"Ukraine demands Russian respect"

The latest on Ukrainian PM Tymoshenko's on-again, off-again visit to Moscow...

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was supposed to visit Russia this week. Then, all of a sudden, she wasn't. As often happens in this part of the world, there were several theories advanced by various sources to explain the turn of events. Veronica at Neeka's Backlog covered these quite well, and I am not going to try to rehash the debate here.

Thanks to NTV's "Segodnia at 22:00" news show, though, I learned that Tymoshenko gave an interview to the BBC on Friday, and that she had some interesting things to say. NTV provided audio of the interview, by the way, and Yulia was speaking Russian (as opposed to Ukrainian). Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Ukraine demands Russian respect
By Sarah Rainsford, BBC News, Kiev

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko says she cancelled her first official visit to Moscow because she wants Russia to respect her country.

It should have been her first official trip since taking office in the wake of the victory of the Orange Revolution. But it was postponed after Russia's state prosecutor warned that she remains on a wanted list relating to claims of fraud in the 1990s.

Officially, the trip was delayed as the prime minister was "too busy". She is supposed to be tied up with urgent agricultural matters as it is spring sowing season in Ukraine.

But speaking to the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Ms Tymoshenko made it clear she was protesting against "an act of stupidity" by a bureaucrat, and one that she insists must be corrected.

"I think everyone remembers how certain Russian bureaucrats used to work against the Ukrainian opposition, I think it is hard to drop old habits," she said. "I want to believe the statement is just the stupidity of one bureaucrat and that it is not the national politics of Russia. If that is the case, then that bureaucrat must correct his stupidity."

The incident has reignited tensions between Moscow and Kiev - already strained since the controversial elections that sparked the Orange Revolution here. Russia campaigned openly then for the candidate of power, Viktor Yanukovych. Now Ms Tymoshenko says it is time Russia stopped treating Ukraine as its inferior, and learned some respect. [...]

Ms Tymoshenko said she never doubted for one day that Mr Yushchenko would become president. "I watched as that faith was justified," she said. "The old bastions of the post-communist regime collapsed before my very eyes. The monsters who had kept Ukraine in a criminal state left the stage."

Ms Tymoshenko dismissed rumours of a growing divide between the two leaders of the revolution, Mr Yushchenko and herself, as groundless. She told the BBC she planned to work side-by-side with the president for decades and insisted the two had no serious disagreements.

Ms Tymoshenko also revealed she was aware of some of the other things people on the streets were saying about her. As well as the orange jumpers and outfits, her braided hair became a trademark feature during the days of protests - a style that has since been copied around the world. "I just heard the latest joke about my hair: 'Do you know what that is on her head? It's a steering wheel to drive the state'," she said.

"It's just comfy this way and I think it suits me. I'm honoured that models around the world are sporting the same style on catwalks these days, that means Ukraine is not only forming the fashion for politics and democracy but for hairdos too, and I am very proud of that."

This additional nugget from the interview was highlighted in a sidebar to the article: "I know the Russian political elite has got used to the Ukraine suffering from an inferiority complex, but I want this to disappear from our relationship."

The page also provides a link allowing you to listen to the interview - in English translation, presumably.