Ukraine Protesters Told to March to Parliament

reuters ^ | Nov 23

[Truth666]

Ukrainian opposition chief Viktor Yushchenko told tens of thousands of protesters in a Kiev square Tuesday to march to parliament, where an emergency session on a disputed presidential election was to begin shortly. "Our joint action will lead to political success. We are therefore now forming lines and moving toward parliament," Yushchenko told demonstrators. "A parliamentary session will begin in an hour."

[Truth666]

Lugner calling Kuschma to cancel the election - Kuschma has two alternatives : follow in the footsteps of Yeltsin of October 1999 or follow these calls.
The two immediate questions :
Will this march end like the Belgrade did ?
What will Kuschma do ?

[Truth666]

Place your bets. After all it's the end game.

[OXENinFLA]

Tue Nov 23, 6:48 AM ET
Supporters of Ukraine's opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko take part in a rally in Kiev's main Independence Square, November 23, 2004. Ukrainian opposition chief Yushchenko told tens of thousands of protesters in a Kiev square on Tuesday to march to parliament, where an emergency session on a disputed presidential election was to begin shortly. REUTERS/Mykola Lazarenko
Mon Nov 22, 9:06 PM ET
Supporters of Ukraine's opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko rally in downtown Lviv, western Ukraine. (AP/Sergei Grits)
Mon Nov 22, 7:39 PM ET
Supporters of opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko shout slogans for their leader during a protest rally in Kiev(AFP/Viktor Drachev)
Mon Nov 22, 4:43 PM ET
Ukraine's opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko addresses supporters during a rally on Kiev's main thoroughfare and Independence Square, November 22, 2004. Ukraine's prime minister was on the verge of victory in a bitterly-fought presidential election that U.S. and Western monitors denounced for not meeting democratic standards. Photo by Pool/Reuters REUTERS/Anatoly Medzyk/Pool
Tue Nov 23, 5:43 AM ET
Hundreds of tents and thousands of demonstrators are seen in the main street of the Ukrainian capital Kiev, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2004. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered on Tuesday in downtown Kiev to protest alleged fraud in the presidential elections and to support opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Tue Nov 23, 6:51 AM ET
A supporter of opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko protect himself from the cold in a temporary campsite in Kiev. Thousands of opposition supporters spent the night sleeping in tents as they continued to protest against the presidential runoff vote which has polarised views in the Ukraine.(AFP/Mladen Antonov)

[nw_arizona_granny]

Ping

[The Red Zone]

They mispunch their chadskis?

[OXENinFLA]

They sure do like orange.........

[OXENinFLA]

Mon Nov 22, 3:34 PM ET
Ukraine's opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko gestures a victory sign as he addresses a 100,000-strong crowd of supporters during a rally on Kiev's main thoroughfare and Independence Square, November 22, 2004. Opposition Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko said that observers and election commission members registered more than 11,000 violations during the country's presidential elections. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Mon Nov 22, 3:35 PM ET
Ukrainians greet western-leaning opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko in the central Independence Square, during a rally in Ukraine's capital Kiev, Monday, Nov. 22, 2004.Tens of thousands of demonstrators packed into downtown Kiev on Monday to denounce alleged fraud in the presidential elections while the capital's city council and several other municipal governments rejected the official results and a major employer closed factories in protest. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Mon Nov 22, 2:10 PM ET
A dog wearing the colours of opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko is seen with his owner at a protest rally in Kiev. Yushchenko called on tens of thousands of supporters gathered in Kiev to continue their protests against alleged fraud in the crucial presidential runoff vote 'until victory'(AFP/Sergei Supinsky)
Mon Nov 22, 8:14 AM ET
A supporter of Ukraine's opposition presidential candidate liberal Viktor Yushchenko waves his campaign flags from a vehicle in central Kiev, November 22, 2004. Ukraine's prime minister was on the verge of victory in a presidential election on Monday but his West-leaning rival accused the authorities of mass fraud and told thousands of supporters to stay on the streets in protest. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Mon Nov 22, 5:44 AM ET
Supporters of Ukraine's opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko wave a banner reading 'Yes' as they take part in a rally in central Kiev, November 22, 2004. Ukraine's prime minister was on the verge of victory in a presidential election on Monday but his liberal rival accused the authorities of mass fraud and told thousands of supporters to stay on the streets in protest. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

[dr_who_2]

Are they having trouble hiding the fact that they're losing the vote?

[Agog]

Below is an interesting article regarding the various forms of fraud perpetrated by the communist Yanukovich to steal the Ukainian election. It's amazing that on Free Republic, of all places, people seem to believe it's a good thing that that Putin's goal of reconstructing the Soviet Union seems to be gaining momentum. I never expected to see members of this forum to be promoting such goals.


MOSCOW TIMES

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Observers See 'Dead Souls' and Other Fraud

By Anatoly Medetsky and Simon Saradzhyan
Staff Writers KIEV -- Turnout at many polling stations was implausibly high. Absentee ballots were cast multiple times. Disappearing ink made ballots invalid.

