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Yulia[2] Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko (Ukrainian: Юлія Володимирівна Тимошенко, IPA: [ˈjulʲijɑ β̞oloˈdɪmɪriʊ̯nɑ tɪmoˈʂɛnko] Julia Volodymyrivna Tymošenko; née Hryhyan; born November 27, 1960) is a Ukrainian politician and current Prime Minister of Ukraine. She is the leader of the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. Before becoming Ukraine's first female Prime Minister, Tymoshenko was one of the key leaders of the Orange Revolution.[3][4] Prior to her political career, Yulia Tymoshenko was a successful but controversial businesswoman in the gas industry, which made her wealthy. Tymoshenko was Prime Minister in 2005 between January 24 and September 8, and was elected again as PM on December 18, 2007. Tymoshenko is a candidate in the presidential elections in 2010.[5]
[edit] Early life and careerTymoshenko was born in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine) as the daughter of Ludmila Nikolaevna Telegina and Vladimir Abramovich Hryhyan[6] (her father left the family when Yulia was three years old[7]). Tymoshenko took the surname of her mother, under which she graduated.[7] In 1979, Tymoshenko married Oleksandr Tymoshenko, son of a mid-level Soviet communist party bureaucrat. Tymoshenko graduated from the Dnipropetrovsk State University with a degree in economics in 1984, and went on to gain a candidate degree (the equivalent of a Ph.D.) in economics. Since then, she has written about 50 papers. Tymoshenko is also a former student of the National Mining University of Ukraine, but did not graduate there.[8] After graduating with honors from the Economic Department of Dnipropetrovsk State University in 1984 Tymoshenko worked as an engineer-economist in a machine-building plant in Dnipropetrovsk until 1988.[9] In 1989, as part of the perestroika initiatives, Yulia Tymoshenko founded and headed a Komsomol video rental chain[6] (which grew to be quite successful), and later privatized it. Tymoshenko worked as a General Director of Ukrainian Petrol Corporation, a company that provided the agriculture industry of Dnipropetrovsk with oil products from 1991 to 1995.[9] From 1995 to 1997,[1] Tymoshenko was the president of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine, a privately owned middleman company that became the main importer of Russian natural gas to Ukraine in 1996. During that time she was nicknamed "gas princess" in light of accusations that she had been reselling enormous quantities of stolen gas and avoiding taxation of those deals. She was also accused of "having given Pavlo Lazarenko kickbacks in exchange for her company's stranglehold on the country's gas supplies".[10] During this period Tymoshenko was involved in business relations (either co-operative or hostile) with many important figures of Ukraine. The list includes Pavlo Lazarenko, Viktor Pinchuk, Ihor Kolomoyskyi, Rinat Akhmetov, and Leonid Kuchma who at that time was the President of Ukraine. All of them, but Akhmetov, were originating from Dnipropetrovsk. Tymoshenko has also been closely linked to the management of the Russian Gazprom.[11] Tymoshenko is said to have acquired a significant fortune between 1990 and 1998. During this period of privatization in Ukraine, according to historians a period full of corruption and mismanagement, she became one of the wealthiest[10] oligarchs in Ukraine. [edit] Political career[edit] Early careerYulia Tymoshenko moved into politics in 1996, and was elected to the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) from the Kirovohrad Oblast, winning a record 92.3% of the vote in her constituency. In Parliament she then joins the faction Constitutional Centre.[12] She was re-elected in 1998 on the party list (as number 6[12]) of Hromada (Tymoshenko was a leading figure in that party)[13] and became the Chair of the Budget Committee of the Verkhovna Rada.[9][14] After Hromada's party leader Pavlo Lazarenko fled to the United States in the spring of 1999 to avoid investigations for embezzlement[15] various faction members left Hromada to join other parliamentary faction,[16] among them Tymoshenko who set up the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" faction.[15] From 1999 to 2001, Tymoshenko was the Deputy Prime Minister for fuel and energy sector in the cabinet of Viktor Yushchenko. She was fired by President Leonid Kuchma in January 2001 after developing a conflict with the oligarchs in the industry. Soon after her dismissal Tymoshenko led the loose organization National Salvation Committee and became active in the Ukraine without Kuchma-protests.