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Kiev crisis: Readers' views

US Vice-President Dick Cheney has arrived in Ukraine, just a day after Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko threatened to dissolve parliament and call elections as the country's ruling coalition collapsed.

BBC website readers from the Ukraine have been sending in their reaction to the political crisis.


I can't wait till our president be "dethroned". His actions are really dangerous and harmful to the country.
Anatolii, Kiev

Yushchenko's popularity deservedly ranks with that of Bush and Gordon Brown. I hope Yulia Tymoshenko and Viktor Yanukovych can go to the polls and get a mandate to bring some sense to the situation.

When it comes to Russia's problems with the West, the only sensible course for Ukraine is active neutrality, i.e. speak out against wrongs and attempt to influence FRIENDS on all sides. In addition, membership in Nato before that organisation gets its post 'cold war' act together, would be a mistake.
David Tarbuck, Uzhgorod, Ukraine

Tymoshenko is your typical politician. She goes back and forth with whatever the popular public opinion is at the moment. She is not in politics for the betterment of the Ukrainian people. She is in politics for herself and her own self worth. Is this the kind of leader Ukraine really wants?
Vladimir, Kiev, Ukraine

Tymoshenko is a typical populist politician, short-sighted, playing with people's emotions. She was an entrepreneur before, running a risky company, which brought her high profit first and a police prosecution later. Yushchenko is a traditionalist, thinking of big ideas, seeing far aims and, consequently, overlooking tactics. He was an accountant before, running the National Bank of Ukraine and having successfully introduced the solid national currency. The union of two was definitely situational and therefore transient. The main characteristic of today's Ukrainians is their impatience. As an impatient nation, Ukrainians support Tymoshenko much more than Yushchenko. It is a pity.
Alexey Teplinsky, Kiev, Ukraine

To be honest, most of the Ukrainians are fed up with our political elite. It is so frustrating to watch TV nowadays. No-one cares anymore.
Oleksandr Pochkun, Sumy, Ukraine

The people of Ukraine will take precisely no notice of these developments as they happen with alarming regularity. There is a constant power struggle at the top and, quite frankly, they're both as bad as one another although Tymoshenko is more popular at present.
Simon, Kiev

People don't care about politics much here. We are tired of the endless bad soap opera of power struggles, coalitions and snap elections that has been running since 2004. President Yushchenko is just plain incompetent, Tymoshenko and Yanukovich are not really "pro-Russian" or "pro-Western", they just want power. Personally I'm pro-EU and pro-Nato, but I wouldn't vote for any of the three. We need new faces in politics if we really want to become a real European country.
Alex, Kharkov, Ukraine

The people of Ukraine are NOT ready for another election. They are tired of elections. Moreover, right now with the crisis in Georgia, this is a very bad time for more political unrest in Ukraine. Ukrainians need stability right now more than anything. It would be foolish for the president to call an election.
Gerald Bowers, Kiev, Ukraine

All countries know that Ukraine is a strategic resource the support of which is needed either by the West or Russia. From a regular citizen's point of view, these political disputes provide no significant changes in everyday life.

The next president, whoever it may be, will need to lead the country through the Euro-2012 football championship and solve the situation with the Russian fleet in Crimea. And, with current popularity levels, it seems that the PM will become president next year.
Eugene Chabanov, Kiev

Ever since our so-called "revolution", we've had the most useless government imaginable. Their level of corruption is hardly lower than that of Kuchma's. There is the same double law for them and their children versus the general population. These people cannot put their own aspirations to ultimate power aside for even a moment in order to stop their bickering and actually do their job.

By providing so much support to Georgia, who, though provoked, had no right to drop Grad missiles on a civilian population, Yuschenko is almost begging for Russia to pull something similar in the Crimea. If Ukraine wants peace and territorial security, provoking Russia at the time when everyone's nationalist sentiments are already close to a boiling point, might not be such a spectacular idea.
Olga Tkachuk, Donetsk, Ukraine

Mr Yushchenko's latest actions were too bold and blunt in the light of extremely unstable coalition and his overall support in Ukrainian society. The situation was highly volatile and the current crisis over Georgia and Russia ahead of the upcoming presidential elections has triggered the change in the status quo.
Sergey Koshman, Kiev, Ukraine

Ukrainians are tired of political ambiguity. Politicians are just playing games, wasting the time which is so precious for the country.
Annad, Chernivtsi, Ukraine




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