These are a few of the hundreds of violations reported by voters and independent observers at Ukraine's runoff election, which Western and local observers denounced Monday as fraught with fraud and abuse.

"It is now apparent that there was a concerted and forceful program of election day fraud and abuse enacted with the leadership or cooperation of authorities," said Richard Lugar, a senior U.S. senator who was sent by President George W. Bush to monitor the vote.

The U.S. State Department late Monday called on the Ukrainian government to investigate allegations of fraud or risk a changed relationship with the United States, The Associated Press reported.

Observers from a mission representing the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and NATO said the Ukrainian government had done nothing to act on recommendations made after the first round on Oct. 31.

"With an even heavier heart than three weeks ago, I have to repeat the message from the first round: This election did not meet a considerable number of international standards for democratic elections," mission head Bruce George told reporters in Kiev.

"The deficiencies have not been addressed. The abuse of state resources in favor of the prime minister continued, as well as an overwhelming media bias in his favor," he said.

The European Union's 25 foreign ministers summoned Ukrainian ambassadors to national capitals to protest the way the vote was handled.

Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot, whose country holds the EU presidency, said the ministers also agreed to send a statement of protest to Ukraine's parliament and outgoing President Leonid Kuchma but that the EU would confer with observers before deciding on any further punitive measures.

In contrast, Vladimir Rushailo, who headed the Russian observer mission, declared the voting "transparent, legitimate and free," Interfax reported.

Voter turnout exceeded 100 percent at many polling stations in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk that voted predominantly for Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in the first round, opposition challenger Viktor Yushchenko said.

"In the Donetsk region, turnout at every third polling station was more than 100 percent," Yushchenko told a rally in Kiev.

Both regions, which are led by pro-Yanukovych governors, are located in eastern Ukraine, where Yanukovych has strong public support.

The Central Elections Commission's own reports raised doubts about their plausibility. For example, turnout in the Donetsk region, where Yanukovych is from and where he once served as governor, was put at 96.23 percent.

Yushchenko said the official results from several polling stations in Donetsk and Luhansk showed that up to 99 percent of voters picked Yanukovych.

The Central Elections Commission said late Monday that Yanukovych received 96.20 percent of the vote in Donetsk and 92.72 percent in Luhansk.

In Luhansk, Yanukovych's supporters kept close track of voter turnout throughout the day Sunday and went to the apartments of those who had not voted to encourage them to do so, said Yevgeny Bairamov, an observer with the nongovernmental Committee of Voters of Ukraine.

"There was no doubt that Yanukovych is the winner in Luhansk, but the turnout figures are completely unrealistic," he said.

Bairamov said that all 12 of the region's district election committees were supposed to work Monday to accept complaints about violations but closed early in the morning after counting votes.

Reporters and observers were denied access to many polling stations in the pro-Yanukovych regions.

The Central Elections Commission's announcement last week that that the number of registered voters shot up by 750, 000 to a total of 37.6 million shows the scale of the vote-rigging, said Andrei Duda of the Union of Ukrainian Voters, a nongovernmental organization that monitored the election.

The commission revised the number after correcting lists of voters from the first round in this nation of 47.4 million.

Duda said that most of these additional voters were "dead souls," whose names were used on multiple absentee ballots and added as many as 2 million votes to the final vote count.

He said he suspects authorities also inflated voter rolls by leaving names with incorrect spellings on them after voters whose names were wrong had them corrected.

Yushchenko said five times more absentee ballots than in the first round were distributed across the country.

Local observers reported a number of cases of voters casting absentee ballots at multiple polling stations. In one example, Duda's organization said it saw 12 young men riding in a yellow minivan from one polling station to the next in the city of Uzhgorod in the Zakarpatsky region. It said the van was accompanied by a police patrol car.

Yushchenko accused election officials of trying to stuff ballot boxes in the Nikolayevsk region, saying a third of voters there cast ballots in boxes that were specially delivered to their homes -- a right usually reserved for ill or elderly people.

Yushchenko urged the authorities to cancel voting results at polling stations where violations were reported.

The Central Elections Commission said Monday that it had not received any complaints about the vote count, while the police said they had registered only 37 election-related offenses.

Yushchenko's campaign headquarters said it has documented more than 2,000 violations, while Yanukovych's supporters told Interfax that they have counted about 750 violations.

In addition to the outright vote-rigging, observers reported illegal campaigning on election day. Parishioners of the St. Michael Cathedral in the city of Cherkassy, for instance, were handed icons with pro-Yanukovych leaflets attached to the back, the Union of Ukrainian Voters said on its web site.

Also in Cherkassy, an unidentified person dumped ink into a ballot box at a polling stations.

An election official at a polling station in Kiev, where Yushchenko won a majority of the votes in the first round, used disappearing ink on ballots, Ukrainian news web site Korrespondent.net reported. Vyacheslav Pinkovsky, who represented Yanukovych's team on the polling station's election board, wrote the names of voters on ballots and then handed them over, it said. Once the names disappeared, the ballots were invalid and had to be tossed.