[17] In mid-February 2001[17] Tymoshenko was arrested[9] on charges of forging customs documents and smuggling of gas between 1995 and 1997 (while president of United Energy Systems of Ukraine)[18] but was released several weeks later. Her political supporters organized several protest rallies near the Lukyanivska Prison where she was held in custody. According to Tymoshenko, the charges were fabricated by Kuchma's regime, under the influence of oligarchs threatened by her efforts to root out corruption and institute market-based reforms. In spite of being cleared of the charges, Moscow maintained an arrest warrant for Tymoshenko should she enter Russia until her dismissal as Prime Minister over 4 years later. In addition, Tymoshenko's husband, Oleksandr, spent two years in hiding in order to avoid incarceration on charges the couple said were unfounded and politically motivated by the former Kuchma administration. [edit] Campaigns against Kuchma and 2002 electionOnce the charges were dropped, she became one of the leaders of street-level of campaigns against President Kuchma for his alleged role in the murder of the journalist Georgiy R. Gongadze again. In this campaign, Tymoshenko first became known as a passionate revolutionary-like leader, an example of this being a TV broadcast of her smashing prison windows during one of the rallies. At the time Tymoshenko wanted to organise a national referendum to impeach President Kuchma.[19]
February 9, 2001, Tymoshenko founded the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (the National Salvation Committee merged into it[17]), a political bloc that received 7.2 percent of the vote in the 2002 parliamentary election. She is the head of the Batkivshchina (Fatherland) political party since the party was organised in 1999.[21] August 11, 2001 civilian and military prosecutors in Russia opened a new criminal case against Tymoshenko accusing her of bribery.[22] On December 27, 2005 Russian prosecutors dropped these charges. Russian prosecutors had suspended an arrest warrant when she was appointed Prime Minister in but reinstated it after she was fired in September 2005. The prosecutors suspended it again when she came to Moscow for questioning[23] on September 25, 2005.[24] Tymoshenko never traveled to Russia during her first seven months as Prime Minister (the first Tymoshenko Government).[24] In January 2002 Tymoshenko was involved in a mysterious car accident that she survived with minor injuries—an episode some believe may have been a government assassination attempt.[25] [edit] Orange RevolutionIn the Autumn of 2001 both Tymoshenko and Viktor Yushchenko broached at creating a broad opposition bloc against the incumbent President Leonid Kuchma in order to win the Ukrainian presidential election 2004.[15] Late 2002 Tymoshenko, Oleksandr Moroz (Socialist Party of Ukraine), Petro Symonenko (Communist Party of Ukraine) and Viktor Yushchenko (Our Ukraine) issued a joint statement concerning "the beginning of a state revolution in Ukraine". The communist stept out of the alliance, Symonenko was against a single candidate from the alliance in the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, but the other three party's remained allies[26] (until July 2006).[27] On July 2, 2004 Our Ukraine and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc established the Force of the people, a coalition which aimed to stop "the destructive process that has, as a result of the incumbent authorities, become a characteristic for Ukraine", the pact included a promise by Viktor Yushchenko to nominate Tymoshenko as Prime Minister if Yushchenko would win the October 2004 presidential election. Tymoshenko campaigned for Yushchenko during the 2004 electoral campaign.[15] The Yushchenko campaign publicly called for protest on November 21, 2004 (second round election day) when allegations of fraud began to spread. On November 22, 2004 massive protests broke out in cities across Ukraine: the largest, in Kiev's Maidan Nezalezhnosti attracted an estimated 500,000 participants.[28] These protest become known as the Orange Revolution. During the protests Tymoshenko speeches on Maidan kept the momentum of the street protests going.[29] After the cancellation of Viktor Yanukovych's official victory and a re-run of the second round of the election Viktor Yushchenko was elected President.[30] [edit] After the Orange Revolution On January 24, 2005 she was appointed as acting Prime Minister of Ukraine under Yushchenko's presidency. On February 4, 2005, at 2:54 p.m. (Eastern European Time), Yulia Tymoshenko was ratified by the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) by an overwhelming majority of 373 votes (226 were required for approval).[6][31] On July 28, 2005, Forbes magazine named her third most powerful woman in the world, behind only Condoleezza Rice and Wu Yi.[32] However, in the magazine's list published on September 1, 2006, Tymoshenko did not even make the top 100. Several months into her government, numerous inner conflicts inside the post‐Revolution coalition began to damage Tymoshenko's administration. On September 8, 2005, after the resignation of several senior officials including the Head of the Security and Defence Council Petro Poroshenko and Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Tomenko, Yulia Tymoshenko's government was dismissed by President Viktor Yushchenko during a live TV address to the nation. She was succeeded by Yuriy Yehanurov. Later, the President criticized her work as head of the Cabinet, suggesting it had led to an economic slowdown and political conflicts within the ruling coalition.[citation needed]
