Yanukovych Walks Pro-Govt Reporters Through His Mezhyhirya Residence

He’s just a guy next door.



Enjoy this long-anticipated but kind of limited-view tour! Get the big picture here.

The show hit the airwaves last night (Constitution Day). Prime time. On just about every major channel.


Out-jogging Tymoshenko

Yanukovych: I believe that every person has the right to a private…life, and there are some areas, like — it’s...doesn’t matter if it’s a politician or not a politician, see — that belongs [sic] to him. And he doesn’t want someone invading…

Kulykov (ICTV): Today, we’ve sneaked a peek into your private life.

Yanukovych: ...to...tou...touching [them]. Well, I do allow…it’s on my permission. I don’t allow just anyone...

Kulykov: And considering...considering...

Yanukovych: ...just anyone. I allow — and every person allows — those whom they allow...those, uh, one has respect for, certain trust in, and you know that this person, they, so to speak, don't carry a big chip on their shoulder. Same with me. I’m like everybody else.

“I’m like everybody else.” Why not put it on this wall?

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/articles/2011/06/28/6338987/
http://inter.ua

In Kyiv, a Yanukovych-Only Highway!

All roads lead to Rome? No way! Some roads lead straight to Mezhyhirya.



From the maker of “Ukraine for the People”... The road that few people can approach, let alone use!

Kýrie, eléison, down the road that I must travel...



Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/158796.html Original source: http://stb.ua

Yanukovych Explains Gas-for-Fleet

My voters like me, the West likes me, Russia likes me.

Who the hell do you think you are if you don’t like me?

Yanukovych: After five years of making an enemy of Russia, it was not easy to restore the Russian leadership’s trust toward Ukraine. But I have managed to do that and today I am ready to report to my voters. From now on, dialogue with our big neighbor will rest on the basis of equality, good neighborhood and healthy pragmatism, not confrontation and anti-Russian rhetoric.

Was this achieved at too high a price? No. Because the agreements reached with Moscow are mutually beneficial. The documents signed in Kharkiv will secure a significant decrease in the price of gas, which means an increase in the social welfare of every Ukrainian, the beginning of our economy’s recovery from a deep crisis.

It also means a guaranteed strength...strengthening of energy security for the entire continent of Europe. The entire civilized world has approved of the results of my negotiations with President Medvedev. In Washington, Brussels, in all European capitals, they are considered a definite success for Ukraine.

It is only our opposition that re...remains unsatisfied. Why do they call you to new barricades? Why are they shaking up the stabilnist that was achieved for the first in the many years of endless wars between government leaders? Because once again they seek to dissolve Parliament in the name of so-called political expediency. Because they understand this: Stabilnist, a strong chain of command, order and normalization of relations with Russia is their political demise.

Once again, they are struggling for power at any price. They need war. The recent events in the Verkhovna Rada have shown that the political adventurists are ready to toss smoke grenades not only on the Parliament floor but also at the entire Ukraine. We need stabilnist and development, the ability to work normally, pass reforms and be friends with our neighbors.

And we will achieve this just as we have managed to resist, in kind, the opponents of changes for the better. Soon, you will be convinced that we are heading in the right direction. I bear personal responsibility for this. I promise you: Ukraine will be strong and prosperous. Movement toward this goal has begun.
1:40-4:24

Speaking of movement, we now have a Yanukovych-only highway in Kyiv!

This highway helps Yanukovych move from his Principality of Yanuco (aka Mezhyhirya) to his workplace and back — as people-free as possible.
Reform #4 (underway): Naftogaz+nuclear power+aerospace industry+you name it=Friendship With Russia, Inc.


“Sold!”

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/157760.html Original source: http://kanalukraina.tv

Another Brawl in the Rada

Both claim they care about the people. One claims he cares more than the other.

Both belong to a caste that loves Ukraine at a rate of $40K per year (10 times Ukraine’s nominal GDP per capita) and change.

For them, change means millions of dollars worth of “unexplained money” that buys them luxury cars, watches, mansions, etc.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome MP Vladyslav Lukyanov (PRU) and his partner-in-loving-Ukraine MP Oleh Lyashko (BYuT)!



It all began Thursday morning with a routine tie-grabbing brawl, featuring Lukyanov and Lyashko. (Putin clearly missed out on this one.)

Lukyanov then used the occasion to criticize the Tymoshenko government’s refusal to raise pensions, a cause championed by the Party of Regions and President Yushchenko.

