Yanukovych criticizes Poroshenko, Khoroshkovskiy

President Viktor Yanukovych publicly berated Economics Minister Petro Poroshenko and First Deputy Prime Minister Valeriy Khoroshkovsiy at a public meeting in Dnipropetrovsk earlier this week. Yanukovych threatened to “rip off” Poroshenko’s head after the latter failed to make public a draft resolution that could protect local car makers from external competition. Media reports indicate that later that same day Poroshenko countermanded orders to freeze the foreign bank accounts of independent TV station TVi. Poroshenko was a reluctant Cabinet member; negotiations on his position dragged out for more than a month and he backed the 2004 Orange Revolution that saw Yanukovych’s rival, former President Viktor Yushchenko, come to power. Khoroshkovskiy, in turn, was chided for not knowing the current minimum pension and subsistence wage.

Brad Wells: We interpret Yanukovych’s warning in two ways – first that he is anxious to keep the Cabinet in line ahead of the parliamentary election in October, where his Party of Regions are facing a difficult challenge from opposition parties, and second by shedding his cool he might be looking to put forward a stronger face domestically that he is a man of action and results. Yanukovch’s calling out of Khoroshkovskiy, who was believed to be close to the president, could be a warning that nobody is safe now as he increasingly consolidates power and stamps out dissent. At the same time, Poroshenko is one of the few more independent members of the Cabinet and is a logical scapegoat for various government shortcomings.