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Ukraine president lashes out at ousted PM
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-14 07:31

Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday accused his former prime minister of abuse of office, saying he fired her as a "matter of honor" because she abandoned the ideals of last year's Orange Revolution that rallied Ukraine.

"It was not the ideals of Independence Square — it was backstage intrigues," Yushchenko told The Associated Press in an interview five days after he dismissed Yulia Tymoshenko and her Cabinet.

He leveled sharp allegations at his one-time comrade-in-arms, accusing the popular politician of trying to use her post to wipe out $1.5 billion in debts owed by a defunct energy company she once headed. But Yushchenko said he would welcome Tymoshenko back to the government if she were to return to the principles they had shared.

Tymoshenko, in a brief phone interview with the AP, called Yushchenko's allegations a shock, saying he was trying to revive the "old repression that (former President Leonid) Kuchma had used against me and my family."

Viktor Yushchenko
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko during an interview with The Associated Press in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept.13, 2005.[AP]
Yushchenko fired Tymoshenko on Thursday, ending a partnership that was the driving force behind the defiant protests that captured world attention 10 months ago. The dismissal came after members of Yushchenko's team began publicly leveling accusations of corruption against one another.

The president accused his team of spending more time squabbling than fulfilling the promises of the Orange Revolution. Since Tymoshenko's dismissal, the war of words between the former allies has heated up as they look to March parliamentary elections. The winning party will choose the prime minister, who after constitutional changes take effect will have powers that rival the president.

His face still badly scarred from last year's dioxin poisoning, Yushchenko said he was proud that he'd summoned enough strength to pull through, keep campaigning, and win the heated presidential race.

"But then after all this was achieved ... to act in such a way as my friends did toward each other is something not worthy of Independence Square," he said, sitting in his office and sipping from an orange mug with his campaign slogan "Yes, Yushchenko!" on it.
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