Ukraine President Blasts Rival PM Over Army

RIVNE MILITARY TRAINING BASE, Ukraine -- President Victor Yushchenko accused his prime minister on Thursday of humiliating Ukraine's army with inadequate funding, intensifying a confrontation between the two former allies over the country's future direction.

The 'odd couple' of Ukrainian politics, President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Julia Tymoshenko (file photo), are engaged in a fierce power struggle.
Yushchenko was attending military exercises in western Ukraine as politicians in Kyiv proceeded with talks to patch up a coalition in parliament linked to the 2004 "Orange Revolution" or find a viable alternative combination.

Should they fail in 30 days of negotiations to come up with a team commanding a majority, the president can dissolve the chamber and call an election -- the third in as many years.

The demise of the coalition plunges Ukraine into further uncertainty, though both parliament and the government continue to function.

Many of the pro-Western ideals of the 2004 revolution remain unfulfilled amid four years of turmoil between its two main proponents and the future policies of whatever coalition emerges from the talks are uncertain.

Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko stood side-by-side in the 2004 protests but have since been engaged in unrelenting attacks on each other.

Addressing military brass and top officials, the president accused the government of allocating insufficient finances in the budget to build a modern, professional army.

"Such a budget is unacceptable to me as president. I cannot support it and will never support it," Yushchenko, dressed in battle fatigues, like other officials, told the gathering.

"We have to put a stop to this improper political and psychological approach which has been allowed to flourish."

Ukraine, he said, spent less than 1 percent of its gross domestic product on the military, far less than its neighbours.

He said $7-8 per day was allocated for feeding a Ukrainian servicemen -- a quarter of what Russia spent, he said. And "contract" volunteers in the army earned the equivalent of $175 per month -- a fifth of what a Kiev taxi driver took home.

"My question to the government is this: when will we at long last treat our own soldiers with respect?" Yushchenko said.

MOCK OPERATION

Yushchenko watched as 2,500 servicemen staged a mock operation to halt an attack across a river.

Tanks rolled out, flanked by armoured vehicles, with helicopters and jet fighters offering support from the air.

Ukraine's army, reduced to 200,000 from 700,000 in Soviet times, is plagued by outdated equipment and servicemen lacking in motivation. Tymoshenko wants to abolish conscription, but such plans have been put off until at least next year.

"I live in barracks with no prospects for the future. They keep promising, but we see nothing," Oleksander, a "contract" volunteer earning about $300, said during the exercises.

"I will stay to the end of the contract and leave. I've seen new people come in here on contracts, spend two or three days in the barracks and then leave for good."

The "orange" coalition unravelled when Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party abandoned its alliance with Tymoshenko's bloc.

The prime minister, who formed a tactical voting alliance with ex-premier Viktor Yanukovich, the "orange" camp's adversary in 2004, has shown no signs of compromising.

The two groups joined forces again in parliament on Thursday in giving initial approval to a law making it a criminal offence to dissolve parliament illegally.

Source: Kyiv Post