Using Lyashko’s battle-scarred tie as an illustration of Ukraine’s giant income distribution gap, Lukyanov led the emotional charge. Ukraine’s average monthly pension — Hr. 680 ($85) — pales by comparison to Lyashko’s tie, worth Hr. 3,000 ($375), Lukyanov hollered.

That’s the price quote that Lukyanov said he had heard from Lyashko in private.

Lukyanov claims to be the proud owner of an $11 tie, which he bought in Japan. Meanwhile, Lyashko argues that his tie costs about Hr. 500 ($63).

Go figure.

Sources:
http://pravda.com.ua/news/2009/11/19/105590.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdy8gGbC790

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/

Herman Doesn’t Remember the $100K Car She Jumped Into

She lives in a village hut and wears a $50K watch.

Tabloid paparazzi spied on her again and here's what they found...




What looks like a $10K diamond ring...








A $1,400 Derek Lam shoulder handbag...




A pair of $800-$1,200 Chanel shoes...




A $100,000 Toyota Land Cruiser.

None of this stuff shows up on her tax returns.

She says she doesn't remember the car. Tabloid says her son was driving it.

Ukraine ranks 134th on the 2008 Corruption Perception Index, out of the 180 countries surveyed.

Sources:
http://tabloid.pravda.com.ua/brand/4a29237bedafb/

Food Prices A Mystery for Ministers

When you drive cars like that, do you really care?

Reporter: Please tell us, do you know the current price of a loaf of bread, ten eggs, and a kilogram of meat?

Minister of Transport, Yosyp Vinsky: This question goes to my wife.

Minister of Justice, Mykola Onishchuk: I actually don’t have time to do shopping, so I’d rather not engage in a discussion regarding the prices for these groceries.

Minister of Family Affairs, Yuriy Pavlenko: I’ll tell you everything, definitely. Hahaha!

Minister of Labor, Lyudmyla Denysova: I don’t buy eggs because of the fast. A loaf of bread — well, my daughter buys that. [We make] toasts. I actually don’t eat them because I don’t dine at home at all.

Is that the same daughter you hired out of college to run the price controls board in Sevastopol? What if she doesn't dine at home either?

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/116491.html
Original source: http://kanalukraina.tv

Kuzhel Wears $40K Watch, Rudkovsky Has Good Time

When she says bribe, she means a discount.

When she wears a $40K Frank Muller watch, what does she mean?


Oleksandra Kuzhel is something of a socialite, except that she runs the State Committee on Regulatory Policy and Entrepreneurship. Her official monthly salary hardly exceeds a few thousand dollars.



Mykola Rudkovsky no longer runs the Ministry of Transport. He’s unemployed.



Does this ladykiller/ladycarrier look like a man who’s going to jail for misappropriation?



Thank you, dear Tabloid, for yet another update on Yushchenko’s “one law for all!”

Sources:
http://tabloid.pravda.com.ua/brand/49a416ee5c055/
http://tabloid.pravda.com.ua/photos/49ad40fcabff0/
http://tabloid.pravda.com.ua/photos/499d32c45a43f/

Davos Meets Donbas: Bohatyryova Flashes $20K Watch

“Wearing a watch like this around here is de rigueur. Let’s not write about this subject because it’s uninteresting and mean.”

That’s what she told Serhiy Leshchenko of Ukrayinska Pravda.


Boy, did she wear that $20K Harry Winston watch at Davos!


Back in Ukraine, she likes Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel. She drives a Porsche Cayenne.

Who is she? A celebrity?


No, a civil servant!

She serves as Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. Before accepting Yushchenko’s job offer, she used to be a Party of Regions MP and, early in her career, a gynecologist.

In Ukraine, the road from rags to riches is often paved with civil service. Indeed, civil service works miracles in Ukraine. It makes them celebrities before they know it.



It makes it de rigueur for them to consume some of the world’s most expensive brands to run Europe’s second-to-last poorest country.

Sources:
http://tabloid.pravda.com.ua/brand/4989c45877d7d
http://tabloid.pravda.com.ua/brand/471e01c9cc19e
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2009/2/2/88875.htm

Kyiv Mayor Breaks Traffic Rules, Video Shows

With traffic laws getting tougher, many drivers have rediscovered safer driving, bringing accident rates down.

