How To Watch (And Understand) Ukraine’s Presidential Election

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

(Article text ©2019 RFE/RL, Inc., Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – rferl.org – Christopher Miller – KYIV – March 29, 2019 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/how-to-watch-(and-understand)-ukraine-presidential-election/29849578.html) The choice is stark. Stay the slow and not-quite-steady course with a deeply unpopular but seasoned leader who knows the ropes and has taken Ukraine westward despite foot-dragging on reforms and a failure […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “‘Dirtiest’ Race Ever Drags Ukraine Election Into Perilous Waters” – Bloomberg/ Kateryna Choursina, Yulia Surkova

Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine

“… the first of two spots in an almost certain runoff next month looks wrapped up[;] a battle for the other is raging between incumbent Petro Poroshenko and ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Accusations are flying — everything from voter payoffs to wiretaps and shady donors. There’s even a decoy candidate …. Dirty tricks aren’t unique to Ukraine. They’re a common […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Poroshenko’s team hit by defence industry corruption scandal, Tymoshenko starts impeachment process” – bne Intellinews

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“… Poroshenko rivals in the upcoming presidential election are accusing him of ‘profiting from blood’ after an investigation revealed that the son of the president’s close business partner has been selling arms to separatist rebels in the breakaway eastern region of Donbas … [according to] a report broadcast on Ukrainian TV …. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who leads the […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Tymoshenko out of Ukraine top-two presidential candidates, new poll says” – bne Intellinews

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“… Tymoshenko is losing public support ahead of the March presidential elections and after taking an early lead has now fallen out of the top two, according to the … Kyiv-based Razumkov Center …. [indicating] 17.5% [of] all respondents plan to vote for Ukrainian comic … Volodymyr Zelenskiy and [that] of those that said they will definitely vote in the […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Pre-election poll gives Poroshenko highest ‘anti-rating’ of all presidential candidates” – Kyiv Post/ Daria Shulzhenko

Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine

“… [incumbent President] Petro Poroshenko is facing an uphill battle for re-election ….  Nearly 50 percent of Ukrainians won’t vote for Poroshenko under any circumstances, according to [a] poll … conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the Razumkov Center, and the Rating Group sociological organization. … giv[ing] Poroshenko the highest ‘anti-ranking’ …. The poll shows presidential candidate Yulia […]

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JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine president looses public support, poll says” – bne Intellinews

“[With Ukraine scheduling a presidential election for March 2019,] … Poroshenko … popularity [is declining], according to … [a] Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) [poll]. … Yulia Tymoshenko … [has] 22.8% support among decided voters. … followed by former defence minister Anatoliy Grytsenko (16%), populist Oleh Lyashko (13.2%), pro-Russian opposition leader Yuriy Boyko (10.6%) and Petro Poroshenko (10.5%). * […]

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Orange Revolution Flashback for Tymoshenko as Ukraine Unravels

Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Kateryna Choursina, Daryna Krasnolutska – February 23, 2016) Yulia Tymoshenko is no stranger to political uprisings falling apart. Now she sees early elections as the only way Ukraine’s latest can survive. The peasant-braided icon of the Orange Revolution a decade ago, she became prime minister before infighting sank the pro-democracy government and allowed its Russian-backed adversary […]

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Chaos in Ukraine Is Making Putin Stronger

Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Aliaksandr Kudrytski, Volodymyr Verbyany – February 17, 2016) Two years after Ukrainians shed blood on the streets of Kiev to crush a Kremlin-backed kleptocracy, the country of more than 40 million people is back on the brink of failed-state status. The government’s long descent into chaos reached a new nadir this week, when amid reform delays […]

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Ukraine elites face reshuffle as Tymoshenko regains popularity

Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – KYIV BLOG: Sergei Kuznetsov in Kyiv – July 30, 2015) When Batkivshchyna (Fatherland), the party headed by former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, barely scraped over the 5% barrier required to secure representation in Ukraine’s parliament during snap elections in late October, many experts declared that Tymoshenko’s political shelf-life had expired. Society wanted to see […]

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The unlikely return of Yulia Tymoshenko

Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine

(opendemocracy.net – Mikhail Minakov – June 17, 2015) Mikhail Minakov is Associate Professor at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and President of the Foundation for Good Politics, Kyiv. He is also director of the Krytyka Institute, and editor-in-chief of the journal Ideology and Politics. The success of post-Maidan Ukraine depends on the effectiveness of the ruling coalition. Does Yulia Tymoshenko want to join […]

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Interfax: Tymoshenko and Nuland discuss implementation of Minsk protocol for Ukraine

Victoria Nuland file photo

(Interfax – October 7, 2014) Ukraine’s Batkivshchyna party leader Yulia Tymoshenko and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland met in Kyiv recently to discuss the implementation of the September 5 Minsk agreements offering steps to settle the conflict in south-eastern Ukraine. Gazprom proposes to pay for gas transit with Ukrainian debt Gazprom proposes to pay for gas transit with […]

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Ukrainians to Decide Who Gets to Clean Up the Mess

Ukraine Map and Flag

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Allison Quinn – May 23, 2014) As fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian troops intensified in eastern Ukraine on Thursday with 11 killed near Donetsk, ordinary citizens were gearing up for Sunday’s presidential election. The race has had a polarizing effect on many residents of Ukraine, with widespread disagreement on whether it will stabilize the […]

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Tymoshenko to Run for President in May Election

Maidan Square file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – March 27, 2014) Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has announced that she intends to run in the country’s presidential election on May 25. Tymoshenko, 53, said last Friday that she was back “in every sense of the word” after receiving treatment in Germany for back injuries supposedly sustained while serving time in a Kharkiv […]

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Interfax: Tymoshenko could restore stability if appointed PM – Russian lawmaker

Yulia Tymoshenko file photo

MOSCOW. Feb 23 (Interfax) – Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko could restore stability in Ukraine if she becomes prime minister again, a Russian lawmaker said. “The situation in Ukraine has been developing at a supersonic speed. I do not rule out that the Ukrainian parliament will nomine Yulia Tymoshenko for prime minister of the coalition government and confirm this […]

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Interfax: Tymoshenko says opposition talks with authorities “pointless” – daughter

Yulia Tymoshenko file photo

KYIV. Feb 4 (Interfax) – Ukraine’s ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has criticized the talks between the opposition and authorities to settle the domestic situation, her daughter Yevheniya said. “She believes the talks are pointless and unacceptable. They can only lead to questionable compromises. The authorities simply want to buy time. My mother is against half-measures,” Tymoshenko said in an interview […]

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Interfax: Ukraine PM: EU no longer says Tymoshenko “as pure as the driven snow”

Map of Ukraine and Environs and Ukrainian Flags

DONETSK, Ukraine. Nov 9 (Interfax) – According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, the European Union initially claimed that his jailed predecessor Yulia Tymoshenko was an innocent victim of political scheming but no longer does so and insists on clemency for her rather than on her acquittal. Azarov puts the EU’s alleged volte-face to the credit of European Parliament monitors […]

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Interfax: Nemtsov, Tymoshenko, Shushkevich top unpopularity lists – poll

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 17, 2013) Boris Nemtsov, Yulia Tymoshenko and Stanislav Shushkevich top “no confidence” rankings lists compiled after recent opinion polls taken in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Respondents in the polls, conducted by Integratsiya Foundation, were shown lists of opposition politicians in their respective countries and asked whether they trusted any of them, the foundation said in a […]

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