Pens with disappearing ink were also discovered at several polling stations in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where Yushchenko also has strong support, Ukrainian media reported.

Saradzhyan reported from Moscow, and Staff Writer Oksana Yablokova contributed to this report from Moscow.

[eluminate]

look thats simply bull ... the east and south have more people then the west period. Odessa, Lugansk, Donetsk, Kharkov, Sevastopol, Simferopol etc.. The population in those regions is more closely tied to Russia because 1. they are basicly even if Ukranian by birth are Russian speakers 2. Most have relatives in Russia. 3. Do not like the nationalistic things Yuschenko propesed like killing off the Russian language teaching in those regions schools. No there weren't over 100% turnouts if you notice both west and the east turned out very very heavily over 80% with a 90% margin for each candidate.

You do realize that the west ergo US and EU are doing an idiotic thing here. For one they are pressing Ukraine into a corner where it might split into two with the east and south either being formed into another country or a more likely scenario rejoining Russia. But if that doesn't happen it will be defintely become ostrosized for electing someone the west doesn't like and will turn to Russia for support. Thats like a no brainer right there. Did we in the US voted for the person Europe wanted? I for one didn't.

They forget to mention that most of the people protesting were driven by bus from Lwov / L'viv yesterday and that there were celebrations in the east & south about Yanukovich winning. So it isn't completely everyone against the gov't elect. Most of my family comes from crimea and I still got relatives living there and I don't think they are upset about this.

[Truth666]

the results - with paper trail and results signed by representatives of each candidate at each polling station
http://www.cvk.gov.ua/wp301ept001f01=501

[Rebelbase]

And the libs here are all whining about how "divided " we are as a nation.

No matter how close an election or vast the differences of opinion, we've seen nothing like what goes on in other countries.

[eluminate]

what about the results? several parts went over 90 for both of the candidates.. so if they go for Yuschenko they should count but if they got for Yanukovich they shouldn't? I stand by my earlier post and I dont understand what are u trying to say. Wish those results were mapped out though gives a better picture.

[Lukasz]

Obviously elections were falsified and commie scum like Kuchma and Yanukovich are trying hide the facts. But they are too stupid, attendance in some eastern regions was over 100%!! Even that moron Lukashenko didn’t have similar problems. I hope that Ukrainians will show us that even such big “Trojan horse” like their Russian minority cannot do nothing. Russians should keep their noses in Russia!!! Main polish opposition party which will start to rule in Poland in next year said that they are NOT accept this results of Ukrainian elections. Nicolae Ceausescu is in my mind now!

[phoenix0468]

The Red Zone wrote:
They mispunch their chadskis?

............................

ROFL. No actually many chadskis were probably never counted.

[eluminate]

the link to the election commision of ukraine shows no turnout over 100%... some close to 92%+ like Lvov for Yuschenko and 92%+ of Donetsk for Yanukovich.

Yes Russians ethnic ones are a minority but Russian speaking Ukranians are a majority. Most of 'Ukranians' in south and east do not speak Ukranian. Most of them do not like the anihillation of the language they speak in the public sphere. They don't want to learn Ukranian or be forced to learn it. I wouldn't mind a peaceful... splitting of Ukrane in half with the western part being given Yuschenko as president, all the resources are in the east anyways and the south is the resourt area. West is barren.

[AdmSmith]

I just got news from Kiev, Yushchenko with his hand on the Bible declared himself President of Ukraine in the parliament. It seems that there will be an open conflict.

[AdmSmith]

Here is an earlier article:
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=10723497

Tymoshenko urges parliament to declare Yushchenko president

KYIV. Nov 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Yulia Tymoshenko, a leader of the Ukrainian radical opposition, has urged parliament to declare Viktor Yushchenko the new Ukrainian president.

Speaking at parliament on Tuesday, Tymoshenko suggested that, after Viktor Yushchenko occupies his post, the Verkhovna Rada should be disbanded and then replaced by honest people's deputies.

She claimed that those attending the Tuesday parliamentary session are true representatives of the Ukrainian people and their interests. "Those who are absent in the hall are traitors who have never represented the Ukrainian people's interests," she said.

Tymoshenko admitted that parliament cannot pass valid rulings on Tuesday as it lacks a quorum.

Tymoshenko also called on those present to express a vote of no confidence in the Central Elections Commission.

Addressing the people, Tymoshenko called on them not to engage in any negotiations with the authorities but "just remove them from their offices," appoint a new government and continue to work.


Comment: He was sworn in just a few minutes ago.

[AdmSmith]

Here is the Russian view:

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/11/23/radasession.shtml

Ukraine's Parliament Fails to Secure Quorum for Election Dispute Session

Created: 23.11.2004 18:14 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 18:14 MSK,

The Ukrainian parliament, the Rada, opened a special session on Tuesday due to the dispute over the presidential election results.

Opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko who lost according to the preliminary information provided by the Central Election Commission of Ukraine, called for the session at a rally on Monday.

