President, PM top list of 100 most influential (08/21/05)

President, PM top list of 100 most influential

by Yana Sedova
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - It comes as no surprise that President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko are Ukraine's most influential people, as reported in the latest issue of Korrespondent, Ukraine's popular, Russian-language news magazine.

However, the August 18 issue's "Top 100 Influential Ukrainians" list featured four people of American background.

They are First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko, who ranked an impressive sixth place, the leader of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, who ranked 34th, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, who ranked 44th; and Justice Minister Roman Zvarych, who ranked 48th.

Ms. Tymoshenko gained the most influence during the past year, rising from a ranking of 24th last year to second place on this year's list.

"The experts placed Yushchenko and Tymoshenko very close to each other," said Vitalii Sych, the magazine's editor-in-chief. "These two people amass the maximum power in their hands."

Korrespondent's third annual list of Ukraine's most influential people consisted of politicians, businessmen, cultural figures, religious leaders and athletes, such as the Klitschko brothers who ranked 10th.

Evaluating Ukraine's most influential people were government officials, political and cultural experts, investment company representatives and prominent journalists who ranked a pool of 300 candidates.

"This is a subjective choice of our editorial staff based on the opinions of 20 experts in different fields of our life," Mr. Sych said.

The Orange Revolution drastically changed the alignment of forces in Ukraine, and the old set of cronies and biased journalists who supported former President Leonid Kuchma's regime dropped off the list.

In fact, Mr. Kuchma himself is no longer on the list, plummeting from the list's top spot last year. His staunch defender, Viacheslav Pikhovshek, anchorman of the anti-Yushchenko program "Epicenter" for the television network 1+1, also fell off the list.

However, Mr. Pikhovshek was among Korrespondent's panel of experts.

The new political elite is younger, so now the average age of politicians making the list is 42, compared to 49 in 2004.

"These are the most striking changes in three years," Mr. Sych said. "The Orange Revolution shook the list like an apple tree, and many nominees turned out to be overripe apples and fell off the list."

National Security and Defense Council Secretary Petro Poroshenko placed third, just below his rival, and earned the nickname "Shadow Prime Minister."

Korrespondent described him as Ms. Tymoshenko's antipode who is constantly trying to strengthen his position in the government.

"At the top of the list are many people from Yushchenko's circle," said Olha Kryzhanovska, Korrespondent's national desk editor. "The only reason they are on the list is that they are the president's relatives."

Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn took fourth place and earned the nickname "The Third Power."

Mr. Lytvyn is a significant, highly rated politician, which is why the president asked him to join the Our Ukraine coalition in the forthcoming March parliamentary elections, Korrespondent reported.

Ukraine's wealthiest man, Rynat Akhmetov, and Ihor Kolomoyskyi, a joint owner of the Dnipropetrovsk-based industrial enterprise Pryvat, were the only two businessmen among the top 10; they held fifth and eighth place, respectively.

Ms. Yushchenko earned the distinction of Ukraine's first public First lady. Despite the fact that she is building an image as a traditional Ukrainian wife and attentive mother, according to Korrespondent, it is hard to imagine that this graduate of the University of Chicago and Georgetown University has kept away from politics.

Ms. Yushchenko has repeatedly stated that she would like to follow the example of Cherry Blair, the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a woman who managed to combine a career with her maternal and spousal responsibilities.

Mr. Zvarych earned the nickname "Lawyer Without a Diploma." The first official from the Yushchenko government to get into trouble, Mr. Zvarych lied about his education and professional experience.

Although he earned a bachelor's degree from Manhattan College in Riverdale, N.Y., Mr. Zvarych never showed Ukrainian journalists his diplomas, which he said he would do.

The nation's legal system hasn't changed since Mr. Zvarych became justice minister and it is still highly corrupt, according to experts. However, the Ministry of Justice has the power to void the registration of political parties, and that is why Mr. Zvarych could become a key player during the upcoming parliamentary elections, Korrespondent reported.

Cardinal Husar has a "spotless reputation and authority," Korrespondent reported. His influence may grow in Ukraine after he transfers the seat of the UGCC's major archbishop from Lviv to Kyiv on August 21. He may also succeed in achieving the status of Patriarchate for the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, a longstanding goal of his.

Not only Ukrainian public figures were on the list.

"This is not a list of Ukrainian citizens," Mr. Sych said. "This is a list of those people who have influence in Ukraine."

Although Russian President Vladimir Putin didn't make the list, U.S. Ambassador Herbst did. Opposition leaders called upon Mr. Herbst when Ukrainian troops were about to set out against demonstrators during the Orange Revolution, according to Ukrainian Special Services officials.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell contacted Mr. Kuchma shortly after and it became apparent that Mr. Herbst is an influential figure in Washington, according to Korrespondent.

Mykola Melnychenko is the list's unemployed outsider, squeaking in at the very bottom. The Korrespondent staff jokingly nicknamed him "The Hard-to-Catch DJ."

"After the parliamentary elections and political reform, the influence of many people on the list will change," Mr. Sych observed.

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