In today's turbulent world, Ukraine is one of the hot topics in the media. Almost every day another news related to this country flashes. Economics, politics, culture, the national question… Journalists don't have to search – they themselves stick out to the fore. Everything is looked through, down to the smallest detail. But at the same time, the name of Yushchenko, a man whose name was previously associated with the whole life of Ukraine, is very rarely published in world news and, as a rule, in small print. Where is Yushchenko now? What happened to this relatively he althy man? And this mysterious story of poisoning, which once disturbed the whole world… What happened to Yushchenko's last years?
Biography
Usually, when there is a lengthy story about a person (politician, military figure, economist, cultural figure), it is customary to begin with his brief biography. Otherwise, many nuances and causal relationships immediately slip away. Don't deviate from tradition. So, the third Ukrainian President Yushchenko, biography.
The future head of the future began his lifeindependent state Viktor Andreyevich Yushchenko back in 1954, having passed his childhood, youth, and a considerable part of his mature years in the Soviet era. A typical life of a villager from the Sumy region: a school, where even then he was a boy with a bright bright future, a financial institution, and finally military duty. Member of the CPSU, as befits a representative of the Soviet nomenklatura.
When he was very young, everyone remembers him as a sweet, kind and diligent boy with a good upbringing. But he also always had a certain spark - the desire for leadership and victory.
In 1971, the young man graduated from a local school, and already in 1975 - the Ternopil Financial and Economic Institute. After receiving a diploma, former President of Ukraine Yushchenko began working as a chief accountant, and a little later he joined the army. After serving his term in the border troops and returning home, Viktor Andreevich decided to join the CPSU party.
The collapse of the Soviet Union Yushchenko met in the capital of the Ukrainian SSR in a considerable position of top management of the financial structures of the Union Republic. A good career, but not particularly outstanding. Who could see him as the future leader of Ukraine? No connections, no weight, no personality…
Dashing 90s
It is difficult to define all the events of the first half of the 1990s, but it was Yushchenko who, in the first years of the country's independence, was nominated for a rather serious post of head of the National Bank of Ukraine. And he managed not to stumble, not to completely destroy the financial structure of the state. Wherever Yushchenko is now, but it is precisely with the name of a competent official that the formation of manynuances in the field of finance of the young Ukrainian state: the monetary system of the national currency, the Ukrainian hryvnia, was introduced, a bank-mint was formed, and the State Treasury appeared.
As part of such transformations and brilliant financial activities, V. Yushchenko was announced by Western media as one of the world's brilliant bankers a few years later.
Today it is difficult to say where in these facts is the usual PR (it cannot be said that Ukraine was a prosperous country in the last decade of the twentieth century), and where is a simple statement of the effective work of a competent specialist. In any case, the future president managed not to collapse on the slippery steps of the administrative ladder. And at the end of the twentieth century, he left the financial structure, changing the role of a brilliant financial specialist to a promising politician.
In government
In 1999 Viktor Yushchenko became the head of the country's executive power. For a year in office, he managed to leave a memory of himself as an active politician and an effective administrator. Remembering his previous activities, from the very beginning he paid attention to banks and the processes taking place in them. Among the reforms that have had a great impact on the life of Ukraine is the normalization of the state budget due to the refusal to use short-term cash loans, which the government had previously taken periodically to pay pensions and salaries to the population.
Moreover, he fought against the shadow business, sought to increase the budget through taxes for businessmen,conducting dishonest commercial transactions.
The results of the activities of the head of government were clearly visible. In the economic history of the country, largely as a result of Yushchenko's work and thanks to the implementation of his reforms, GDP growth begins, serious transformations have appeared in the calculations and obligatory payments to budgets of all levels, and there has been an understanding that the country's financial level has grown. Barter and the search for loans turned out to be in the past, which also worked positively for almost all sectors of the economy. Finally, the accumulated public debts to the population were eliminated. Since those years, payments to pensioners, students, wages, etc. have been issued on time.
True, it should be noted that society was still dissatisfied, since the level of government payments was small.
As for other results, it should be noted that V. A. Yushchenko effectively fought against corruption, denouncing the clever operations of fraudsters: he ordered the arrest of Yulia Tymoshenko (however, he later released her), implemented a large-scale event under the slogan Ukraine without Kuchma” and so on.
Activity of the prime minister was interrupted in its full swing, in 2001 V. Yushchenko left his post. According to the country's parliament, the government turned out to be too weak and incompetent to continue in power.
Head of State
Yushchenko Viktor was not long in opposition to the government. In 2002, during the next parliamentary elections, the former prime minister believed in his abilities and political forces. Quite quickly, the Our Ukraine bloc took shape, with a representativewhich became Yushchenko. With the support of Yulia Tymoshenko, he beat all other contenders and won the election.
It was at this time that the firmness and integrity of the leader was revealed. Elections for the next president were scheduled for 2004, and there was no clear leader in this race. The election campaign that began in the first round did not nominate a winner. Although Yushchenko took first place, he did not have enough votes to immediately become president. Therefore, the second round of presidential elections in the Ukrainian state was scheduled for September 2004.
Riddle of the second round
More than ten years have passed since those events, but they have not been able to give unambiguous assessments, especially in connection with the events in Ukraine in recent years.
