Any woman who rises to political prominence in the aftermath of a decade of scandal would seem to offer a country like Ukraine further confusion, not harmony, at a time when it most needs the latter.
Kiev’s Independence Square has not seen such alarming protests since the Orange Revolution of 2004, which pitted two former presidents against each other in the form of Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych.
Two days ago, following her release from Kharkiv prison, Yulia Tymoshenko stood on the very same square and addressed protesters, who received her rather tepidly. What a difference a decade makes.
But change was in the offing. At the close of last week, a trusted ally in Oleksandr Turchinov stepped in as acting president, to which Tymoshenko declared in her opening statement that the “dictatorship has fallen”.
As the hunt begins for now fugitive former president Viktor Yanukovych, a question must be addressed as to what Tymoshenko meant when she said a dictatorship had fallen. Does she refer to the political manipulation that Yanukovych used in the first election held during the Orange Revolution?
Perhaps it is channelling an inexorable level of secret, questionable funding in aid of political gain, as was also discovered in leaked audiotapes taken from Yanukovych’s office during his campaign against Yushchenko for the Ukrainian presidency in 2005.
That being the case, Tymoshenko can look no further than herself in search of others with a similarly chequered history.
There is a lot of opposition for the woman dubbed Ukraine’s ‘Iron Lady’. Her detractors feel that she was rightly imprisoned in 2011 for abuse of power used in a gas deal signed with Russia during her premiership – the second most powerful position in the Ukrainian politics.
Many also voiced their reservations over the substantial personal wealth she acquired during the corruption of the post-Soviet fallout and the passing of the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine in 1991. During the time of her arrest, Tymoshenko also faced charges of tax evasion that dated back to the same period, when she was head of a private energy company.
All this is but the proverbial tip of an iceberg of accusations against a woman who professes to have the people’s interests at heart. Pseudo-magnanimity seems to cloak the grim reality of another Ukrainian politician’s personal goals, through the same means utilised by her adversaries in parliament.
Yulia Tymoshenko is known for infamously wearing her hair in the shape of an elaborate crown. This coronet that she daily places above her head may give more than just a subtle indication as to where her intentions lie. One tyranny has died; now a lady with so much ambiguity surrounding her past is free to drum up the masses once again.
Following her release, she told the crowd at Independence Square that “heroes never die”. Whether or not this was her way of allowing herself a moment of vainglory is uncertain.
It is, however, safe to say that it has been a long time since Ukraine has seen a hero in which they can take any pride or solace.
Chris Geoghegan is a writer on politics, music and sport
