UDAR MP proposes Leonid Kravchuk as premier...

UDAR is striking a blow. This party’s MP Serhii Kaplin wrote in his Facebook page on February 13 that the new Ukrainian Cabinet should be chaired by Ukraine’s first president Leonid Kravchuk rather than by Arsenii Yatseniuk. By this logic, someone from the Fatherland faction should suggest that the government be headed by… Leonid Kuchma. For the sake of fairness, it would be a good idea to name Viktor Yushchenko, too, but it is not clear which parliamentary faction could do so. Naturally, these are all jokes, and the idea of proposing Kuchma as premier was born as something incredible. But now that UDAR has made some “passes” to Fatherland, this idea begins to assume some discernible outlines.

For example, the UDAR leader Vitali Klitschko challenged Viktor Yanukovych to a debate the week before last. The latter seemed to have agreed. But Klitschko backpedaled very soon, saying that, before doing so, Yanukovych should resign as president. In reply, the president’s advisor Hanna Herman said ironically: “The president will give him time to prepare.”

Conversely, Yulia Tymoshenko managed to turn Klitschko’s “pass” to her own advantage and also challenged Yanukovych to a debate.

But Herman told The Day that “it is mindless even to comment on this.”

Tymoshenko is “a politician of war,” and even a two-year stint behind bars failed to curb her rebellious streak.

“Ms. Tymoshenko is preparing to take part in the next presidential elections,” political scientist Mykhailo Basarab comments to The Day.

“The fact that Ms. Tymoshenko is always the talk of the town and arouses lively interest shows that, in spite of all the efforts of the government, she is the hub of political events,” Fatherland’s political scientist Oleh Medvediev told The Day briefly. He added that he would be able to say more in detail about the motivation of Tymoshenko’s latest political gestures only after a conversation with Arsenii Yatseniuk and Oleksandr Turchynov about the results of their latest meeting with the Fatherland leader.

As for Yatseniuk, he “went green,” both literally and figuratively, after meeting Tymoshenko. First he was splashed over with brilliant green and then Turchynov “revealed” (quite tauntingly) that it was the Maidan that would decide whether Yatseniuk will be the premier.

“Yatseniuk did not get a go-ahead from Tymoshenko to assume the office of prime minister in the Yanukovych government,” Basarab says. “Nor will Yatseniuk enlist the Maidan’s support for this. Tymoshenko has again stressed his secondary role in the current government and showed that she still remains the No.1 figure in this political force.”

“Tymoshenko will only be able to take part in the next presidential elections if Yanukovych relinquishes his presidential powers ahead of time and the opposition comes to power,” Basarab continues. “The escalation of the conflict, radical actions, and a true revolution is what Tymoshenko counts on.”

But if the opposition accepts the formation of a coalition government and has a new Constitution adopted, this will mean a reconciliation of sorts between the oppositional and the pro-governmental elites, the political scientist says, “Coming to an understanding will ward off the explosion of social discontent at the moment of the 2015 elections. In this case, Tymoshenko will still remain in prison and outside the presidential race. She is very well aware of this, and this clearly does not suit her,” Basarab says.

The impression is we see preparations for Yulia Tymoshenko’s “spectacular” comeback to big politics. Experts believe this process will be accompanied with “thunder and lightning.”