Word: kuchma
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...refusal to debate Tymoshenko in the run-up to the election was slammed as antidemocratic by civil-society groups. Hryhoriy Nemyria, Tymoshenko's Deputy Prime Minister, says Yanukovych's team is "Jurassic Park II," with many of the same advisers who worked with his political patron, former President Leonid Kuchma, and were allegedly involved in financial and vote-rigging scandals...
Little wonder. GDP shrank by 15% last year and factories laid off thousands of workers. Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index for 2009 placed Ukraine 146th out of 180 countries, on the same level as Zimbabwe. "Things were better under Leonid Kuchma," says Stepan Grechkivskiy, who owns a milk factory in western Ukraine, referring to Yushchenko's authoritarian predecessor. "There was order, but now there is chaos." (Read more about Ukraine...
That may be true, but Yanukovych, himself a two-time former Prime Minister, was accused by opponents of funneling budget funds and state assets to his backers while in power and he continues to surround himself with Kuchma-era cronies. Tymoshenko claims Yanukovych would be a puppet for the country's powerful oligarchs...
...charge of the effort at the National Security Council. Until recently, Elizabeth Cheney, daughter of the Vice President, oversaw such work at the State Department. In the past, the U.S. has used support for "democracy building" to topple unfriendly dictators, including Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic and Ukraine's Vladimir Kuchma...
...FSIN Director Yuri Kalinin immediately denied that the knifing had occurred. He insisted that Khodorkovsky's wounds had been sustained in a brawl with Kuchma. Then, five days later, Kalinin blamed Khodorkovsky for the assault. "Now I can say that Khodorkovsky to a certain extent has provoked this situation himself," Kalinin told the press. "He should not have grown so attached to young prisoners, brought them so close to himself, or been so affectionate to them." Kalinin ordered Khodorkovsky into solitary confinement to ensure his own safety. Following Kalinin's insinuations, the Interfax wire agency quoted an unnamed FSIN source...