Only 191 deputies were registered at the session. They are mostly supporters of Yushchenko. Supporters of the other contender, Viktor Yanukovich, were absent as were the communists. The parliament needs at least 226 votes to pass any solution. Opening the debate, parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn told deputies: "We are sliding towards the abyss. It is amoral and criminal to pretend nothing is happening in the country. We must act in good time otherwise the people will decide on our behalf tomorrow," Reuters reported.

Parliament does not have the power to annul the elections.

"Ukraine's presidential election has seen an attempted coup d'etat, an illegal seizure of power. This is a crime against the Ukrainian people. We declare Yushchenko to be the legitimate president of Ukraine," Roman Zvarych, a member of Yushchenko's Our Ukraine group, was quoted by the agency as saying at the session.

[AdmSmith]

ping

[struwwelpeter]

Bump!

[AdmSmith]

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,11483088%255E401,00.html

Russia backs Ukraine vote
By Yana Dlugy in Moscow
24nov04

DETERMINED to rebuild its influence in former Soviet territory, Russia has squared off against the West over Ukraine's disputed presidential election.

In an echo of Cold War-era confrontations, Moscow found itself on the opposite side of the barricades from Western capitals over the weekend runoff, which official results handed to a pro-Russia prime minister.

As observers from Europe and the United States slammed the election for fraud, Russian President Vladimir Putin called to congratulate the disputed victor for an "open and honest" win.

The Russian leader had staked his prestige on a victory by Viktor Yanukovich - he twice travelled to Ukraine to meet with the ruling party candidate ahead of the election.

His defeat would be a "huge personal and tactical defeat for Vladimir Putin," Russian liberal politician Boris Nemtsov said this week from Kiev.





After the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia fell into the Western camp last year, when a reformer ousted the entrenched regime in a peaceful "rose revolution," Russia has been keen to reassert its influence in what it calls its "near abroad."

Meanwhile the West is keen to have Ukraine in its camp as a buffer against an increasingly authoritarian Russia.

"Ukraine is our neighbour and closest relative and Putin's Russia will be put on notice if it takes a democratic route," said Vladimir Pribylovsky, an analyst at the Panorama think tank in Moscow.

And so ahead of Ukraine's presidential election, Russia worked hard so that the "Georgian scenario" does not occur in the nation of nearly 48 million that stretches along half of its western border.

It threw its weight behind Yanukovich, a blue-collar industrialist from Ukraine's coal mining east, a Russian-speaking region that wants Kiev to retain close ties to Moscow.

The 54-year-old was also the chosen successor of outgoing President Leonid Kuchma.

"Yanukovich was chosen because there are people in Russia's government who are interested in a continuation of the status quo in Ukraine," said Masha Lipman, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Centre.

His main rival, opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko was seen by Moscow as being too unreliable, backing Ukraine's entry into the European Union and potentially even joining NATO.

"It is more practical to have a neighbour who is like you instead of a neighbour who is more democratic and has a better reputation," Lipman said.

So Moscow brought out the heavy guns in the run-up to the election. Putin visited Ukraine days before a first round, meeting with Kuchma and Yanukovich in highly publicised photo ops.

He met again with the two men ahead of the second runoff vote and billboards in the Russian capital urged the city's large Ukrainian diaspora to cast their ballot for Kremlin's choice.

"Politics in Russia are conducted in a primitive manner," Lipman said. "The government considers the people as a mass to be manipulated... but while that is for the most part true for Russia, where the population is passive, it is not true in the case of Ukraine."

"They deployed Russian notions and procedures in Ukraine, but the situation there is different and the people are different," she said.

Indeed Yushchenko has refused to concede defeat, saying the government rigged the vote and demanding a recount.

Much of the international community has backed him, with Washington warning Kiev of sanctions if the alleged voting fraud is not reviewed.

Nevertheless, "there will be no confrontation between Russia and the West over Ukraine," Pribylovsky said. "(US President George W.) Bush forgives Putin everything and Europe - the more the price of oil rises, the more it will forgive us."

[eluminate]

so those that voted for Yanukovich in the east and south shouldn't count only those who voted in the western part for Yuschenko should. People should have no say and elect the person who is wanted by the EU or US like Kerry was elected 78/8 by the foreighners in their polls.

Just cause Yushenko is protesting don't mean he won. Siting only western ukraine election results skews the reality where most of the people live in the east and south.

[Lukasz]

Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, the Polish deputy speaker of the European parliament, declared Monday that Ukraine's presidential election had been rigged in favour of pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, adding his voice to a chorus of criticism of the poll.

Saryusz-Wolski, an observer of the election run-off between Yanukovich and his pro-Western opponent Viktor Yushchenko, told the Polish PAP news agency, "There was no victory for Yanukovich. This election was fraudulent."

He warned, "This false result will be challenged in the courts by the party which really won ... and international public opinion, including in the European Union and the European Parliament, will not be indifferent."

Poland's Prime Minister Marek Belka also expressed concern Monday at what he called a number of cases of fraud in the polling in his country's eastern neighbour.

Other observers, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and senior US Senator Richard Lugar, also alleged the results had been faked.

