Left without mommy...

“Being in the pre-trial prison and watching the consideration of my appeal that has turned into a show I would like to refuse to participate in any further appeal processes or cassations,” Tymoshenko’s advocate Serhii Vlasenko quoted her declaration on December 21.

Actually, Tymoshenko’s decision is understandable and explicable since she cannot set any hopes on Kirieiev’s justice. However, it is significant that it was the third piece of news from the Lukianivka pre-trial prison over the last week. Before that Tymoshenko had kept silent for a month. Probably, some people have understood that it was impossible and even inappropriate to break communication between Tymoshenko and the outer world any longer. By the way, these people are not Yanukovych or even Pshonka…

We remind our readers that in her first message Tymoshenko decided to dot her i’s and cross her t’s clarifying who rules her political force while the leader is in prison and deflated the rumor about the split in Batkivshchyna saying that despite voting for the Law “On the parliamentary elections” everything is OK in her party. “Now the disinformation about the split between the party and me is being massively spread… This is a deliberate provocation of Yanukovych’s environment.”

However, as they say there is no smoke without fire. Every party has certain problems and none of their members wants to foul their own nest. Obviously, the problems inside BYuT are quite serious.

If one examines the recent developments in BYuT two things will strike one’s eyes. The first one is that after Tymoshenko’s arrest they have not organized a single serious and large action in her support. Certainly, one might say that the party is experiencing financial difficulties. However, BYuT had never been a poor party and did not become poor after Tymoshenko was arrested. Gathering 10 to 20 thousand people for a protest action is not difficult for any political party which has been recently demonstrated by the party Front Zmin. However, it has not been done.

Another thing is the direct support of the members of BYuT, besides, even the members of the Party of Regions remarked it. The sessions in the court are usually attended by 15 to 20 people. Where are the rest of them?

“We should admit that not all the deputies are active,” member of BYuT Andrii Pavlovsky excuses (by the way, Pavlovsky regularly attends all the sessions). “Some people lack civic courage, not all of them are fighters. Moreover, we have a lot of elderly people aged 65 and 70. It is difficult to imagine professor Hnatkevych fighting hand to hand with a ‘Berkut’ colonel. Now ‘Berkut’ fighters can easily hit a deputy.”

However, communist Spyrydon Kilinkarov opines that it is difficult to control such parties as Batkivshchyna without a strong leader since they are based on the leadership. “When the leader leaves or is unable to head a political project or a party a lot of people are tempted to take the helm. On the one hand, there is deputy head Turchynov, but on the other hand, there are the people who were directly related to Tymoshenko and they have their own ambitions. Not all of them want to work under Turchynov’s management.”

According to political expert Vadym Karasiov, Tymoshenko sees and understands it but as a good strategist and tactician she realizes that they cannot make public the “negative dialectics” inside BYuT.

“First of all, it is a present for enemies, secondly, it is negative signal for the voters. If the voters see that there are problems in BYuT they will support Yatseniuk and other oppositionists and will be disoriented. Tymoshenko has taken the right stand. Except the bombshell of the suggestion about the united list she tried to gently disavow the rumors about the disagreements inside BYuT though she knew about them.

“Secondly, she was against the law on the elections but she was faced with the fact. However, she did not make it public. If she had done so, she would have just emphasized that she could not completely control BYuT. She was against firing Kyrylenko but she decided to keep silent about it.”

However, the behavior of the members of BYuT is understandable. They remind of teenagers who got rid of their “mommy’s” pressure and want to get at the driver’s seat. They “brought her cartridges” for so many years and finally gained their freedom. By the way, they have a very effective election slogan “Yuli voliu” [Freedom to Yulia. – Ed.]. However, what are they worth of without Tymoshenko? That is a question…