Orange Revolutionaries see betrayal in president's decision (08/06/06)

Orange Revolutionaries see betrayal in president's decision

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - It was unusually mild in the early morning of August 3, about 65 degrees Fahrenheit, when President Viktor Yushchenko announced he would accept the nomination of Viktor Yanukovych as prime minister.

The cool summer air was a sharp contrast to the sub-zero frost that tormented the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who took to the streets of Kyiv to successfully carry out what became the defining event in Ukraine's brief independence, the Orange Revolution.

"I don't think he felt the cold and he doesn't understand," said Dmytro Dazhuk, 37, a Yulia Tymoshenko supporter.

Just 20 months later, Orange Revolutionaries converged on the same Independence Square, this time to vent their fierce anger and disgust with a man for whom thousands were ready to lay down their lives.

Not anymore.

The overwhelming consensus was that Mr. Yushchenko has betrayed the Orange Revolution.

"In one night, my faith in Yushchenko has been completely extinguished," said Oleksander Turchyn, who camped out on Independence Square since June 14 as part of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc's campaign demanding the dismissal of the Verkhovna Rada. "Essentially, we regret standing on the maidan for him."

Some wondered aloud whether the president remembered that it was fear of Viktor Yanukovych, his new prime minister, that prompted the uprising that swept him into power in the first place.

"He says, 'my dear friends, I love you, I never left you,' but he has ditched his 'dear friends' and traded us for bandits," said Praskovia Koroliuk, 66, mocking Mr. Yushchenko's oft-repeated famous phrase.

Ms. Koroliuk is better known as Baba Paraska, the 66-year-old grandmother whose devotion to the Orange Revolution and Mr. Yushchenko made her a national icon.

Those days are over.

"In the name of Ukraine and all Ukrainian people, I say, Viktor Andriyovych, you look like you've changed and you aren't the man you once were," she said.

Others said they had doubts about Mr. Yushchenko's commitment to the Ukrainian people far earlier.

Dmytro Pashko, 58, said he knew Mr. Yushchenko wasn't a principled man during the Orange Revolution, when his entourage rushed him into the Verkhovna Rada, placing his hand on the Bible and having him read the president's oath. "They carried and led the puppet," he said. "He has no will. He merely carries out orders. "

Mr. Pashko admitted that he voted for Oleksander Moroz's Socialist Party. "I thought he was a reasonable person who could unite everyone after the revolution," he said. "But he betrayed the maidan. If I could take back my vote, I would. But I can't take it back."

For the many frustrated, Mr. Yushchenko's betrayal was worse than what Mr. Moroz did.

It was the Ukrainian people who gave him power, and he ended up using it against them, Mr. Dazhuk said. "The real, colossal struggle is ahead of us," he said. "This is only the beginning."

Kateryna Dytkivska, 51, agreed, vividly recalling the Orange Revolution days when she cooked and brought food for the protesters - every day for 63 days - at her own expense.

Mr. Yushchenko's betrayal can't destroy the Ukrainian national spirit reborn on Independence Square the winter of 2004, she said. "The Revolution and the flame that was lit will burn very long," she said. "The entire Ukrainian nation rose up."

Mr. Yushchenko's place in Ukrainian history is already written, Mr. Turchyn said. "Yushchenko will be remembered as a man who gave hope for democracy and a better life, but also as a person who betrayed those very same ideals," he said.

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