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(RTTNews) - The Interfax, the Russian news agency, reported on Thursday that there were conflicting views regarding a possible coup in Ukraine. The Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has reportedly dismissed the prosecutor general Svyatoslav Piskun. Consequently, security was send to evict Piskun from his office. In a retaliatory effort, Piskun had reportedly stormed the office of the prosecutor general with his supporters.

Ukrainian President Victor Yuschenko has dissolved the parliament which was controlled by the opposing party’s coalition. The Party of Regions, is controlled by Yuschenko’s arch nemesis Viktor Yanukovych, and is a pro-Russian party, made up largely of ethnic Russians. Yanukovych successfully blunted the momentum of the Orange revolution, which brought Victor Yuschenko to power following rigged elections. This pro-Russian parliament has been slowly usurping Presidential authority, and President Yuschenko has essentially become a lame duck. The UK Guardian recently reported the assassination of the Russian oligarch Maksim Kurochkin, in Ukraine. UK Guardian (Apr. 1st, 2007):a sniper shot the Russian businessman...

"While the agenda is fuzzy, the political signal seems clear: the Kremlin is willing to partner with the Yushchenko presidency and new government in the post-election period. "

KIEV, November 18 (RIA Novosti) - Almost half of Ukrainians have a negative view of the "orange revolution" and its consequences, according to a survey conducted November 15-17 by the Ukrainian center for regional information issues. Of those polled, 47.7% gave a negative response, 23.2% had a positive view, and 26.5% considered the events to be both positive and negative. The remaining 2.6% were undecided. A total of 1,450 people were polled in various Ukrainian regions. Anniversary celebrations of the "orange revolution" will be held at Maidan Square in Kiev November 22, one year after thousands of opposition supporters rallied...

The State Property Fund announced Mittal Steel Germany Gmbh the conqueror in a contest of 93.02% shares of Kryvorizhstal sale. As “Ukrainsky Novyny” informs, such a decision was adopted following the results of contest. Mittal Steel proposed UAH 24,2 milliard, the highest price among three contest participants/ At the same time “Industrial group” (Kyiv) consortium proposed UAH 24,1 milliard and “Smart Group” company (Dnipropetrovsk) – UAH 17,7 milliard. Mittal Steel Germany Gmbh is a part of international holding Mittal Steel, which is the world biggest steel producer. Primarily Mittal Steel and “Smart Group” proposed UAH 10,5 milliard, “Industrial Group” –...

NEW YORK - During the General Assembly of the United Nations in NY, the President of Ukraine, Victor Yuschenko met with Jewish leaders to discuss issues and concerns of the Jewish community in Ukraine. Their conversation focused on recent acts of anti-Semitism in the country and the situation concerning the restitution of Jewish communal property confiscated under the Soviet regime. President Yuschenko assured the leaders of his government's commitment to a 'no tolerance' policy to any anti-Semitic act on the part of Ukrainian citizens or government officials, as well as suggesting that the leaders set a plan into motion in...

Ukraine's sacked PM seeks return to office in 2006 Tue Sep 13, 8:19 AM ET Ukraine's sacked Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said she plans to win back her post after parliamentary elections next year and then stand for president in 2009. In an interview with Russian newspaper Kommersant published on Tuesday, Tymoshenko -- fired along with her government by President Viktor Yushchenko last Thursday -- said she and her supporters would win the March 2006 elections. "Of course, I will fight for the post of prime minister in the parliamentary elections," Tymoshenko told the paper. "There is not merely a...

President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko and US Senator Richard Lugar discussed abolition of Jackson-Vanik amendment concerning Ukraine, the WTO membership, status of market economy and Euroatlantic integration. Senator Barak Obama, US Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst and the first deputy State Secretary of Ukraine Alexander Motsik also took part in the meeting. President underlined that according to expert estimation “Ukraine looses about eight milliard USD annually” because it is not a WTO member of and does not have a status of a country with market economy. The head of the country expressed a hope that US authority will support Ukraine...

Ukraine To Teach Morals, Faith In Schools Classes Will Be Voluntary KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian public schools will begin teaching about morals and faith under a new curriculum being developed in part by Orthodox church leaders. The voluntary classes will be introduced throughout the predominantly Orthodox nation starting in September, according to a leader of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He said the curriculum will include lessons about morality and biblical creationism. Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko, who is Orthodox, gave his backing to the project in a private meeting with religious leaders last week, but his office said the curriculum must...

KIEV, Ukraine – During a recent meeting between the President of Ukraine, Victor Yuschenko, and representatives of North American Jewish organizations, the Ukrainian leader expressed that state authorities in Ukraine want to do everything possible so that "any Jew residing in Ukraine will say that he lives better here than he would live in Israel.” Their meeting took place on Monday and focused on issues related to the national minorities residing in Ukraine. President Yuschenko emphasized that there is no place for xenophobia, anti-Semitism and inter-ethnic conflict in Ukraine, an idea that he has expressed on several occasions prior. "We...

