Address of the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko

The Presidential Elections in Ukraine are over. They were our only chance to prove our country’s independence and power. It was a chance to become a descent member of European family, implement deep social and economic reforms. The Elections were our only possibility to put an end to the oligarch rule and return our country and its wealth to our nation.

Oligarchs would not like such a choice. They need a cheap work force, poor powerless people to work at their plants for peanuts. They still need Ukraine’s wealth, they have been depredating for the last 18 years. They care neither about our destiny nor our children’s future. They do not live in Ukraine, they simply use it. It was not a fair victory of their puppet, Victor Yanukovych.

They introduced amendments to the Law two days before the elections and gave a green light to election fraud. Victor Yushchenko has immediately signed the Law and opened  a free way to mass election falsification. It was fraud that sealed the fate of elections, not you.

Our observers and commission members have documentarily registered thousands of fraud incidents. That is why I decided to file a lawsuit in court, my last resort to establish justice. I appealed to court to protect Ukraine and to protect you!

And I know that all these days you were hoping and praying for justice, and I was fighting and praying with you. But the court turned out to be a farcical play, directed by Yanukovych’s headquarters. It even refused to consider documentarily registered evidence.

The peak of injustice came with the ban to invite witnesses, international observers in particular. Despite pressure and intimidation, they were ready to provide court with legal evidence of mass election falsification. The court has cynically refused to reveal the truth. We realized it when the resolution on court proceedings broadcasting ban was adopted. They needed to hide the truth form you.

And then I realized that this court slapstick comedy had to be stopped and decided to drop the case. As a candidate for the Post of the President, I felt what you do every day: the incapability to protect truth in court. As millions of Ukrainians, I state that Yanukovych is not our President.

The President that comes to power in deception will not last long, and in this time it is our duty to protect everything significant and valuable for us and our country.

Just a few weeks have passed since the elections and Yanukovych’s team has already begun to betray Ukraine’s national interests. Their goal is to destroy Ukraine, our lingual and cultural identity. And they’re not even hiding this.

Victor Yanukovych’s team has already started the process of gas transport system privatization. By the way, they filed a lawsuit against Ukraine in Stockholm court to take away strategic reserves of natural gas. I am holding this lawsuit in my hands. Strikingly, the new President’s team is against Ukraine. And this is only the beginning. Today Ukraine’s independence is at a great risk.

What should be done in this complicated situation?

There is only one way out: reuniting democratic and pro-Ukrainian forces, the deputies of Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense, Lytvyn Faction and BYuT in Verkhovna Rada. We need to finally put aside all our differences and create a strong team in Verkhovna Rada that will not allow an anti-Ukrainian dictatorship to be established. I am publicly proposing this effective method and have already started the negotiation process.

This will be a test of patriots and democrats for their incorruptibility and loyalty to Ukraine. I also want to state that I will not form a coalition with Yanukovych under any circumstances. I won’t be signing universals and memorandums with him because I do not recognize him to be the President of Ukraine and do not accept his anti-Ukrainian and anti-European policy. If the patriotic and democratic political parties in parliament resort to political migration, I will join the opposition to speed up our country’s return to civilized development.

And I will fight for the principles and values that you share. I will fight regardless of whether I am in power or in opposition. And I will never let them take away the Ukraine that you all deserve – a free, strong, just, prosperous and beautiful Ukraine. I am with you!