With votes counted from 99.14 percent of polling stations, Yanukovich was credited with 49.42 percent of the vote, compared with 46.69 for Yushchenko, who has protested the results.

http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/041122194229.u40kycdn

Three others polish deputes including former polish PM are actually also in Kiev with Yuschenko, as well as Belarusian opposition leader and some Russian democrats. Polish president Kwasniewski also said that it is not OK.

Lech Walesa is going to Ukraine to support Yuschenko.

Fight the commies!

[FrankRepublican]

Looks like this election was rigged like the recall for Chavez in Venezuela. Moscow rigged this. Too bad Jiminy Carter wasn't in the Ukraine to vouch for this rigged election.

These poor people deserve democracy.

[FrankRepublican]

I really admire Lech Walesa.

Looks like the Kremlin rigged this election.

[Lukasz]

exit-polls 54:43 for Yuschenko.
Difference is huge, they falsified for sure. Official site is under Kuchma control and Kuchma is commie thief.

[Lukasz]

Russian DUMA recognized even Belarusian elections as fair. Those hypocrites should shut up once and for all.

[AdmSmith]

Dobry wieczór Lukasz, Poland has special relations with Ukraine and it is nice to hear that Lech is heading to Kiev. Will he have a rerun of solidarnosc?

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/i_latestdetail.asp?id=24445

Ukrainian opposition leader claims victory (updated AM 00:35)

2004/11/24
KIEV, Ukraine, AP


Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko declared victory in Ukraine's presidential election and took a symbolic oath of office Tuesday, warning that the country was on the verge of civil conflict. About 200,000 supporters gathered in the capital to protest alleged election fraud.

Yushchenko accused authorities of rigging Sunday's vote in favor of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and announced a campaign of civil disobedience.

"Ukraine is on the threshold of a civil conflict," Yushchenko told lawmakers gathered for an emergency session of parliament to consider an opposition request to annul the election results. "We have two choices: either the answer will be given by the parliament, or the streets will give an answer."

The parliamentary session ended without making any decision, since only 191 lawmakers -- less than the 226 required to have a quorum -- attended.

After the session ended, Yushchenko swore an oath on a 300-year-old Bible. The Ukrainian constitution, however, stipulates that the president swears allegiance on a copy of the constitution. Lawmakers chanted "Bravo, Mr. President!"

Earlier, Yushchenko and his allies had released a statement appealing "to the parliaments and nations of the world to bolster the will of the Ukrainian people, to support their aspiration to return to democracy."

The opposition will conduct "a campaign of civil disobedience" and "a nonviolent struggle for recognition of the true results of the election."

The Election Commission's announcement that the Kremlin-backed Yanukovych was ahead of the Western-leaning Yushchenko has galvanized anger among many of the former Soviet republic's 48 million people. Official results, with more than 99.48 percent of precincts counted, showed Yanukovych leading with 49.39 percent to his challenger's 46.71 percent. But several exit polls had found Yushchenko the winner.

More than 100,000 people marched behind Yushchenko to the parliament building and waited behind metal barriers, waving orange flags -- Yushchenko's campaign color -- and holding a giant orange ribbon over their heads, chanting "Criminals go away!" But many began leaving after parliament failed to reach quorum and temperatures dropped as evening approached.

In parliament, pro-Yushchenko lawmakers -- wearing orange handkerchiefs in their pockets -- took turns at the podium.

"All political forces should negotiate and solve the situation without blood," said parliament speaker Volodymyr Litvyn.

"The activities of politicians and the government ... have divided society and brought people into to the streets," Litvyn said. "Today there is a danger of activities moving beyond control."

A no confidence vote in parliament would have carried political significance, but it would not have been binding. According to the Ukrainian constitution, a no-confidence vote must be initiated by the president -- and outgoing President Leonid Kuchma has staunchly backed Yanukovych.

Opposition leader and Yushchenko ally Yulia Tymoshenko, wearing an orange ribbon around her neck, called on lawmakers "not to go to into any negotiations" with the government. Instead, Tymoshenko said, they should "announce a new government, a new president, a new Ukraine."

Yushchenko supporters set up tents awash with orange on Kiev's main avenue and in Independence Square, pledging to stay despite freezing temperatures until he is declared president. People continued to arrive in minibuses and on foot, raising fears of civil unrest in this nation of 48 million.

The tent city even generated its own one-page newspaper, which was being handed out to supporters.

Mykola Tomenko, a lawmaker and Yushchenko ally, said some police had joined the opposition, although the claim was impossible to independently verify. One police officer, wearing an orange ribbon in his uniform, ordered a group of police outside a government building to retreat inside, defusing tension between them and Yushchenko supporters.

Kiev's city council and the administrations of four other sizable cities -- Lviv, Ternopil, Vinnytsia and Ivano-Frankivsk -- have refused to recognize the official results and they back Yushchenko.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who strongly praised Yanukovych during the election, sent his congratulations to the prime minister, but observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and other international organizations pointed to extensive indications of voting fraud.

The European Union called for an urgent review of the results, and Senator Richard Lugar, chairman of the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, spoke of "a concerted and forceful program of election-day fraud and abuse."

