Dispelling Orange Revolution blues

Kiev: Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich appeared set to avenge his humiliation by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in the 2004 ‘Orange Revolution' yesterday.

Tagged a Kremlin stooge in 2004 after he was congratulated prematurely by Russia in a rigged election, Yanukovich had his initial victory in that poll snatched away by a court ruling after mass streets protests. The pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko, who was then backed by the charismatic Tymoshenko, went on to win a re-run vote.

The 59-year-old ex-mechanic owes his comeback to financial support from wealthy industrialists in his home region in eastern Ukraine for whom he has become, by circumstance, the only horse to back.

Yanukovich was born on July 9, 1950 into a Russian-speaking, working-class family in the Donetsk region. His mother died when he was two and he had a rough childhood.

He served time in jail as a youth for petty crimes involving assault but these were later struck officially from the record. He himself refers to the "mistakes of youth" but says his hard background helped him climb the political ladder.

Cast as the villain of the 2004 ‘Orange Revolution', he began a comeback in 2006 when Yushchenko reluctantly appointed him premier after ‘orange' parties failed to form a coalition. But he left office after those parties beat his Regions Party and its allies in a snap 2007 election.

Yanukovich's campaign has been helped by US political consultant Paul Manafort, whose business partner helped manage John McCain's 2008 US presidential campaign.