Translated material
Donetsk are coming
The Ukrainian President's entourage is transforming
Yesterday, 49-year-old Vitaly Gaiduk became Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC). Immediately after his appointment, he promised to focus “on professionalism,” not on politics. With the appointment of Gaiduk, rumors about the arrival of radical oppositionist Yulia Tymoshenko to this post disappeared. Viktor Yushchenko probably relied on Gaiduk to create a counterweight to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who, after constitutional reform this year, doubled his influence through presidential powers.A native of Donetsk, Vitaly Gaiduk has the same “political weight” as Rinat Akhmetov, the sponsor of two Yanukovych election campaigns. Both have equal influence on the local authorities of Donbass, and their companies - Gaiduk's Industrial Union of Donbass (ISD) and Akhmetov's SCM - are competitors in Eastern Ukrainian business.
Yanukovych admitted that President Yushchenko did not consult with him when appointing the NSDC secretary, but called the president’s choice “positive”, since “Gaiduk is an experienced specialist” and a “balanced person.” In 2002-2003, Vitaly Gaiduk was Deputy Prime Minister for the Fuel and Energy Complex in the Yanukovych government, but resigned due to disagreement with the reversal of the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline and the prospects of transferring the Ukrainian gas transportation system for use to a Russian-Ukrainian consortium. His appointment to the post of Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council indicates that energy is recognized as the main security problem in Ukraine.
People close to Gaiduk are already on the list of heads of the presidential secretariat. This is former diplomat Alexander Chaly, who is tipped for the post of head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry in the event of the resignation of Boris Tarasyuk, as well as ex-Minister of Economy Arseniy Yatsenyuk. At the same time, the influential Gaiduk and representatives of the ISD have neither their own faction in the Rada nor strong positions in the government. It is possible that this will lead to competition for influence on the Donetsk parliamentary faction of the Party of Regions, which currently plays the role of the party in power.
“Yushchenko realized that he represents the whole country, and therefore abandoned his orientation towards the politicized presidential bloc “Our Ukraine,” Ukrainian political scientist Vladimir Malinkovich told Vremya Novostei. -- Gaiduk's appointment indicates a change in zones of influence in the presidential circle. The dominant business group in Our Ukraine, Razom, represented by Martynenko, Zhvania, and Poroshenko, is being replaced by a more pragmatic group, the Industrial Union of Donbass. The expert believes that competition between Gaiduk and Akhmetov in power is inevitable, but “it will not take extreme forms.” This will be “a competition of people who have worked together and found a common language more than once.” Malinkovych believes that through the National Security and Defense Council the president will “build normal relations with the government.” If Chaly is appointed to the post of head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ukraine’s sharp pro-Western orientation will be replaced by “a more pragmatic policy in relation to Russia, which will open the way for Ukraine to affordable Central Asian gas,” the political scientist added to our newspaper.
Yesterday, the president and prime minister discussed the possibility of creating a broad coalition in the Rada consisting of the Party of Regions, the Our Ukraine presidential bloc, socialists and communists. If an agreement cannot be reached, then on October 16 the presidential bloc will officially announce its transition to the opposition.