YULIA TYMOSHENKO IS UKRAINE’S PRIME MINISTER
By Beth Shaw
Right Pundits
July 30 2008
CA
History has shown us repeatedly that politics in the Ukraine is not
for the faint of heart. At first glance, one might be excused for
thinking that Yulia Tymoshenko is a lamb among the wolves, but that
is hardly the case. Her beauty and demure appearance are just that,
appearance. She is a ruthless businesswoman who came from humble
beginnings to become a wealthy woman and a savvy politician who has
survived numerous attempts to oust her from power. She holds her own
in the world of Russian and Ukrainian politics and is considered one
of the most powerful women in the world.
Tymoshenko recently survived a no-confidence vote in Parliament
brought about by former Prime Minister and leader of the Party of
Religions, Viktor Yanukovych. She was accused of not dealing with
the government’s economic problems. She is also at the center of a
political battle between herself and her former ally, Ukraine President
Viktor Yushchenko over the price of gas that is piped from Russia to
the rest of Europe through the Ukraine. The outcome of this battle
will affect how much the rest of Europe pays for gas. The argument
is over Tymoshenko’s insistence on eliminating the middle-man company
that regulates the gas prices bought from Russia. She is insisting on
buying gas directly from Russia without the middle-man. Her enemies
believe that once the gas prices are unregulated, she will install
her own allies to manage the gas prices. Meanwhile, the rest of Europe
will see skyrocketing prices.
Tymoshenko, of course, denies she has ulterior motives in what
she calls the ‘change of concept’ in how gas is delivered through
Ukraine. However, both she and her key adviser, Vitaly Gayduk, have
amassed fortunes in gas deals. Her argument is that these changes will
take away Russia’s ability to dictate gas prices. However, both she
and Gayduk have contacts in the Russian government and have a great
deal of influence in the gas markets in both countries.
Yulia Tymoshenko Biography
Yulia Tymoshenko was born on November 27, 1960 in Dnipropetrovs’k,
Ukrainian SSR. She is 48 years old. Her parents are Vladimir Abramovich
Grigean and Ludmila Nikolaevna Telegina. Her father left the family
when she was about 3-years-old. There is a dispute over whether
her maiden name is Grigean or Telegina. Her enemies claim that her
maiden name is Grigean and that she is half Armenian on her father’s
side. Her supports disregard her father’s name and claim her maiden
name is Telegina.
Tymoshenko’s political career started with her 1979 marriage to
Oleksandr Tymoshenko, whose father was a mid-level Soviet Communist
Party bureaucrat. She began to rise through positions under the Soviet
Communist Youth Organization (Komsomol). In 1984 she received a degree
in economics from Dnipropetrovsk State University and went on to get
the equivalent of a Ph.D. in economics.
She started a video rental company under the Komsomol, which she later
privatized and made successful. As the Soviet system fell apart, she
began amassing a significant fortune in gas companies, privatization
of formerly Soviet held corporations and exporting metals. She became
one of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the Ukraine during
the 1990s.
She rose to political power as part of the ‘Orange Revolution’. She
has been dubbed the ‘Joan of Arc of the Revolution’ and ‘the Orange
Princess’. She was a stanch ally of President Viktor Yushchenko during
that period. However, they have since been at odds and engaged in
power struggles from time to time.
She became the first female Prime Minister of the Ukraine on January
24, 2005. She served until September 8, 2005 when she was dismissed
by Yushchenko’s administration. She was elected again on December 18,
2007. So she has served as the 13th and now the 16th Prime Minister
of Ukraine. She is the leader of the Bat’kivshchyna (Motherland)
party and the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc. It is generally expected that
she will be a candidate for President of Ukraine in 2010.
About her hair …. everyone asks. During the revolution, she started
wearing her hair in the traditional style of Ukrainian peasant women
as a symbolic gesture. Traditionally, a Ukrainian woman’s beauty was
judged by the thickness and golden hue of her braid. It should look
‘like wheat’, she has said. She has continued to wear the braid
and discusses it at length on her website. She has been accused of
wearing a wig instead of it being her real hair. She has been known
to respond to those accusations by taking her hair down in meetings
to prove that it is her hair.
In 2001, The Globe and Mail wrote that she was one of the most
beautiful women to ever enter politics. She has graced the cover
of Elle Ukraine magazine and is noted to have stated that she would
prefer to have been on the cover of Playboy. She notably said that
Playboy would be "the best choice for any real woman".
The Tymoshenkos have one daughter, Yevhenia, who was born in 1980. She
graduated from a university in Britain and is married to British rock
musician, Sean Carr.