Tymoshenko Offering Important Posts to Former Kuchma Officials

Ukrainian media is reporting President Viktor Yushchenko has sent a letter to Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko protesting the appointments of several former officials from President Leonid Kuchma's regime to important governmental posts.

The following is a list of questionable offers and appointments:

• Viktor Medvedchuk - former Kuchma chief-of-staff has apparently received an offer to head the National Defense and Security Council.
• Oleksiy Ischenko - a former deputy of Medvedchuk and member of the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (SDPU) is already serving as First Deputy Minister for Regional Development.  Ischenko has been implicated in the falsification of the 2004 Presidential elections that brought about the Orange Revolution.
• Taras Kozak - former deputy head of the State Customs service under Kuchma
• Oleksandr Parshyn - former first deputy head of the National Agency for Efficient Use of Energy under Kuchma. Along with Kozak, has been working in the central bodies of power.
• Olha Ginzburg - head of the State Archives Committee and Communist Party member retains her position while being accused of abusing her office by opposing state policy aimed at restoring historical truth.
• Oleksandr Zadorozhniy - current Tymoshenko adviser and former Kuchma representative in the Verkhovna Rada who made a huge effort to force through the political reform that cut presidential power in 2005.

Yushchenko is furious that Tymoshenko's government is making such appointments that seem to run counter to the declared goals of the democratic coalition. He has requested that both Tymoshenko and the coalition as a whole review the background of these officials and make some appropriate decisions on their futures.

This news truly shocked me. How many times has Tymoshenko refused to work with the Party of Regions (supporters of Kuchma) due to the questionable nature of their past performance in government? Could she be more hypocritical than to refuse to work with the Party of Regions, yet give others with the same background important positions in government? I can't believe she would actually allow someone involved in the 2004 election falsification to hold an office in her government. As hard as she fought for change during and after the Orange Revolution, it is astonishing she would allow the past to infiltrate her cabinet.

It may appear that I have been bashing Tymoshenko quite a bit lately, and I really don't want to do that, but some of her recent decision-making and approach to policy is extremely unsettling. Believe me, I would like nothing more than to see Tymoshenko and the Democratic Coalition succeed and implement necessary reforms, but not the way she is doing it.