Experts say latest 'exchange of amiabilities' between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko is early start of presidential campaign

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Political experts believe that mutual accusations that were made by President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko last weekend are the early start of a presidential election campaign, which will be officially launched in 2009.

In particular, Director of the International Institute of Democracy Serhiy Taran said that Tymoshenko, after saying she will go in opposition to the president, would not leave her post for classical opposition. Her accusations against the president regarding his involvement in hryvnia devaluation were made with the goal that Ukrainians still remember Yushchenko as the former head of the National Bank of Ukraine.

The political expert said that Yushchenko's counter accusations against Tymoshenko that she has lost control of the situation in the country were predictable.

Taran explained this by a typical phenomenon in Ukrainian politics when the sides are seeking to place responsibility on each other, instead of assuming joint responsibility. The political scientist said that the president and the premier representing the authorities should ignore their personal ambitions and start working together.

As UKRINFORM reported, on December 19, Tymoshenko accused Yushchenko of being involved in corrupt schemes linked to hryvnia devaluation and said that he must resign.

Yushchenko said on TV on Sunday that the premier is responsible for the policies she is currently following. He described her as a "shady lady" and reminded that she "had been stealing gas."

The president said that the premier was "standing behind his back" during the Orange Revolution on Independence Square for the sake of her own political career, rather than for the sake of the struggle for Ukrainian values. Except for Tymoshenko, Leader of opposition Party of Regions Viktor Yanukovych last week announced his plans to claim the post of Ukraine's president.

UKRINFORM