[edit] 2006 parliamentary electionAfter her dismissal Tymoshenko started to tour the country in a bid to win the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary election as the leader of her Bloc. She soon announced that she wanted to return to the post of Prime Minister. With the Bloc coming second in the election, and winning 129 seats, many speculated that she might form a coalition with Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party and the Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU) to prevent the Party of Regions from gaining power. Tymoshenko again reiterated her stance in regard to becoming Prime Minister. However, negotiations with Our Ukraine and SPU faced many difficulties as the various blocs scrapped over posts and engaged in counter-negotiations with other groupings. On Wednesday June 21, 2006, the Ukrainian media reported that the parties had finally reached a coalition agreement, which appeared to have ended nearly three months of political uncertainty.[33] Tymoshenko's nomination and confirmation as new Prime Minister was expected to be straightforward. However, the nomination was preconditioned on an election of her long-term rival Petro Poroshenko from Our Ukraine as the speaker of the parliament. Within a few days after the coalition agreement had been signed, it became clear that the coalition members mistrusted each other, since they considered it to be a deviation from parliamentary procedures in order to hold a simultaneous vote on Poroshenko as the speaker and Tymoshenko as Prime Minister. To aggravate matters, opposition members from the Party of Regions blocked the parliament from Thursday, June 29[34] through Thursday, July 6.[35] The Party of Regions announced an ultimatum to the coalition, demanding that the parliamentary procedures be observed, asking membership in parliamentary committees to be allocated in proportion to seats held by each fraction, chairmanship in certain Parliamentary committees as well as Governorships in the administrative subdivisions won by the Party of Regions. The coalition agreement deprived the Party of Regions and the communists of any representation in the executive and leadership in parliamentary committees[36] while in the local regional councils won by the Party of Regions, the coalition parties were locked out of all committees as well.
Following a surprise nomination of Oleksandr Moroz from the Socialist Party of Ukraine as the Rada speaker and his subsequent election late on July 6 with the support of the Party of Regions, the "Orange coalition" collapsed. After the creation of a large coalition of majority, led by the former prime minister Viktor Yanukovych and composed of the Party of Regions, Socialists and Communists, Viktor Yanukovych became Prime Minister, and the other two parties were left in the wilderness. Whilst Tymoshenko immediately announced that her political force would form a shadow cabinet to the current government, Our Ukraine stalled until October 4, 2006, when it too joined the opposition.[38] Following the 2007 Ukrainian political crisis new elections where called.[39] [edit] 2007 Foreign Affairs article Tymoshenko wrote an article called "Containing Russia" in the May-June 2007 edition of the journal Foreign Affairs.[42][43] In the article she sharply criticized authoritarian developments under Vladimir Putin and opposed the alleged new Russian expansionism. Consequently, the article irked Russia and more than a week before the article was published, Russia responded to the article, calling it an "anti-Russian manifesto" and "an attempt to once again draw dividing lines in Europe."[44] It was subsequently revealed that significant portions of the article had been paraphrased from an article written by former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Tymoshenko's staff denied allegations of plagiarism on the grounds that the Foreign Affairs format does not usually include attributions.[45] Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov wrote an article called "Containing Russia: Back To The Future?"[46] for the same journal which was apparently meant to be a response to Tymoshenko. He withdrew the article before publication, accusing the editors of changing his text and said his article was subjected to "censorship".[47] [edit] 2007 parliamentary electionFollowing balloting in the 2007 parliamentary elections held on September 30, 2007, Orange Revolution parties said they had won enough votes to form a governing coalition. As of October 3, 2007, an almost final tally gave the alliance of Tymoshenko and President Yushchenko a slim lead over a rival party of Prime Minister Yanukovych. Although Yanukovych, whose party won the single biggest share of the vote, also claimed victory,[48] one of his coalition allies, the Socialist Party of Ukraine, failed to gain enough votes to retain seats in Parliament. On October 15, 2007, Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc agreed to form a majority coalition in the new parliament of the 6th convocation.[49] On November 29, a coalition was signed between the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc, which is associated with President Yushchenko. Both parties are affiliated with the Orange Revolution. On December 18, Tymoshenko was once again elected as Prime Minister, supported by 226 deputies (the minimal amount needed for passage).