In televised comments, Yanukovych called for national unity, saying: "I categorically will not accept the actions of certain politicians who are now calling people to the barricades. This small group of radicals has taken upon itself the goal of splitting Ukraine."

[Lukasz]

Well our former PM who is in Kiev now, in his speech compared protesters to our Solidarity. Many Ukrainians cities recognize Yuschenko as a new president. In Lvov is similar demonstration with 100 thousands of people and in Ivano-Frankovsk 60 thousands. More than for cities refused to recognize the official results. (fresh news)
I just saw the poll in main polish portal and 75% of voters thinks that polish government shouldn’t accept Yanukovych, 6% undecided and the rest I mean commies thinks that everything is OK.

[Lukasz]

More than FOUR cities refused to recognize the official results. (fresh news)

[Grzegorz 246]

Polish news channel TVN 24 has announced that a military armored column is approaching to Kiev . I heard also that 2000 Russian soldiers arrived.

[AdmSmith]

If this is correct Putin will have serious problems with both US and EU.

We can not accept Russian military intervention in Ukraine.

Please check again if it was Russian or Ukrainian soldiers.

[Agog]

Reports now that Russia is sending troops to Ukraine, including Spetznaz, according to Ukrainian newspaper Korrespondent. Also reports that the Ukrainian diplomatic corps in US have repudiated Yanukovich and the fraud that supposedly elected him (which came as a complete surprise to me).

[Agog]

That is to say, the decision of the diplomat corps was a surprise, the fraud, regrettably, was only too predictable.

Here are links, in Russian:

http://www.korrespondent.net/main/107452 regarding Spetznaz

http://www.maidan.org.ua/static/news/1101187142.html regarding diplomat corps.

[AdmSmith]

In the first article the MVD spokesman Vladimir says that they have not sent any troops and will not send any. I could not connect to the other site.

[Agog]

I would not expect the MVD spokesman to admit to Russia violating Ukraine's sovereignty. As to the second link, open a new browser window and try again. Ukrainian web sites are notoriously flaky.

[FreeReign]

Reports now that Russia is sending troops to Ukraine, including Spetznaz, according to Ukrainian newspaper Korrespondent.

I hope not.

AP/Yahoo | 11/23/04 | Aleksandar Vasovic | [excerpt]: ...Dmytro Schwartz, 70 ,a retired schoolteacher, came to Independence Square with his 11-year-old grandson, David. "This is Ukraine's rebirth, and you should remember that," Schwartz told the boy...

[Truth666]

Place your bets. After all it's the end game.
Everywhere puzzles getting completed. Just some small pieces, the picture has been clear for some years.

[Grzegorz 246]

[AdmSmith]

http://www.maidan.org.ua/static/news/1101187142.html

Putin: Criticism of vote inadmissible without official results

Nov 23, 20:52

LISBON, Portugal (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Nov. 23 that criticism of the Ukrainian election by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is "inadmissible" because there are no official results.

"They should be more careful and responsible," Putin said of the OSCE which participated in the monitoring of the presidential vote.

OSCE observers said extensive indications of voting fraud were found in Ukraine's presidential election Nov. 21, including people apparently voting multiple times and voters being forced to turn over their absentee ballots to state employers.

"We cannot recognize or protest results that are not yet official," Putin told a news conference during an official visit to Lisbon, Portugal.

"Ukraine is a state of law. It doesn't need to be lectured," Putin said through an interpreter.

Ukraine's opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko claimed Nov. 23 that he won the country's election and called for international recognition.

Yushchenko and his supporters accused the authorities of rigging the Nov. 21 vote in favor of Kremlin-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and announced a campaign of civil disobedience.

The OSCE determined there were "violations of the basic standards for free, fair and democratic elections" that have led to "justifiable doubts about the official results."

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Nov. 23 that Europe was closely watching the developments in Ukraine. He appealed for calm and urged an investigation of the results.

Putin also called for calm and respect for the law in Ukraine and defended his decision to congratulate Yanukovych after Sunday's ballot.

"It's true I congratulated a candidate, but not according to the official results - according to projections from exit polls," Putin said.

He questioned the credibility of the OSCE's observers in elections in Afghanistan last month and in Kosovo where it has monitored three elections since 1999, most recently a general election last month.

"As long as they keep having the same stance their credibility will be further undermined," Putin said of the observers.

"When you try to paint one candidate with Russian colors and another with western colors - that attitude belongs in the past. We cannot accept that the world be painted in two colors only and use that simple, good-and-evil view of the world. That will only help to further divide" Ukraine, Putin said.

The OSCE largely monitors human rights and elections across Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the former Soviet Union, but also has cooperation agreements with several Mediterranean and Asian countries.

Russia has been pushing for reform of the 55-nation OSCE since August, accusing it of double standards and saying it unfairly criticizes governments in some countries.

The watchdog body had said Russia's parliamentary elections last December and the presidential campaign that led to Putin's March re-election fell short of democratic standards.

