Ukraine's Ex-PM Speaks Out

Today, the silent Yulia Tymoshenko, who was yesterday dismissed from her post as prime minister, spoke out during an evening television interview. To sum up her comments, she believes her dismissal was unfair but she will not join the opposition against the president. However, her BYUT political party will not run as a single bloc with the president’s Our Ukraine party though they will run a parallel campaign.

Tymoshenko also stated that she believes Poroshenko, a high level official who was accused over the weekend of corruption, was trying to get her dismissed as prime minister so that he could become prime minister. Thus, she was glad that his plan failed. When the president told her he was dismissing her government, she asked that they appear together at the press conference holding hands to convey a message of stability to the Ukraine. Yushchenko declined after Poroshenko stormed into the room upon learning that he had just been stripped of his seat in the parliament. No longer a parliament member, Poroshenko now lacks immunity against prosecution. Tymoshenko’s party supported the move.

As for us, Sergiy and I met David Ralston, the UEC board president, for lunch. He brought some gifts for the Center, some root beer for Lena, and also brought the funds we had requested in order to do a major upgrade of the hardware in our computer center. We also received some good news about a legal matter we have been wrestling with for some time.

Tonight we had a general group meeting for several of the small groups. It was good to see people we don’t usually get to spend much time with us. Lyudmila made some apple blinchiki that were just fabulous. All the other food was good as well.

Saturday is going to be a big day for us as we are launching something new, spiritual formation/training groups.