[50] [51] [edit] 2008 political crisisThe coalition of Tymoshenko's Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT) and Yushchenko's Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc (OU-PSD) was put at risk due to differing opinions on the ongoing 2008 South Ossetia War between Georgia and Russia. Yulia Tymoshenko disagreed with Yushchenko's condemnation of Russia and preferred to stay neutral on the issue. Yushchenko's office accused her of taking a softer position in order to gain support from Russia in the upcoming 2010 election. Andriy Kyslynskyi, the president's deputy chief of staff, went as far as to call her a 'traitor'.[52] According to BYuT, Viktor Baloha (Chief of Staff of the Presidential Secretariat) had criticized the premier at every turn, accusing her of everything from not being religious enough to damaging the economy and that she was plotting to kill him and that the accusation of 'betrayal' over Georgia was simply one of the latest and most pernicious attacks directed at the premier.[53][54][55][56][57] After Tymoshenko BYuT voted alongside the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Party of Regions to pass legislation that would facilitate the procedure of impeachment for President[58] and limit the President's power while increasing the Prime Minister's powers, President Yushchenko's OU-PSD bloc pulled out of the coalition and Yushchenko promised to veto legislation[59][60] and threatened an election if a new coalition was not formed soon. This resulted in the 2008 Ukrainian political crisis, which culminated in Yushchenko announcing/calling an early parliamentary election on October 8, 2008.[61][62]  Tymoshenko was fiercely opposed to the snap election, stating: "No politician would throw Ukraine into snap elections at this important time. But, if Yushchenko and Yanukovych – who are ideologists of snap elections – throw the country into snap elections, then they will bear responsibility for all the consequences of the global financial crisis on Ukraine".[63] The election was initially to be held December 7, 2008,[64][65] but later postponed to an unknown date.[66][67][68] Tymoshenko had no intention of resigning[69] until a new coalition was formed.[70] Early December 2008 there were negotiations between BYuT and Party of Regions to form a coalition[71] but after Volodymyr Lytvyn was elected Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament of Ukraine) December 9, 2008 he announced the creation of a coalition between his Lytvyn Bloc, BYuT and OU-PSD.[72] After negotiations[73][74] the three parties officially signed the coalition agreement on December 16.[75] It is unsure if this coalition will stop the snap election[76][77][78] although Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn predicts the Verkhovna Rada will work until 2012.[79] [edit] 2010 Presidential electionOn February 5, 2009 the second Tymoshenko cabinet survived a second no-confidence vote in the Ukrainian Parliament (the first was rejected on July 11, 2008).[80][81] As of February 2009 the relations between Tymoshenko and President Yushchenko,[82][83][84][85], the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine[86] and the oppositional Party of Regions remain hostile.[87] According to Tymoshenko her conflict with the President is a political competition and not ideological antagonisms and she emphasizes that the "election struggle for the next presidential elections has virtually begun".[88] After long been considered a possible candidate for the President of Ukraine in 2010[89][90], Tymoshenko announced that she will stand in the presidential elections in 2010 in a statement broadcast live on national TV on June 7, 2009[5], despite previous statements (in 2008) she did not intend to become president.[91] Tymoshenko has stated that if she loses the presidential elections she will not challenge their results.[92][93] On September 12, 2009 a tour called “With Ukraine in Heart” in support of Tymoshenko candidature kick-started on Kiev's Maidan Nezalezhnosti. The most popular singers and bands of Ukraine took part in the tour.[94][95][96] Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko formally endorsed Yulia Tymoshenko as their candidate for the next Presidential election, the first-round ballot is scheduled to be held on January 17, 2010.[97][98] Tymoshenko candidature was also endorsed by noticeable Ukrainian politicians Borys Tarasyuk, Yuriy Lutsenko, former President Leonid Kravchuk[99], the Christian Democratic Union[100], the European Party of Ukraine[101] and Forward, Ukraine![102]. Analysts have also suggested that she is the Russian Government's preferred candidate in the election, on December 3, 2009 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin denied this. Putin stated he was cooperating with Tymoshenko as Prime Minister of Ukraine but he was not supporting her in elections.[103]