[jb6]

WITH 65 PERCENT OF BALLOTS, CAST AT POLLING STATIONS ABROAD, COUNTED, AS OF 9 A M MONDAY, VIKTOR YUSCHENKO LEADING WITH 52.8 PERCENT

KYIV, November 1 /Ukrinform/. According to Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission Sergei Kivalov, as of 9 a m Monday, November 1, 65 percent of ballots, last by Ukrainian voters at polling stations abroad, were counted. As Mr Kivalov said, Viktor Yuschenko collected 52.8 percent of the votes versus Viktor Yanukovych's 37.87 percent. According to Foreign Ministry press secretary Markian Lubkivsky, in Belgium and Luxembourg 359 Ukrainian citizens participated in the election, or 43 percent of the total number of registered eligible voters (886 persons). Viktor Yuschenko mustered 75 percent of the votes versus Viktor Yanukovych's 20.9 percent. In Sweden Ukrainian voters cast 66.4 percent of the ballots in favor of Viktor Yuschenko. Yanukovych scored 41.9 percent.

In Stockholm, only 18 percent of the registered Ukrainian voters came to the Embassy's polling station. According to the observers, many were prevented from exercising their constitutional right by the incorrect lists of voters.

The list contained 714 names. One hundred and thirty one voters came to the polling station in Stockholm, of whom 87 cast their ballots in support of Viktor Yuschenko and 32 in support of Viktor Yanukovych. Ukrainian nationals in Serbia and Montenegro came to vote at the Ukrainian Embassy's polling station in Belgrade. The list comprised about 400 voters, of whom 137 citizens participated in the election. In Kosovo all the 251 Ukrainian military servicemen and 225 police officers cast ballots. In Russia's second biggest city and once capital, St Petersburg the bulk of those who participated in the voting supported Viktor Yanukovych (493 ballots out of the total number of 634 ballots cast). Viktor Yuschenko collected 86 ballots. The other 22 candidates' scores were computable in one-digit figures at best, and some failed to collect any votes in their support.

About a thousand Ukrainian citizens went to vote in New York City, about 2,250 voted in Washington, DC, Chicago, Illinois and San Francisco, California. Over 1,600 Ukrainian voters were registered in London, UK, of whom 877 participated in the October 31 election. The bulk of them (788) cast ballots in support of Viktor Yuschenko, Viktor Yanukovych scored 41 ballots. Serhi Komisarenko, who once was Ukraine's Ambassador to Britain, collected nine votes. According to unofficial data, there are several dozens of thousands of Ukrainian nationals in Britain, but only a fraction were entered in the list of voters. According to the Ukrainian Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, 70 percent of the registered Ukrainian voters, who basically reside in the Ganteng Province, came to the Embassy's polling station to cast ballots on October 31.

[AdmSmith]

The Russians are threatening Ukraine:
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=10723614

Moscow worried by reaction of Ukrainian radical opposition

MOSCOW. Nov 23 (Interfax) - Moscow is concerned about how the Ukrainian radical opposition has reacted to the outcome of the second round of the presidential elections in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on its website on Tuesday evening.

"The reaction of the Ukrainian radical opposition forces to the outcome of the voting and their public calls not to recognize and annul them causes perplexity and extreme concerns. It only deserves regret that these demands aimed at destabilizing the situation have not only been supported but also provoked by representatives of certain foreign countries, including those across the ocean, and international institutions," the Foreign Ministry said.

Ukraine is hearing "calls for antidemocratic and unlawful steps and disobedient actions," the Foreign Ministry said.

"The radicals in Ukraine and outside it should understand that fomenting tensions and calling for forceful actions can extremely heat up the situation and lead to grave consequences," the statement says.

[jb6]

News from Ukraine All the important news

since 26 August 2000

Natalya Krasnoboka

Fighting corruption

In comparison with neighboring Russia, Ukraine has had a relatively quite summer. The break from political life has been interrupted only once by the arrest of Olexandr Tymoshenko, a member of the board of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine Corporation. The arrest of this businessman is not seen as an extraordinary event in modern Ukrainian life.

However, Tymoshenko is not only a businessman but also the husband of Yuliya Tymoshenko, vice prime minister of the current Cabinet. It is difficult to give a prove whether the arrest of Olexandr Tymoshenko is in any way connected with his wife's job.

Together with Valery Falkovych, first deputy general director of the corporation, Tymoshenko is officially accused of embezzling USD 800 000 in public funds through the export of rolled metal to Asia during the 1990s.

On her part, Yulia Tymoshenko blames her political rivals for the action taken against her husband. She sees the fear and anger of her opponents, because of her constant desire and efforts to stop corruption in Ukraine's energy sector, as the main reason behind his arrest.

The story took on a new course on Friday when Deputy Chief Prosecutor Mykola Obykhod accused the corporation of illegally transferring more than USD 1.1 billion abroad. More fuel was added to the fire by the release of information that up to USD 100 million was sent to the accounts of former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, who is still waiting for the final verdict from the American and Swiss courts on the matter of corruption during his time in the Cabinet of Ministers.