MOSCOW - It was a clear September night when Yevhen Chervonenko left presidential hopeful Viktor Yushchenko healthy and in good spirits ahead of a secret meeting at a dacha near Kiev. Chervonenko, at the time Yushchenko's head of security and now Ukraine's new transportation minister, said he usually went everywhere with Yushchenko and even tasted his food. But that night was an exception. Yushchenko was going to the dacha to dine with Ukrainian Security Service chief Ihor Smeshko and his deputy, Volodymyr Satsyuk. "I was told that I was not required that night because the organizers wanted the meeting to...

Eve of the inauguration On the day of Viktor Yushchenko's inauguration, Tom Mangold reveals the extraordinary story of his rivals' plot to deny him power. It's inauguration day for new President Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's modernist President, a reformer who beat a brutal and medieval assassination attempt by poisoning and an outrageous example of poll rigging last November to become Ukraine's new leader. And only now are the astonishing truths of Mr Yushchenko's fight for the leadership he had earned being revealed. An investigation has discovered: · Britain's germ warfare laboratory in Porton Down has received a biopsy of his skin...

KIEV (AFP) - Kiev once again turned orange as Viktor Yushchenko prepared to assume power after months of turmoil and set off on his avowed course of bringing Ukraine out of historic Russian influence and toward the West. Ahead of the reformer's inauguration Sunday, the Ukrainian capital busily wrapped itself into the orange color of his presidential campaign -- orange banners hung from buildings, adorned billboards and fluttered under the falling snow as flags. "All of the organizational questions have been decided," Kiev mayor Oleksander Omelchenko said proudly Friday. Yushchenko will take the oath of office at noon on Sunday...

"A top aide to Viktor Yushchenko, confident the Western-leaning reformer will be inaugurated as president within days, said Wednesday that Yushchenko next week will begin a push to bring the country into the European Union."

Jan. 11, 2005 22:08 Putin's claims strain Israeli-Russian relations By JPOST.COM STAFF Russian President Vladimir Putin's claim that Israeli officials aided Ukrainian opposition candidate Viktor Yuschenko on the campaign trail has led to a serious break in Russian-Israeli relations, Channel 2 TV reported Tuesday evening. Putin further accused Israel of financing Yuschenko in the presidential race against Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the candidate he preferred. The Russian president claimed that the Israeli government could have prevented the financial sponsorship of Yuschenko. Putin's close associates additionally charged Israel of supporting the Russian opposition. Israel denies the charges, the Channel 2...

WASHINGTON -- When she was growing up in Chicago, an all-American girl who liked school, dancing and boys, they called her Kathy. These days she is known as Kateryna Chumachenko Yushchenko, and if election tallies are certified, she will be the first lady of Ukraine. During the election campaign of her husband, Viktor Yushchenko, critics tried to make an issue of her American citizenship, implying that the CIA was trying to manipulate the election results. But those who knew Kathy Chumachenko when she was a public liaison official in Ronald Reagan's White House remember a fervent anti-communist who was passionate...

  Big Guns There's a post-Soviet phrase hailing the inventor of the ak-47: "God merely created man; equality was made possible thanks to General Kalashnikov." I recalled this as I was sitting in the office of deputy chairman of the Ukrainian Nationalist Assembly (UNA). As he spoke, he absentmindedly drew machine guns on a piece of paper. He also sketched some bows and arrows and gave me copies of his organization's publications, which contained manual-like descriptions of various guns and tips on how to clean them. Electoral posters in his office were not unlike Hitlerjugend propaganda. One read: "power,...

The dioxin poisoning of Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko has changed the tone of the upcoming December 26 runoff vote, raising questions as to who was responsible and whether outside hands were involved. The contest had already drawn in nations from both east and west along with non-governmental organizations working to steer the outcome. Sunday, September 5. Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko met and dined with that country's intelligence chief, General Ihor Smeshko. He came to ask the general and his forces to stay out of the October 31 election. When Mr. Yushchenko returned home, his wife says she smelled...

Ukrainian officials are reopening a criminal investigation into opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko's mystery illness, reports say. On Saturday doctors in Vienna confirmed his condition was caused by poisoning. The doctors said extensive tests showed a form of dioxin had been used, leaving Mr Yushchenko's face disfigured. Mr Yushchenko, 50, was taken ill in September as he campaigned for disputed elections that have now been declared invalid because of irregularities. In October, prosecutors concluded that Mr Yushchenko was suffering the effects of a virus. But media reports on Saturday said they were cancelling a previous decision to close the case....

unday December 12, 2004The Observer Viktor Yuschenko survived an alleged attempt to poison him by dissolving dioxins in his soup. Dioxins are among the most toxic chemicals. It is a general term used to describe hundreds of chemicals which are highly persistent in the environment. They are formed as a by-product of industrial processes involving chlorine, such as waste incineration or paper bleaching. But they also occur naturally in soil fungus and in grasshoppers. The most highly toxic is TCDD (tetrachlorodibenzodioxin). One sign of exposure to the substance is chloracne, an unpleasant skin complaint. They are so dangerous because they...

