President Viktor Yanukovych blasted Economy Minister Petro Poroshenko with thuggish threats ahead of the Oct. 28 parliamentary election in which the minister is running independently of the pro-presidential Party of Regions.
At a public meeting in Dnipropetrovsk on Sept. 11, Poroshenko, a multimillionaire oligarch who backed the 2004 Orange Revolution, complained to Yanukovych that “due to some pressure,” a cabinet resolution introducing a new tax on car imports – sought to protect domestic car producers from external competitors – has still not been made public.
Poroshenko, who owns a car assembly plant in Ukraine, asked the president to intervene and help in the matter, which would impose a new utilization fee to counter import duties recently imposed by Russia against Ukrainian cars. Poroshenko’s remarks apparently infuriated Yanukovych, who responded aggressively.
I will rip off your heads very soon , right after the elections , if you just talk and do not deliver— President Viktor Yanukovych
“A bad dancer always finds excuses. What are you talking about and who are you talking to? I’ll rip off your heads very soon – right after the elections – if you just talk and do not deliver,” Interfax-Ukraine news agency quoted Yanukovych as saying.
Apparently under pressure ahead of the upcoming election, where the president’s party risks losing control over parliament, Yanukovych added: “I said this to the prime minister and now I am telling it to you, (to) everyone who is sitting here in the front row. One and a half months left (until the elections). If you want to mess with politics, you will mess with politics.”
“Well, thank you. We’ll operate without your help,” Poroshenko said later during the same meeting, according to his press secretary’s response to a Kyiv Post query.
Yanukovych’s press service in a written response to the Kyiv Post said that during the meeting he “made clear to the members of the Cabinet that their participation in the parliamentary campaign should be separated from their professional responsibilities that require their focus on effective implementation of the tasks facing the government today.”
Yanukovych, who was twice imprisoned in the 1960s for theft and assault, has used salty and aggressive street language in the past.
On Nov. 11, 2010, referring to a group of mayors in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast city of Kalush, Yanukovych said: “I will pull off their heads if they don’t deal with the sewage system, water and gas supplies.”
Yanukovych also has reason to dislike Poroshenko.
During the Orange Revolution that stripped Yanukovych of his first shot at president, Poroshenko, one of Ukraine’s top confectionery and automotive tycoons, supported Viktor Yushchenko’s ultimately vicitorious candidacy. He also worked as a foreign minister in the government of imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Yanukovych’s top rival.
Following months of persuasion by Yanukovych, Poroshenko agreed – some insiders say unenthusiastically – to join the government this March. Currently, he and his father are running for parliament as independent candidates in single-mandate constituencies, which experts say angered Yanukovych.
Political analyst Oleksandr Paliy said Poroshenko was reprimanded not because of his alleged failure to deliver as an economy minister but because of his political ambitions.
“Poroshenko is running for parliament and that is what Yanukovych is not happy about,” he said.
Taras Chornovil, a lawmaker who formerly served as an adviser to Yanukovych, shares this view. He added that Yanukovych is afraid Poroshenko’s parliamentary ambitions could potentially challenge the pro-presidential majority, comprising the Party of Regions and the Communist Party.
“Initially the plan was to force Poroshenko to join the government, to discredit him (ahead of the elections),” said Chornovil. “It was done to prevent Poroshenko from setting up some kind of centrist faction in the parliament that would take over independent lawmakers who could otherwise potentially join the Party of Regions.”
He says that “such tough words from the president ahead of the elections is, [ironically,] the best present for Poroshenko,” who does not want to be seen as being pro-presidential.
Chornovil said Poroshenko is clearly not coming back to the government after the fall election and his days in the government are numbered. Poroshenko himself alluded to this later on Sept. 11 during a meeting with the local business community.
During the same Dnipropetrovsk meeting, Yanukovych also embarrassed First Deputy Prime Minister Valeriy Khoroshkovsky by making him stand up and respond to exam-like quiz questions about the size of the minimum pension and minimum subsistence wage.
Surprisingly, Khoroshkovsky failed to give the correct answers.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected].