Tymoshenko's campaign was expected to have cost $100 to $150 million.[105] Tymoshenko expects early parliamentary elections after the 2010 presidential election, but she is against this.[106] On December 1, 2009 Tymoshenko urged "national democratic forces" to unite after the first round of the presidential elections around the candidate who takes the largest number of votes. "If we are not able to strengthen our efforts and unite the whole national-patriotic and democratic camp of Ukraine... we will be much weaker than those who want revenge".[107] On December 5, 2009 she declared she will go into opposition if she loses the presidential elections, Tymoshenko also complained of flaws in the election legislation and expressed confidence of attempts to be made by her opponents to carry out vote rigging.[108] [edit] Opinion PollsPublic Opinion Polls have consistently rated Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko and its leader Yulia Tymoschenko as the second highest polling party/candidate in Ukraine with most analysts predicting that Yulia Tymoshenko will face Viktor Yanukovych in a second-round presidential ballot, expected to be held in February 2010. According to a public opinion poll conducted by FOM-Ukraine in September/October 2009 65.8% of those polled did not support the actions of Tymoshenko as prime minister, while 26.9% welcomed them.[109] According to a survey conducted by the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine of November 2009 the number of women who supported presidential candidate Tymoshenko significantly exceeds the number of men – 62.1% and 37.9% respectively and that Tymoshenko held the lead in Western (27.6%) and Central Ukraine (21.7%) but stood weak in East (6.7%) and South Ukraine (9.9%) where Yanukovych was in the lead.[110] [edit] Political positionsSee also: Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc Tymoshenko wants her country to become a member of EU while concerned about antagonizing Russia.[111][112] "I try to defend our interests so that we can find a balance in our relations both with the EU and Russia".[111] Tymoshenko supports Ukraine joining NATO stating it would be "uncomfortable" for Ukraine to remain "in a void, outside all existing security systems".[111] But, according to Tymoshenko, the question of Ukraine’s joining any system of collective security would “be resolved only by referendum.”[113] Tymoshenko is in favour of close relations with the EU, including the creation of a free trade area between Ukraine and EU[114] and later a full membership. According to Tymoshenko: "The European project has not been completed as yet. It has not been completed because there is no full-fledged participation of Ukraine."[115] She's against foreign intervention in internal Ukrainian affairs: "Ukraine's realization of its sovereign rights, forming a modern political nation, cannot be considered as a policy aimed against anyone".[116]
Tymoshenko opposes the introduction of Russian as a second official state language[118][119], and she does not believe the rights of Russian speakers are violated in current Ukraine.[91] About her own attitude towards Ukrainian Tymoshenko has stated "that today I am thinking and living for Ukrainian... and the fact that I know Russian very well, I think it is not a secret for you… you all know that I was brought up in the Russian speaking region in Dnipropetrovsk, to my mind, I spared no effort to speak Ukrainian as soon as possible as I came in the Government”.[118] The first Tymoshenko Government planned to renationalise 3,000 firms[120] but the cabinet was sacked before those plans could materialise.[121] Tymoshenko believes that Ukraine's economy is excessively monopolized.[122] Some Ukrainian politicians and academics have described her politically as a state socialist.[123] Tymoshenko is against privatization of the gas transportation system in Ukraine.[124] Tymoshenko lists the recovery of the economy of Ukraine during the 2008–2009 Ukrainian financial crisis as one of her achievements.[125] The second Tymoshenko Government has spend 1.6 billion hryvnya on updating coal mines.[126] Tymoshenko wants to increase a rise in the general level of social standards by equalizing salaries in the industrial and social spheres[127] and pledged in November 2009 to revamp Ukraine's hospitals and health system within two years[128] and tax breaks for farmers.[129] Tymoshenko wants to reform the forming of state executive bodies[130] and favours giving parliamentary opposition "real instruments of influence on the authorities", wants Ukrainian court system reforms[131] and wants to re-transfer executive power to local authorities.[132] Tymoshenko want Ukrainians "to live in a dictatorship of the constitution and the law".[131][133] In November 2009 Tymoshenko called Ukraine "an absolutely ungovernable country" due to the changes to the Constitution of Ukraine as a part of a political compromise between the acting authorities (former-President Kuchma) and opposition during the Orange Revolution[134] (Tymoshenko has argued those reform where "incomplete"[135] and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc voted against them in December 2004[136]). In December 2009 the second Tymoshenko Government proposed creating independent anti-corruption bureaus in Ukraine.