RADA OUSTS FOREIGN MINISTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KYIV 000406 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL UP SUBJECT: RADA OUSTS FOREIGN MINISTER Classified By: Ambassador William Taylor for reasons 1.4 (b,d). ummary -------------- ¶1. (C) On March 3, PM Tymoshenko's BYuT faction delivered the decisive votes to oust Foreign Minister Ohryzko, a President Yushchenko ally. Opposition Party of Regions and the Communists initiated the measure. BYuT's coalition partners Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense (OU-PSD) and Speaker Lytvyn's bloc did not support it. OU-PSD contacts were "shocked" by the vote, and said that it throws the coalition into a crisis. BYuT members who voted in favor said they did so in response to Ohryzko's actions against the Tymoshenko government, notably his issuance of instructions to Embassies to deliver a message to key capitals harshly critical of the PM. Party of Regions MPs worked to remove Ohryzko because of what they see as his "anti-Russian" bias -- as evidenced by his recent threat to PNG Russian Ambassador Chernomyrdin over comments made to the media about Yushchenko. End Summary. BYuT VOTES FM OHRYZKO OUT -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Surprising coalition partners, 49 BYuT MPs voted together with Party of Regions and the Communists to dismiss Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko on March 3. 250 MPs, including 174 Regions and 27 Communists, voted to oust Ohryzko, a Yushchenko ally. The resolution was thought to be a symbolic measure that would be supported only by Regions and the Communists. However, after the vote, Ohryzko claimed he was "not surprised" by the outcome as "unwanted politicians" were being removed from the government. President Yushchenko released a statement saying that Ohryzko's dismissal was "untimely and unfounded" at a time of economic crisis. He said, however, that he would nominate a new Foreign Minister. First Vice Foreign Minister Volodymyr Khandogiy will be acting Minister until a new Minister is confirmed. OHRYZKO SEEN AS ANTI-TYMOSHENKO -------------- ¶3. (C) OU-PSD MP Roman Zvarych told us that Tymoshenko had not originally included Ohryzko's name on the list of ministers slated for replacement. However, Ohryzko's recent issuance of instructions to Embassies in Europe and the US to deliver a letter from the National Security and Defense Council harshly critical of PM Tymoshenko (related to the gas crisis) had changed that. BYuT MP Valeriy Pysarenko confirmed to us March 3 that when Ohryzko distributed the 
blatantly anti-Tymoshenko instruction to Embassies, many in BYuT decided he had to go. Ohryzko told the Ambassador that the instruction was not his idea; the Presidential Secretariat had ordered him to do it. ¶4. (SBU) BYuT MPs claimed that Tymoshenko did not order the decision to vote for Ohryzko's dismissal. Rather, each MP was allowed to decide for him/herself. OU-PSD deputy faction leader Taras Stetskiv argued that, based on who voted in favor of dismissal, especially MPs Portnov, Pysarenko and Zabzalyuk (all close to Tymoshenko),it was clear that this was her decision. After the vote, Tymoshenko announced that she "understood" why some of her bloc's deputies voted to dismiss Ohryzko. REGIONS: MAKING POINTS WITH MOSCOW -------------- ¶5. (C) Before the vote, Regions MP Vladimir Makeienko told us that Regions was pushing the resolution largely to curry favor with Moscow, where Ohryzko is seen as anti-Russian. Makeienko said that Tymoshenko returned from the gas negotiations in Moscow with a "plus" in her column. Regions needed to do something to "get their own plus" from Moscow. Ohryzko had recently criticized Russian Ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin for an interview that was seen as insulting and demeaning to President Yushchenko. Regions and Communist MPs seized on this as cause for Ohryzko's ouster. (Meeting with the Ambassador March 2, Chernomyrdin was dismissive of Ohryzko -- making fun of Ohryzko's name, saying it is similar to the verb for gnawing like a rodent in Russian. Chernomyrdin joked that only because of the dispute, "everyone now knows who Ohryzko is." After the vote Chernomyrdin told the media that MFA should learn to "think before talking.") COALITION PARTNERS "SHOCKED" -------------- ¶6. (C) After the vote, OU-PSD deputy faction leader Taras Stetskiv told us that his faction was surprised by BYuT's KYIV 00000406 002 OF 002 votes. Stetskiv called it "a vote to end the coalition" as it contravened a coalition council decision not to support the resolution. OU-PSD coalition member Vladislav Kaskiv said he and his colleagues were "shocked" by the vote. Other OU-PSD contacts told us that the vote, and the way it happened, showed divisions within the coalition, but did not necessarily mean the coalition would collapse. ¶7. (C) Some coalition members, including coalition agreement signatory Borys Tarasyuk, announced that they would leave the coalition over the vote. Kaskiv told us that a majority of OU-PSD faction leaders expressed support for leaving the coalition in a hastily-arranged faction political council meeting, but that a final decision on the coalition would be voted on at a full faction meeting, which has not yet been scheduled. Tarasyuk has tabled a resolution to annul the vote to dismiss Ohryzko. COMMENT -------------- ¶8. (C) BYuT has a track-record of voting discipline in the Rada. We doubt Tymoshenko would let individual MPs decide for themselves on such a controversial resolution unless she was comfortable with the outcome. Some of the BYuT members who voted to oust Ohryzko are, after all, close to Tymoshenko. What impact this might have on the coalition remains to be seen. If the OU-PSD faction were to vote to pull out, the coalition -- which had appeared relatively solid -- would collapse. TAYLOR