This information not only etablishes clear links between Olexandr Tymoshenko and the disgraced ex-Prime Minister, but between Lazarenko and Yulia Tymoshenko as well. At the time of the illegal transactions mentioned by the prosecutor, Yulia Tymoshenko was head of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine Corporation.

Further developments are expected to follow soon. From now on, it is difficult to draw any conclusions or take information presented by the prosecutors for granted.

Only one thing is clear: Yulia Tymoshenko, who will possibly be supported by Prime Minister Yuschenko, some other members of the Cabinet and her own political party Batkivschyna (Fatherland), is not going to give up on her husband's arrest nor with the accusations against herself.

[jb6]

Russians, ethnically, are the majority in Crimea, Lughansk and Kharkov (both built by the Tsars). Further, most of the people of eastern and southern Ukraine, the majority, are intermixed with Russians, since technically it was run away Russian serfs who formed the Cossaks of this area.

[AdmSmith]

I can see that you have obtained an old article. Why not check this http://www.10iacc.org/content.phtml?documents=300&art=47 and the pdf file http://www.10iacc.org/download/w2-05.pdf from The International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC)

you may as well read this page http://www.tymoshenko.com.ua/eng/about/

Being the head of the Parliament Budget Committee, Yuliya Tymoshenko initiated the budget reform. As the vice prime minister for fuel and energy sector at the Cabinet of Ministers she was striving to bring the industry out of collapse and managed to establish conditions favorable for its economic growth.

When in Cabinet, Tymoshenko took the unprecedented steps to de-criminalize the "backbone" of Ukraine's economy, its fuel and energy sector. In 2000, the Government paid to the population the additional UAH 18 billion, out of which UAH 9 billion was raised through withdrawing costs from the shadow economy, prohibition of barter and introduction of the principles of competition into the energy market. Being deprived of their "shadow" incomes by Tymoshenko's reforms, the financial and industrial lobbyists from the presidential circles got the President to sign the decree on her dismissal in January 2000.

In February 2001, Tymoshenko headed the united democratic opposition, which demanded the dismissal of President Leonid Kuchma suspected of a number of crimes, such as involvement in the murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze, falsification of the presidential and parliamentary election results, power abuse, corruption, etc.

On February 13, Yuliya Tymoshenko was arrested on charges brought by the Prosecutor General's office against her. General public regarded this fact as a savage punishment of the democratic movement.

In March, Kyiv's Pechersk District Court found charges brought against Tymoshenko groundless and cancelled the warrant on her arrest.

In September, Yuliya Tymoshenko lodged a complaint against the actions of the Prosecutor General's office. Her court appeal is another evidence of Tymoshenko's resolution to prove that none of the charges boosted by oligarch-controlled media are grounded.

[AdmSmith]

http://www.kyivpost.com/top/21857/

Lytvyn says authorities ready for negotiations; Tymoshenko says no

Nov 23, 21:46
Yanukovych and Kuchma want to talk; Yushchenko camp names hard conditions as Tymoshenko refuses to meet

(Korrespondent.net and Post Staff) Rada speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn announced that President Leonid Kuchma and the authorities' chosen candidate Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych have expressed a readiness to take part in a roundtable negotiation with opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko.

The speaker also said he spoke with Yushchenko representatives, who said they were ready for a dialogue but demanded a number of conditions. But in an appearance on Channel 5 television on the evening of Nov. 23, opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko said the opposition refused to negotiate.

Lytvyn said he reported the conditions to Yanukovych, who responded that "a theme for negotiations exists," and that conditions can be discussed.

The speaker suggested that the meeting of the three sides take part in the Rada. "The meeting place doesn't matter; what matters is the essence of the negotiations. Today politicians should talk, and if they don't, then the streets are going to talk for them," said the parliament leader.

[eluminate]

I'm betting on the following if the stupid bastrd (Yuschenko) doesn't get it through his thick skull that he lost and storms the central election commision Ukraine will split into two. Possibly with bloodshed which noone wants to happen. He lost period, exit polls were wrong cause noone polled the easter half where more of the population is located. The polls were done in Kiev and Lvov and thats one biased opinion of course it would say he would win there by 75 to 25%...

I m betting that the interantional community will ostrosize Ukrane and it will have to bear the brunt of world opinion just without the resources US had when we elected Bush. I m betting the only one Ukraine will turn to is Russia because that is the only path left when Europe and US are screaming at you when you elect someone they didnt like. I m betting that after Russian enters the WTO the eastern half of Ukraine along with all of the south will have a referrendum and join Russia or do so before hand if this idiot storms the capital.

[Lukasz]

The polls were done in Kiev and Lvov and thats one biased opinion of course it would say he would win there by 75 to 25%...

Typical Soviet propaganda. Polls are OK, just you are wrong. Probably cause you are Russian. I didn’t heard about any pro-Yanukovych demonstrations in Eastern part of Ukraine. Stalin said about polish fighters “bandits and criminals” you are calling Yuschenko “bastard and idiot”. You Russians could cheat even the devil but not the Pole, we know every your dirty trick.