Yushchenko needs Tymoshenko if he hopes to keep the Orange Team alive

Yushchenko needs Tymoshenko if he hopes to keep the Orange Team alive, but many analysts have predicted

that he might find it more palatable to unite with [Viktor] Yanukovych, whose fraud-marred victory in

presidential elections sparked the 2004 protests. Yushchenko and Yanukovych have strong ideological

differences, but not the personal hatred that seems to have built up between the one-time Orange

allies.

For those of you who may have forgotten – it seems like only yesterday Kiev was the center of the

blogiverse – Yanukovych is the one-time Hitler of the Week who supposedly tried to assassinate

Yushchenko.

UPDATE 3/24: A reader says that Yanukovych was not accused of anything. Formally, no. But the

implication in the Western media at the time was pretty clear. From the London Times (December 2004):

Proof that Mr Yushchenko was deliberately poisoned would be a devastating blow for his rival, the Prime

Minister, Viktor Yanukovych, as the two candidates prepare for a repeat of a presidential run-off on

December 26.

It would raise questions about whether the poisoning was ordered by Mr Yanukovych, his allies, or even

the Kremlin, which fears that Mr Yushchenko will take Ukraine out of its sphere of influence by joining

Nato and the EU.