Word: kiev
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...presidency away from him, and he was finally President-elect - the results were in from the Dec. 26 poll, and he had pulled over 2.2 million more votes than his opponent, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. That evening Yushchenko was to address his supporters on "the Maidan," or Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Kiev's Independence Square: the symbol of the civil disobedience campaign that erupted in November after Yanukovych "won" a vote marred by massive fraud and led to the Dec. 26 rerun. Yushchenko intended to call on the hundreds still camping on the Maidan to fold up their tents, and invite them...
...path to power has been nothing short of stunning, but heading a loose opposition coalition and ruling a riven nation are very different jobs. Konstantin Bondarenko, director of Kiev's Institute of National Strategy and one of Ukraine's most prominent political analysts, already expresses doubts about Yushchenko's team, which he says is squabbling openly. One important crony, Yuliya Tymoshenko, made her millions in energy and has been accused by both the Russian and Ukrainian authorities of bribery and embezzlement. (Tymoshenko says the allegations are political smears.) She is sniping at Petro Poroshenko, who made his millions...
...daily Izvestiya, Yushchenko last week said that the order to assassinate him came from "those in power." The interview was meant to mollify Russia: Yushchenko stressed that his first foreign visit would be to Moscow. But few could fail to spot the implicit link between those in power in Kiev and in Moscow. Last month Yushchenko focused suspicion on his Sept. 5 dinner with the heads of the Ukrainian security service, the sbu. But that theory faded after experts noted that dioxin needs days or weeks to take effect. The plotters' identities remain unknown. Even if Yushchenko...
...next day, campaigning for the Dec. 26 rerun of the presidential vote, he backtracked a bit, saying he did not intend to accuse the SBU officials themselves of "complicity" in poisoning him at what might have been his last supper. According to Dmytro Ponamarchuk, a Kiev political analyst opposed to Yushchenko, "The meeting was initiated by Yushchenko, and the SBU agreed to it in good faith to discuss how to keep [anticipated street protests] under control in case of rigged elections." A key Yushchenko staffer says that Smeshko made it clear at the dinner that the SBU would remain neutral...
...tumult in the streets escalated, Yanukovych seemed at a loss. At first, he tried to pretend nothing was wrong. Then he disappeared from public view until last Friday, when he told a crowd of 6,000 miners and metalworkers who had been transported by bus and train to Kiev's central station from the east: "I'll give it to you straight. A creeping coup is taking place. We must do everything possible to prevent this coup from happening." After Parliament called for a fresh vote, many felt that the coup had succeeded. "This is banditry," said Irina...