[137] [edit] Family and personal lifeYulia Tymoshenko is married to Oleksandr Tymoshenko, who is (according to his wife) a businessman.[138] During the early years of her political career, the two were parted for years when Mr. Tymoshenko was escaping arrest. The couple rarely appear together in public.[139] They have a daughter Eugenia (Zhenya) (born in 1980).[6] During a meeting of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly she stated that she spoke only Russian in her childhood and only learned Ukrainian when she became a member of the government of Viktor Yushchenko in 2000.[91] [edit] Cultural and political image Tymoshenko's critics have suggested that, as an oligarch, she gained her fortune improperly. Some have speculated that her familiarity with the illegal conduct of business common in Ukraine uniquely qualifies her to combat corruption—if she is willing to do so. Her former business partner, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, was convicted in the United States on charges of billions-worth money laundering, corruption and fraud.[140] Her transition from oligarch to reformer was believed by many voters to be both genuine and effective.[123][141] As energy Deputy Prime Minister, she virtually ended many corrupt arrangements in the energy sector. Under her stewardship, Ukraine's revenue collections from the electricity industry grew by several thousand per cent. She scrapped the practice of barter in the electricity market, requiring industrial customers to pay for their electricity in cash.[142] She also terminated exemptions for many organizations[143] which excluded them from having their power disconnected. Her reforms meant that the government had sufficient funds to pay civil servants and increase salaries.[144] Tymoshenko has been ranked (three times) by Forbes magazine among the most powerful women in the world; during her first term, in 2005, she was ranked third (behind only Condoleezza Rice and Wu Yi)[32], in 2008 she was ranked at number 17[145] and in 2009 at number 47.[146] During the Orange Revolution some Western media publications dubbed her as the "Joan of Arc of the Revolution".[147] Tymoshenko is also dubbed as one of the most beautiful women ever to enter politics by Daily Mail and 20 Minutos (in 2009)[148][149] and by the Hottest Heads of State Blog (in 2010).[150] Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has stated (in November 2009) he found it comfortable to work with his (then) Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko and also praised her for strengthening Ukrainian sovereignty and building stable ties with Moscow[40] and called the second Tymoshenko Government "efficient and a force for stability".[41] Early 2008 at public opinion polls for the Ukrainian presidential election, 2009 she stood at a 30% rate but late-April 2009 that had shrunk to 15%[151] According to a poll carried out between January 29 and February 5, 2009 by the Kiev International Institute for Sociology that just over 43% of the Ukrainian voters believe Tymoshenko should leave her post, whereas just over 45% believe she should stay.[152] According to another poll carried out between February 3 and February 12, 2009 by the “Sofia” Center for Social Studies some 59.1% of those polled believe that the activities of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko are aimed at the defense of her own interests and that of her entourage, some 4.2% said her activities are aimed at defense of interests of foreign states and some 23.9% believe that Yulia Tymoshenko works for the sake of national interests. 77.7% of the respondents are unsatisfied with the economic policy of Yulia Tymoshenko’s government. Some 71.8% believe that the incumbent government is not able to lead economics out of crisis and even change the situation in Ukraine to better; 18.1% of respondents do think the incumbent government can do that.[153][154] Former ally and President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko stated in November 2009 “I am sure that every week, spent by Yulia Tymoshenko at the post of Prime Minister, leads the country to a catastrophe Because Yulia Tymoshenko – it is a crisis, crisis in everything”.[155] Vitaly Chepinoha has closely collaborated with Tymoshenko during various elections for more than a decade.[105] A 2005 Russian porn video showed a Tymoshenko look-alike making love to a Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili look-alike; the movie was written by Russian music producer Alexander Valov and Russian politician Aleksey Mitrofanov.[123][156] It has been insinuated that Tymoshenko is Jewish[157][158]; but she has denied this, claiming her father had Latvian-roots and her mother is ethnic Ukrainian.[159] [edit] HairstyleTymoshenko's plaited hairstyle became iconic at the time of the Orange Revolution.[160] When asked whether she visits a professional hairdresser, she responded that she does her hairstyle herself.[160] According to image consultant Oleh Pokalchuk, Lesya Ukrainka's hairstyle inspired the over-the-head braid.[147] [edit] References
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