The ups and downs of Viktor and Yulia (10/08/06)

The ups and downs of Viktor and Yulia

December 22, 1999 - Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma appoints Viktor Yushchenko as Ukraine's prime minister.

December 30, 1999 - Yushchenko appoints Yulia Tymoshenko as his vice prime minister for the fuel and energy sector.

January 19, 2001 - Kuchma fires Tymoshenko from her post. The following month, Ukraine's top prosecutor places her under arrest and has her jailed for six weeks.

April 26, 2001 - The Verkhovna Rada fires Yushchenko from his prime minister post. He makes the famous statement, "I am leaving in order to return."

December 2003 - Setting aside her own presidential ambitions, Tymoshenko begins actively campaigning for Yushchenko as Ukraine's next president.

November 22, 2004 - The Orange Revolution erupts, anointing Yushchenko and Tymoshenko as its leaders.

January 23, 2005 - Yushchenko is inaugurated president of Ukraine. Chants for Tymoshenko are mythically believed to have influenced Yushchenko's decision.

February 4, 2005 - Ukraine's Parliament approves Yushchenko's nomination of Tymoshenko as prime minister without opposition.

February 19, 2005 - Tymoshenko makes the statement that more than 3,000 firms may be reviewed for re-privatization, without naming a specific figure. Her statement sends shockwaves throughout the Western financial community.

May 16, 2005 - Tymoshenko's first public conflict with Yushchenko occurs when she accuses Russian oil firms of conspiracy. Yushchenko hints that she mishandled the crisis.

May 19, 2005 - During a meeting with Russian oil executives, Yushchenko allegedly loses his patience with Tymoshenko, saying he regrets selecting her as prime minister and suggesting that she resign.

July 6, 2005 - Yushchenko sends Tymoshenko a letter insisting she stop drawing attention to Naftohaz after she implied three days earlier that the enterprise might be involved in corruption.

August 20, 2005 - Close Yushchenko ally Petro Poroshenko calls for an overhaul of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), believed to be a direct attack at close Tymoshenko ally and SBU chief Oleksander Turchynov.

September 5, 2005 - The former head of the Presidential Secretariat, Oleksander Zinchenko, calls a press conference to accuse the Yushchenko entourage of rampant corruption. Poroshenko shows up unannounced and denies corruption in the Yushchenko team.

September 8, 2005 - Yushchenko appears live on a nationwide broadcast to announce that he was dismissing his entire Cabinet of Ministers, including Tymoshenko.

March 26, 2006 - In parliamentary elections, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc wins 22 percent of the vote, compared with 14 percent for the Our Ukraine bloc.

June 22, 2006 - Our Ukraine Chair Roman Bezsmertnyi, Socialist Party Chair Oleksander Moroz and Tymoshenko announce they had formed a pro-Western coalition of democratic forces.

July 6, 2006 - Moroz abandons the pro-Western coalition and unites his Socialist Party with the Party of the Regions and the Communist Party into a Russian-leaning Anti-Crisis Coalition.

August 3, 2006 - Yushchenko accepts the coalition government's nomination of Viktor Yanukovych as prime minister. Tymoshenko immediately declares her opposition to the government.

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