Donbas oligarch Taruta endorses Tymoshenko candidacy

Donbas oligarch Serhiy Taruta, who competed for the
Ukrainian presidency, announced on March 16 that he is supporting Yulia
Tymoshenko’s candidacy. They signed a memorandum of cooperation to work towards
halting the war in Donbas, approve a new Constitution, and implement their
election programs, “which conform by 80%.” Taruta said his name will remain on
voting ballots but his campaign will be working on behalf of Tymoshenko.

Zenon Zawada: It’s worth
nothing that while Tymoshenko has insisted that she supports Ukraine’s NATO
membership (despite actions in the past that belie this position), Taruta
opposes Ukraine’s NATO membership. So not only does his endorsement raise
further questions about her NATO commitment, but it confirms Tymoshenko’s
strategy of reaching out to eastern Ukrainian voters in the last leg of her
campaign. Tymoshenko is trying to create as wide an electorate as possible with
her focus on economic issues and vague positions on the more polarizing issues.

Another position that will bring the Tymoshenko-Taruta
alliance more accusations of flirting with the Russians is the proposal to
shift the remaining authority in the presidency (mostly in foreign policy and
defense) to the prime minister as part of their new Constitution. Eliminating a
strong presidency is widely viewed as advantageous to the Russians, who can
have greater influence in parliament (which selects the Cabinet and prime
minister).

Incidentally, Taruta isn’t very popular in eastern
Ukraine, despite his roots there. So his support for Tymoshenko will be more in
the form of resources than votes.