Ukraine president lashes out at ousted PM (AP) Updated: 2005-09-14 07:31
Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday accused his former prime
minister of abuse of office, saying he fired her as a "matter of honor" because
she abandoned the ideals of last year's Orange Revolution that rallied Ukraine.
"It was not the ideals of Independence Square — it was backstage intrigues,"
Yushchenko told The Associated Press in an interview five days after he
dismissed Yulia Tymoshenko and her Cabinet.
He leveled sharp allegations at his one-time comrade-in-arms, accusing the
popular politician of trying to use her post to wipe out $1.5 billion in debts
owed by a defunct energy company she once headed. But Yushchenko said he would
welcome Tymoshenko back to the government if she were to return to the
principles they had shared.
Tymoshenko, in a brief phone interview with the AP, called Yushchenko's
allegations a shock, saying he was trying to revive the "old repression that
(former President Leonid) Kuchma had used against me and my family."
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko during an interview
with The Associated Press in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept.13,
2005.[AP] | Yushchenko fired Tymoshenko on
Thursday, ending a partnership that was the driving force behind the defiant
protests that captured world attention 10 months ago. The dismissal came after
members of Yushchenko's team began publicly leveling accusations of corruption
against one another.
The president accused his team of spending more time squabbling than
fulfilling the promises of the Orange Revolution. Since Tymoshenko's dismissal,
the war of words between the former allies has heated up as they look to March
parliamentary elections. The winning party will choose the prime minister, who
after constitutional changes take effect will have powers that rival the
president.
His face still badly scarred from last year's dioxin poisoning, Yushchenko
said he was proud that he'd summoned enough strength to pull through, keep
campaigning, and win the heated presidential race.
"But then after all this was achieved ... to act in such a way as my friends
did toward each other is something not worthy of Independence Square," he said,
sitting in his office and sipping from an orange mug with his campaign slogan
"Yes, Yushchenko!" on it.
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