Still, the tougher laws don’t work for the tough guys (aka mazhory) who remain secure in the belief they can get away with murder. (The tougher laws certainly didn’t work for the tough Mercedes S600 guy who ignored traffic lights and hit a woman at full speed. The woman died. The driver, DUI, attempted to flee the scene.)

A non-lethal yet high-profile traffic violation case involves Kyiv Mayor Leonid “Kosmos” Chernovetsky, whose Rolls-Royce took the opposite lane — at least twice — while driving away from a restaurant.

STB caught the act on its candid camera and took the footage to the top brass at the DAI (spelled da-yi), the country’s highway patrol police.

Cop 1 detected three violations, for a total of Hr. 1,500 ($195) in fines, but added that the footage cannot be used as evidence. Cop 2 found two violations, punishable with a fine of Hr. 255-340 ($33-44), and said the footage must be examined for authenticity.

The DAI will report its ruling within 15 days.

Meanwhile, Mayor Chernovetsky orders cemeteries to charge entry fees and then raids kindergartens to sing “V lesu rodilas yolochka” in front of the cameras.




More “one law for all” updates. Vitaliy Finegold, the Crimean mazhor who killed a 25-year old woman with his Bentley last summer, has been released from custody. Police claims putting Finegold under oath not to leave town, pending investigation of him as a witness, not as a suspect.

In a country where judges harvest bribes, the system holds very little justice for the likes of Finegold.

A week ago, a court in Lutsk summarily amnestied the sons of a Rivne Court of Appeals judge, after sentencing them to 48 and 54 months’ imprisonment for beating a man to death.

The court based its ruling on “extenuating circumstances”: the younger defendant was a minor at the time of the crime, the older defender has two children.

Videos uploaded from:
http://kiev.pravda.com.ua/news/49788149d4ba5/
http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/112177.html
Original sources:
http://stb.ua
http://5.ua

Forget Frugality: Kyiv Governor Sports a Mercedes S550 4Matic!

Some public officials just don’t seem to heed the President’s call for frugality.





Meet Kyiv Oblast Governor Vira Ulyanchenko, a friend of President Yushchenko and his appointee, who sped away from the recent NUNS convention in a Mercedes S550 4Matic.




Asked by Serhiy Leshchenko of Ukrayinska Pravda about her luxury car, Governor Ulyanchenko replied, “That’s a leftover from Zasukha,” referring to former governor Anatoliy Zasukha, the local pillar of the Kuchma regime.

The only problem with her story, says Leshchenko, is that the Mercedes S550 4Matic simply did not exist during the Kuchma era.

Further investigation revealed that the car, bought in 2008, is registered to Ulyanchenko’s driver and, by arrangement, may also be used by her husband’s driver.

According to Ulyanchenko’s 2005 tax returns, she and her husband made Hr. 112,000 ($22,178) and Hr. 123,000 ($24,356) respectively and had no savings. In 2006, Ulyanchenko earned a monthly salary of Hr. 7,000 ($1,386).

Nice car, Mrs. Governor!

One more car thing. Here’s how President Yushchenko and PM Tymoshenko left the scene of the tragedy in Yevpatoria.





The “two for the road” failed to buckle up, thus violating traffic rules.

According to Tymoshenko, she and Yushchenko consumed two bottles of cognac on their flight back to Kyiv. “Bohatyryova was the third one. But I remained the soberest one,” Tymoshenko was quoted as saying.

Sources:
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/12/30/87030.htm
http://tabloid.pravda.com.ua/scandal/49592100d6a2b/
http://pravda.com.ua/news/2008/12/29/86938.htm
Photo credits: Ukrayinska Pravda, Tabloid

Yushchenko’s Guards Beat Up Elderly Orange Revolution Vet

Baba Paraska represents the Orange Revolution as Joe the Plumber represents the American middle class.

I last saw her on November 22, at the Holodomor commemoration service attended by President Yushchenko. On December 15, President Yushchenko came to lay flowers at the Monument to Vyacheslav Chornovil, the famous Rukh opposition leader. And so did Baba Paraska, except that she came uninvited. She’s now in the hospital — thanks to Yushchenko’s guards.

Her story epitomizes the plight of the Orange Revolution. It highlights the downslide of Yushchenko’s leadership: from the “People’s President” who mixed and mingled with Maidaners to one who shuns them.

Still, he has to live with increased freedom of the press, the salvage value of the Orange Revolution. Baba Paraska’s story gained wide publicity in the Ukrainian media.

