Translated material
Year of the Tiger
Who will make Ukraine happy?
The flu epidemic in Ukraine is over, the H1N1 virus has been defeated. Perhaps this is the merit of the 35-year-old leader of the Front for Change, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who promised on one of his election posters that “Ukraine will recover from the virus of corruption Y1Y1.” (This is an accusation against other presidential candidates in the January 17 elections.) However, Kiev residents have a slightly different opinion. They joke that Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko “she herself started this epidemic, and she also ended it.”Although passions ran high a couple of days before the election of the head of state, in Ukraine, unlike the 2004 election campaign, now everything is somehow sluggish, programmed, without creativity. 55-year-old Viktor Yushchenko, like every self-respecting president, plans to lead for a little longer after his first term. And he promises from the posters that “Ukraine should be happy!” There are calls from him and his supporters to “elect deputies, not parties,” to professionalize the army and “to live by the new constitution.” The slogan of the irreconcilable opponent of the current government, the leader of the Party of Regions, 59-year-old Viktor Yanukovych, is “Ukraine for the people.” These same people, particularly in Kyiv, are perplexed: for whom else?
People are already so tired of empty promises from politicians that many are showing apathy towards the elections. “I don’t know who I’ll vote for. All of them are already in the liver with their own politics,” says former law enforcement officer Christina. But still he adds: “I’ll probably vote for Tymoshenko.” It can't get any worse. They’ve already stolen everything they can.” Olya, an ambitious student, has a different mindset: “You have to go into politics yourself to decide people’s destinies. You just need to get funding. Do you happen to know where I can get money?” Frankly, student Olya’s question puzzled me...
Against the backdrop of tired politicians, 49-year-old Sergei Tigipko looks advantageous. He has already given a surprise, gaining about 14% of the vote in the polls (the same as Tymoshenko). The financier with the figure of an athlete looks at Ukrainians not only from advertising posters, but also from the cover of Men's Health magazine. Sort of a playboy. Not a bad PR move, I suppose. Perhaps the most effective and attractive advertisement is from 49-year-old Yulia Tymoshenko. There are only three primary colors - red, black and white. By the way, red and black are considered national colors in Ukraine. Many folk embroideries use them. There is even such a popular song based on the words of Dmitry Pavlychko “Two colors” (that is, two colors), which says that “red is love, and black is sadness.” We should also not forget that the red and black banner is the flag of the nationalists of Western Ukraine. What’s also interesting about Tymoshenko’s advertising is its congratulations on the New Year, which according to the eastern calendar is the year of the Tiger. The congratulation is signed with the word “Tiger”, and the first part is black, and the second is red.
So who will win the elections, the first round of which will take place this coming Sunday? (Many Ukrainian political scientists and politicians do not rule out a second round, which could take place on February 7 if no candidate gets 50% plus one vote.) And how will the results of the vote affect relations between Ukraine and Russia? “If elections were held in Russia, I would say exactly who would win,” Igor Losev, a political scientist at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy, ironically said in an interview with Vremya Novostey. - But here is Ukraine. So we can only guess.” He adds that “there is also a very large underwater segment of Ukrainian politics, in which money plays a decisive role”: “But despite all this, I simply cannot imagine how Yulia Tymoshenko can remain without the presidency. She uses very subtle technology and will win in the end. And Donbass, which is represented by Viktor Yanukovych, has never been the center of Ukrainian high-tech. They only know how to work with a crowbar.” It is worth noting, however, that most public opinion polls conducted by both Russian and Ukrainian research institutes so far give the palm to Viktor Yanukovych: he gains about 30% of the votes against 14% for Yulia Tymoshenko.
Our interlocutor excludes the possibility of victory for current President Viktor Yushchenko, “although there are also science fiction writers who admit this.” “However, I would like to look at the faces of Vladimir Vladimirovich and Dmitry Anatolyevich if this really happened,” says Igor Losev, referring to the fact that under Yushchenko relations between Moscow and Kiev did not work out. The political scientist believes that “if Tymoshenko wins, Ukrainian politics will be more Ukraine-centric”: “It is possible that Tymoshenko will travel to Moscow and blind the Kremlin with radiant smiles, but at the same time, sitting in her office, she will pursue a policy equidistant from Moscow , Brussels and Washington." According to the VN expert, “Tymoshenko is a very vain politician”: “She needs fame more than money. And so she will try to go down in history as a person who really did something for the country.”
Despite the relative calm of the election campaign, it is all riddled with militant slogans. Former Defense Minister 52-year-old Anatoly Gritsenko (one of 18 presidential candidates) positions himself as “an enemy of their state.” Arseniy Yatsenyuk declares: “I am going to war against corruption.” And Inna Bogoslovskaya says in her promotional materials that she is a “defender president.” She encroached on the holy of holies of Ukrainian politics - Tymoshenko's spit. Bogoslovskaya, also 49 years old, now also has a braid. Slightly different shape and color scheme, but still the same. So Yulia Tymoshenko is no longer original. Lady Yu should be sued for copyright infringement. And if she suddenly loses the election, then Mrs. Inna will definitely win the trial.