UKRAINE

Vladimir Putin Viktor Yanukovych

The Soviet Union collapsed more than 20 years ago, yet genuine democracy is still a stranger in most of the

former republics. Russia still views the former Soviet republics as part of its orbit and has repeatedly intervened

when they’ve made moves to go their own way. The Ukrainian crisis erupted in November when President

Yanukovych was weighing a trade deal with the European Union, that would have reoriented his country

toward Western Europe and away from Russia. This is exactly the sort of development that sets off alarm bells in

Moscow. Russian President Putin promptly stepped in and offered Ukraine $15 billion in subsidies, including

reduced prices on Russian natural gas. Putin has various tools to undermine Ukraine, such as erecting trade

barriers and rationing deliveries of natural gas. Yanukovych accepted Moscow’s offer and walked away from

the EU deal. This set off the Ukrainian protesters, who’ve been camped in the streets of the capital Kiev for the

past three months. Anti-Yanukovych protesters face suppression and deadly clashes with police. An arrest

warrant has been issued for Yanukovych, and his whereabouts are currently unknown.

Yulia Tymoshenko

In 2011, the former Ukrainian Prime

Minister and opponent of

Yanukovych was charged with

abuse of power and embezzlement,

and was sentenced to seven years

in prison. She was recently released

from jail as the opposition took

control of parliament.

Viktor Yushchenko

The former Ukrainian President claims he was poisoned with dioxin

by political opponents. After two rounds of voting in 2004 - and

reports of many irregularities and abuses across the country such as

organized multiple voting and extra votes for Yanukovych after the

polls closed - the final official result was a 3% margin of victory for

Yanukovych. Allegations of electoral fraud and discrepancy

between exit polls and the final tally prompted Yushchenko and his

supporters to refuse to recognize the results. After thirteen days of

massive popular protests that became known as the Orange

Revolution, the election results were overturned. Yushchenko

proclaimed a victory for the opposition and won the third round of

voting with 52% of the vote. However, in 2006 Yushchenko dismissed

Tymoshenko and appointed Yanukovych to be the new Prime

Minister. In 2010, Yanukovych was elected president.