Baba Paraska: Isn't it because of the presidential entourage that you don’t want to talk to me? I didn’t sell myself for money.

Narrator: Baba Paraska got beaten — by none other than the President’s security detail. The warrior woman is certain of that, as certain as she is of the ideals of Maidan.

Baba Paraska: So here I am standing. They all surrounded me real tight here. A car came and instantly they grabbed me by the shoulders and legs, and, folding me in half, they’re hauling me into the car, and from above, and mumbling and pummeling me with fists in the shoulders and kidneys. And from the back, one can’t see that the car has approached, and already they’re hitting me in the back and twisting me into a bow and throwing me into the car. Now I’m beaten and it’s been four years since they haven’t allowed me near him. I’m very upset about Na…because I don’t know if it’s Nasha Ukrayina or whatever that’s putting such entourage on me. I’ll tell the President what entourage…[incoherent]

Narrator: The President didn’t find any time at all for his fellow Maidaner. Yushchenko’s spokeswoman, Iryna Vannykova, did find the time: 2 minutes.

Iryna Vannikova: Hello?
Baba Paraska: Irusyu, good evening, sweetheart. This is Babka Paraska…

Iryna Vannikova: Good evening.
Baba Paraska: …calling.

Iryna Vannikova: Yes, please.
Baba Paraska: Do you hear me, sweetheart? Do you hear me? Hello? Hello? What’s up with her?

Narrator: Paraska is disappointed. She doesn’t have the courage to call the man himself, even though she says she does have the number. She dials Larysa Mudrak, chief of the presidential press service.

Larysa Mudrak: Don’t worry, don’t cry. Everything will be alright. Go get some rest and medical treatment. Everything will be alright. We’ll get the word out, we’ll file a complaint against the guards.

Baba Paraska: Don’t hang up on me, I’m begging you, because Irynka, the President’s secretary, hung up on me. They dumped me like a dog. Mr. President, did I really deserve this, darling?

A report in Segodnya quotes Baba Paraska as saying:

My back hurts, and so does something inside. It’s hard to get out of bed. Perhaps there’s a crack in a rib or some abdominal trauma. While being pulled away, I kept saying: Don’t beat me, I’m old enough to be your mother. But they just laughed and pummeled me with fists in the shoulders and kidneys, and then I felt that something cracked in my back.

I had an X-ray but the doctors aren’t telling anything. They only said that the treatment would take six weeks. I’m in a two-person ward. As for medications, they’ve mainly administered painkillers. I feel hurt and bitter to have been treated this way. I’m not a thug. The whole country knows me by face. I believe it’s a spit in the face of all who were at Maidan.

I believe she's right.

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/video
Original sources:
http://stb.ua
http://kanalukraina.tv
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2008/12/15/86085.htm
http://www.segodnya.ua/news/13047477.html

Caring for the Poor — Wearing $40K Coats

Tabloid continues exposing the lifestyles of Ukrainian elites, who proudly divorce themselves from the country’s living standards.

As thousands of Ukrainians lose their subsistence jobs and consumer confidence plunges to its 8-year low, Ukraine’s giant income distribution gap becomes ever more visible.

President Yushchenko’s call for frugality goes only so far.

In fact, it clearly falls on deaf ears when it comes to the President's entourage, including his protégé Leonid “Kosmos” Chernovetsky, the Mayor of Kyiv.




Most interpersonal communication occurs in nonverbal mode, of which clothing makes up a large share. So when a person who professes noblesse oblige puts on a $40K coat to meet and greet homeless children, what does he communicate?








Tabloid estimates the Mayor's entire Zilli collection at Hr. 450,000-500,000, or $62,155-69,061 at the current official exchange rate.

This equals the amount that the City Hall allocated in May for utility bill subsidies to underprivileged Kyivites.

Sources:
http://tabloid.pravda.com.ua/brand/4935708f1005e/
http://www.gfk-geomarketing.com/fileadmin/newsletter/pressrelease/purchasing_power_europe_2008_2009.html
http://kontrakty.com.ua/show/ukr/print_article/34/47200811242.html
http://www.bank.gov.ua/KURS/last_kurs1.htm
http://lucl.lucl.kiev.ua/arxiv/arxiv2008/t1.html
Photos courtesy of Tabloid and Dmytro Amidov of the Kyiv City Hall press service