubova has been the definition of success for a Ukrainian government official. Thanks to Ukraine’s overblown MP perks — and contrary to Tymoshenko’s sweet promises — she became the proud owner of a taxpayer-paid apartment in an upscale Kyiv neighborhood. Her son landed a spot on the BYuT party list and became an MP. That’s what friends are for, right?

Oh, I forgot to mention the model name of her watch: Lady Diver.

Come Election Day, I hope both ladies take the dive they deserve.

Sources:
http://tabloid.pravda.com.ua/brand/4a3f955cb98d6/
http://tabloid.pravda.com.ua/brand/4a391ace277c4/