Viktor Yushchenko’s five years in power

The Ukrainian Central Election Commission has released the preliminary results of the country’s second round of voting. Although it is still unclear who will be Ukraine’s next president, it is absolutely certain who won’t be; incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko didn’t even made it into the second round. Photo: Viktor Yushchenko after delivering his 2009 State of the Nation Address.

Yushchenko entered politics about ten years ago, serving as Ukraine’s prime minister from December 1999 to April 2001. On April 26, 2001 he resigned after the parliament passed a vote of no confidence against his Cabinet.

Yushchenko first ran for president in 2004, gaining 39.8% of the vote in the first round on October 31, and 46.61% in the second round on November 21. On December 3, Ukraine’s Supreme Court ruled that the outcome of the second round was invalid and scheduled a runoff vote for December 26. On January 10, 2005, the Central Election Commission announced Yushchenko had won with 51.99% of the vote.

In 2004, Yuschenko’s Our Ukraine bloc formed a coalition with the bloc headed by Yulia Tymoshenko, who became one of the leaders of the Orange Revolution. No one could imagine then that by the end of his five-year term, Yushchenko would lose even a theoretical chance of reelection and become a target for his former allies’ mockery, said Innokenty Adyasov, a member of the expert council for the State Duma CIS Committee.

Despite the bitter disappointment that followed, many Ukrainians still believe the Orange Revolution was one of the best moments of their lives. Several movies were made based on true stories immediately after the fact. Photo: President Viktor Yushchenko after registering as presidential candidate in 2009.

Yushchenko’s popularity was for some time supported by the economic boom largely attributable to his main rival, Viktor Yanukovich, as well as by generous social support provided by his former ally Yulia Tymoshenko. Photo: Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko taking part in the Arsenal Art Museum project in Kiev in 2008.

Nevertheless, the reforms the country needed so badly were never implemented, leaving Ukraine unprepared and vulnerable in the face of the global economic downturn. Ukraine became one of the hardest hit economies of the crisis. The president tried to escape responsibility by shifting blame to the prime minister, Tymoshenko, who had turned from Yushchenko’s closest ally into his deadly enemy. Photo: Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko greeting farm workers on the occasion of their professional holiday in 2009.

Yushchenko often repeated during his 2009 presidential campaign that relations with Russia are of strategic importance for Ukraine, and that he intended to develop these relations by all available means. However, having opted for an accelerated WTO accession, Ukraine in fact lost the chance to be part of the Common Economic Space, which could have given the country important economic privileges, mainly concerning energy issues and access to member states’ markets for Ukrainian products. Russian-Ukrainian trade has been steadily declining over the past few years, a situation that could grow far worse unless immediate action is taken, said Innokenty Adyasov, a member of the expert council for the State Duma CIS Committee. Such a decline could have an extremely negative effect on the Ukrainian economy, especially during a recession, he added. Photo: Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and then President Vladimir Putin, at the 43rd Munich Security Conference in 2007 in Bayerischer Hof Hotel.

Viktor Yushchenko tried to use the Holodomor tragedy, which killed millions of people throughout the Soviet Union, as additional cause for conflict with Russia. Photo: Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko at a military parade on Ukrainian Independence Day.

The status of Canonical Orthodox Christianity in Ukraine became yet another source of Russian-Ukrainian tensions during Yushchenko’s presidency, as he ardently advocated the idea of instituting a local Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

The practice of dubbing Russian soap operas into Ukrainian began during Yushchenko’s presidency, when the government threatened to revoke television companies’ licenses if they failed to do so. In addition, the government has forbidden showing foreign films translated into Russian in Ukrainian movie theaters for the past three years. Photo: Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and actress Catherine Deneuve at the opening of the Molodost International Film Festival in 2009.

Once elected, Yushchenko changed the country’s foreign policy strategy and made relations with the United States a top priority, which only fueled speculation that the Orange Revolution had been orchestrated by Washington. Yushchenko energetically supported Ukraine’s accession to NATO, which provoked a highly negative response both in Moscow as well as across Ukraine. Photo: President Viktor Yushchenko at a tactical Navy exercise in the Crimea.

During Yushchenko’s presidency, Ukraine was also involved in an ugly scandal when it was discovered after the South Ossetian conflict that Ukraine had been supplying weapons to the Georgian Army. Ukrainian tanks, helicopters, anti-aircraft weapons and guns had been provided to Georgia on Yushchenko’s personal instruction. Moreover, this was done at the expense of Ukraine’s own defenses, as the weapons were taken away from Ukrainian military units, Channel One reported. Photo: Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko meeting in Kiev in 2009.

Yushchenko’s son, Andrei, also caused public scandal when reporters discovered that he had parked his €100,000 BMW illegally in a traffic strip in central Kiev. It was later discovered that the car had been imported illegally and that the required import duties and taxes had not been paid. The younger Yushchenko also turned out to be the best-known bon vivant in Kiev, spending most of his time in restaurants and night clubs and spending money lavishly, Channel One reported. Photo: President Yushchenko and family in 2009.

In 2005, President-elect Yushchenko’s popularity was almost 60%, according to opinion polls. Five years later, only a little over 5% Ukrainians showed confidence in him during the 2010 vote. Photo: President Viktor Yushchenko with his wife, Katerina, voting on February 7, 2010 at a polling station in central Kiev.

Yushchenko said he would return; Ukraine will be holding parliamentary and local elections soon, and he will certainly participate. Photo: President Viktor Yushchenko at the opening of a Dnepropetrovsk stadium, Dnipro Arena, the scheduled venue for the upcoming UEFA Euro 2012.