MEDICAL experts have confirmed that Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s opposition leader, was poisoned in an attempt on his life during election campaigning, the doctor who supervised his treatment at an Austrian clinic said yesterday. Doctors at Vienna’s exclusive Rudolfinerhaus clinic are within days of identifying the substance that left Mr Yushchenko’s face disfigured with cysts and lesions, Nikolai Korpan told The Times in a telephone interview. Specialists in Britain, the United States and France had helped to establish that it was a biological agent, a chemical agent or, most likely, a rare poison that struck him down in the run-up to...

Dec. 6 - The standoff is over—at least for now.  After mobilizing hundreds of thousands of supporters to take to the street for over two weeks of massive protests over a fraud-tainted poll, Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko is the heavy favorite to win in a court-ordered election that again pits him against Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in a re-run scheduled for Dec. 26.Analysts say the Western-leaning Yuschenko now has unstoppable momentum, especially since many business leaders and police moved into his camp after the Nov. 21 vote that the Ukraine Supreme Court said was rigged. Perhaps most significantly, the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said on Monday that Ukraine should remain intact and not succumb to pressure to break apart following its disputed presidential election. Powell told reporters he expressed concern to outgoing Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma earlier on Monday and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over reports that Ukraine could split up. "I reaffirmed to President Kuchma the United States' position and the position of others that the territorial integrity of Ukraine is important," said Powell, speaking after a meeting with Bahrain King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa. "We once again reaffirmed...

VIENNA, Austria — What ails Viktor Yushchenko? As Ukraine's popular pro-Western opposition leader claimed victory Tuesday in hotly contested presidential elections, the mystery surrounding an appearance-altering illness that twice prompted him to check into a Vienna hospital persisted. Yushchenko accused the Ukrainian authorities of poisoning him. His detractors suggested he'd eaten some bad sushi. Adding to the intrigue, the Austrian doctors who treated him have asked foreign experts to help determine if his symptoms may have been caused by toxins found in biological weapons. Medical experts said they may never know for sure what befell Yushchenko. But the illness, whatever...

"Envoys bid to end Ukraine Crisis" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4044037.stm P.S. good map on bottom showing distribution of support geographicly. Although Polatava and Kirivohrad were very close about 60/40 and 55/45 respectively the rest had margins over 65% in favor of one or the other. "Donetsk rallies around its man" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4043601.stm excerpt: "Donetsk makes up 10% of Ukraine's population and provides 20% of GDP." "Court freezes Ukraine poll result" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4042979.stm excrept(s): Mr Yushchenko had also ordered the creation of a people's self-defence force - the "Ukrainian Guard". http://www.ya2004.com.ua/ (yanukovych's campaign) http://www.razom.org.ua/ (yushchenko's campaign)

Thursday, November 25, 2004 Winner declared in Ukraine; opposition calls for national strike By Peter Finn / The Washington Post KIEV, Ukraine - Ukraine's Central Elections Commission declared Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych the winner of the country's bitterly disputed presidential vote Wednesday, defying strong pressure from the United States and other Western countries. In response, opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko called for a national strike starting Thursday. Following the commission's ruling that Yanukovych won 49.46 percent of the vote to 46.61 percent for Yushchenko, rhetoric from both camps escalated, with each accusing the other of planning a coup. Hundreds of thousands...

novembre 24, 2004 Updates from PORA -- The Revolution WILL be blogged. I've joined the PORA opposition group as an English page editor for the internet news site Maidan.org.ua (the #4 website in Ukraine!) I'm writing from HQ. Here is some breaking news we've received: -Authorities have begun violent action against peaceful protesters near the Presidential Admin building. 2 buses of special ops police units drove up and have moved on the demonstrators. - The tent city has now reached as far as the Central Department Store on Kreshatik Street. - The pro-Yanukovych tent city seems to be bleeding people...

"The importance of this election lies not so much in the candidate selected but rather in its indication of whether Ukraine will continue down a democratic path..." "...if offered the choice, most Ukrainians would choose a future tied to the West. But many Ukrainians believe that they have been denied this very choice: While the West's door seems closed -- neither NATO nor the European Union has offered Ukraine much hope of joining their organizations anytime soon -- Russia's is always open." "The people of Ukraine are free individuals whose democratic rights are under attack. In his most famous work,...