As Al-Ahram Weekly goes to press, the whereabouts of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, a leader who was democratically elected in 2010, is unknown. Some say he is somewhere in the northern region of the sprawling country of 46 million in the vicinity of Kharkov, Ukraine's second largest city, and others claim that he is in Crimea, the country's most ethnically and linguistically Russian region. The protracted struggle for Ukraine between Russia and the West is now being played out in Ukraine. The European Union and the United States have warmly welcomed the interim pro-Western and anti-Russian government. Yet, it is obvious that there is no consensus in Ukraine as there is a serious east-west split that threatens to divide the country for good, leaving the western half, including the capital Kiev, determinedly pro-West and the eastern and southern regions anti-West and pro-Russia. “The vote on the national unity government should be on Thursday,” said Oleksander Turchinov, the speaker of parliament and acting president. The parliamentary vote had been expected to take place during Tuesday's session. Now, it is rescheduled. An even more contentious mystery about Ukraine political future involves the country's political orientation, as the bankrupt nation desperately needs funds. But whether the West is prepared to dig into its pockets to rescue Ukraine or whether Russia, at a price, will continue to meliorate its southern neighbour's financial challenges is unknown. Yanukovych's decision to spurn a trade deal with the European Union and tilt this former Soviet republic towards Russia instead has been thwarted and has spurned a civil war. This is in actuality an old argument. Ukrainians are undecided whether to opt for the West or for Russia, and that indecisiveness has led to a great deal of speculation about the country's future in the international community. Getting the old mob back together appeared like a surreal prequel. Former Ukrainian prime minister and iconic figure of the opposition Yulia Tymoshenko was released from prison and in a melodramatic act, with her trademark blonde braid, trod in a wheelchair to cheer the crowds of protesters in Independence Square, Kiev. German Chancellor Angela Merkel entertained Ukrainian opposition leaders Arseniy Yatsenyuk and the former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko in Berlin as they rushed to the German capital for financial and political support. She warmly welcomed them but was non-committal. The Ukrainian capital Kiev is reeling from violence that has threatened to destroy the historic heart of the city, centred on Independence Square. Hundreds of riot police officers advanced on anti-government protesters in the Ukrainian capital, and then abruptly rescinded and declared that they are on the side of the people or the anti-government protesters. That is when the president fled, leaving the crowds to rush in and inspect the lavish and ostentatious living of Yanukovych — who in turn mounted a final desperate and seemingly doomed act of defiance late Tuesday evening — and establish a protective ring of fire around what remained of their all-but-conquered encampment on Independence Square. Protesters blazed blankets, tyres, wood, sheets of plastic foam, and that is when Tymoshenko arrived with aplomb. Yet not all protesters were wowed, with many left aghast at the spectacle of the invalid star of Ukraine's “Orange Revolution” who soon after her bizarre appearance in Independence Square was rushed to Germany for treatment, at whose expense no one is certain. So what began as a peaceful protest in late November has now degenerated into chaos. Kiev is in shambles with the centre of the city engulfed in thick, acrid smoke and filled with the deafening din of grenades, fireworks and the occasional round of gunfire. The West's positioning is open to question, but Russia is badly bruised. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was unequivocal. “It is dangerous and counterproductive to try to force upon Ukraine a choice on the principle: ‘You are either with us or against us'.” Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was equally candid. Medvedev vented the Kremlin's anger in no uncertain terms. He insisted that Moscow's latest warning to the European Union and United States not to try to shape the ex-Soviet state's future must be taken seriously. “This is some kind of aberration of perception, when people call legitimate what is essentially the result of an armed mutiny,” the normally soft-spoken Medvedev raged. Mayhem may be prevalent in Kiev, but in Crimea thousands gathered outside the town hall in Sebastopol, the Ukrainian port on the Black Sea that has traditionally been the base for Russia's Black Sea Fleet, guarded by about 25,000 Russian troops. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev stated that any attempt by the European Union, the United States or Russia to “gain an advantage for themselves for their own benefit would be wrong”. Acting Ukrainian Finance Minister Yuriy Kolobov promptly declared that Ukraine needs a rescue package of some $35 billion. Indeed, that Ukraine's government has debts of about $73 billion is just one of a smattering of shocking facts flying about in the country, with around $6 billion of this due for payment this year. Russia threw a financial lifeline to Yanukovych's government by a further buy of $2 billion in Ukrainian government bonds. Yanukovych already negotiated a $15 billion loan with President Vladimir Putin of Russia in December, and Ukraine received a first segment of this soon afterward when Russia purchased Ukrainian bonds worth $3 billion. It is not entirely clear whether the West is prepared to provide the necessary billions. US Vice President Joseph Biden telephoned Yanukovych to “express grave concern regarding the crisis on the streets” and urged the ousted Ukrainian leader, who was last spotted fleeing across the horizon of the Black Sea from a luxury yacht marina in Balaclava, near Sebastopol, “to pull back government forces and to exercise maximum restraint,” the US Vice President's office said in a statement. Yanukovych had earlier vowed never to leave Ukraine. The West insists that Yanukovych's rule was profligate and tyrannical, marked by farcical excess, and that he was a Russian stooge. No doubt there are many in Ukraine, particularly in the western part of the country, who longed to slay the rapacious president. Some protesters called for his public execution. Yet, there is no doubt that whatever his shortcomings, Yanukovych voices the aspirations of many Ukrainians who wish to remain within the Russian orbit and be part of a reinstated Soviet Union that includes at the very least Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. And there is also no doubt that Kiev is no inconsequential speck on Moscow's imperial map.