Viktor Yushchenko lost the second round of re-elections. It would seem that one should calmly admit defeat and congratulate the winner. But, as happens in most cases in the former Soviet republics of the USSR, the losing applicant strongly disagreed with the results and sent his protest to the country's Supreme Court. And the court sided with him! In the political history of the countries of the former USSR, the case is unprecedented. It turned out that the alleged results were falsified, and the elections themselves were in violation of procedures. Is it so? In the Ukraine of the Poroshenko era, it is useless to look for ends.
And after all, he was a good head of state, and compared to the current president, he can be perceived as a smart, logically thinking leader. He pursued a realistic foreign policy aimed at friendlyrelations with the winners of the geopolitical struggle of the twentieth century - the US and the EU, in the eastern direction the policy was anti-Russian, but not recklessly frantic, as it is today. Inside the country, he took up charity, ennobled the cities of the state, and so on.
Now even where Yushchenko lives is unknown: some talk about a state dacha, others talk about a private mansion, and yet, under him, bright programs aimed at improving the lives of Ukrainians thundered throughout the country. In particular, in 2007, a presidential decree appeared that required the principles of development and improvement of apartments to be put into practice, cheap housing was being built, which would provide all residents of the country with their own apartments.
Another program is the project “Warm a child with love”. This is a multi-purpose cycle of events to help large families, orphans and kids who do not have parental care and care. The project was actively supported by many big businessmen.
In general, the president was involved in the social sphere a lot, working not only on economic issues. He even tried to educate a new nation, utopically striving to develop kindness to each other, mutual love. To do this, he developed a number of new articles that were added to the Constitution of the country.
But all this does not remove the dark spots on the biography of V. Yushchenko during the re-elections of 2004. Was he legally elected president, or is this another example of clever behind-the-scenes struggle and use of the state structure?
Poisoning
However, when it comes to the fate and career of this politician, most of his contemporaries will remember not about the ill-fated rise to power in 2004, but about Yushchenko's mysterious poisoning. The truth about this has not yet been revealed, although public interest is high. Almost instantly, the man's face turned into a mask of an old, afflicted man. Most of the Ukrainians experienced a complete shock: instead of a young politician, a gray-haired martyr with an ugly face, aged twenty years, suddenly appeared on the Maidan.
For more than a decade, almost the entire world has been trying to unravel the mystery of Viktor Yushchenko's illness. The main questions are why Yushchenko has such a face, why he has terrible changes in appearance and how doctors interpret it.
Version one. Poisoning
Many qualified specialists sought to understand how things really are with the face of the former president of Ukraine and who is behind the assassination attempt on him. To date, there are several realistic assumptions, but the lack of facts and the clear politicization of the concept prevent any theory from becoming the most plausible and defining one. In essence, all of them are divided into two versions: proof of the presence or denial of Yushchenko's poisoning.
The first version confirms the poisoning of the leader of the state. According to the first assumption, which has many supporters, it becomes clear when and how Yushchenko fell ill. There is no need to guess what happened to the face, to the body as a whole: during the next dinner, an unexpected poisoning occurred with the aim of killing, eliminating the outstandingleader from the political arena. It led to such dire consequences, and only an incredible happy coincidence of circumstances helped Yushchenko escape and stay alive.
Today it is even officially documented what politicians ate and drank at a dinner party. There is a version that David Zhvania should have killed Yushchenko. Before that, there was another banquet, with the co-owner of Foxtrot. One of those present at that evening later died under strange circumstances: he was taken to the hospital and nothing more was heard about him. Before dinner - a visit to an old friend in Chernihiv and a tasting of "self-made" cognac without snacks.
But this is the official Ukrainian version of his illness - the enemies poisoned the country's leader with dioxin during the re-elections in early autumn 2004. Yushchenko's poisoning with dioxide - this is how most Ukrainians now think. The consequences were not as dire as political opponents would like, but the face was disfigured. This left one question - who mutilated Yushchenko?
The answer to it was given in different ways, but the basis was anti-Russian tendencies and, of course, hostility towards Yushchenko's most prominent opponents. Finding enemies in a torn apart Ukraine was not difficult.
Version two
Supporters of this version, also very popular, believe that there was no poisoning. The problem is that Yushchenko, in the course of his active political activity, brought his body into a state of severe mental stress. Because of this, he was constantly sick. One of the nextdiseases of Viktor Yushchenko, which fell him in the fall of 2007, is leprosy (leprosy). Doctors can see this even by external signs:
- There is a radical change in the patient's face.
- Ears get bigger, swollen.
- The cartilaginous skeleton of the auricles changes so that it is impossible to determine the identity of the patient by their shape.
- The face can become gloomy, gloomy.
There are other symptoms of leprosy other than dioxin poisoning.
Initial signs
The causes and course of the disease could tell a lot about the events of the first days after the incident. Fortunately, Yushchenko's condition before and after the poisoning is completely different. After a working day on September 5, Viktor was at a friendly dinner with one of the high-ranking officials of Ukraine and his close friend. Early the next day he began complaining of intense headaches. By the end of the day there was vomiting. Characteristically, the patient did not agree to the usual cleansing of the stomach, treatment and transfer to the hospital.
A day later, on the evening of September 8, British journalists who visited him reported that the Ukrainian politician noted intense back pain, his speech was indistinct and lisping. His face was unnaturally pink. It is worth noting that at that time no one was talking about the poisoning of Yushchenko.
The next day, the patient's face became distorted, there was a feeling of stiffness of the upper lip. During that day, Yushchenko went to the Austrian capital for treatment with a diagnosis of stomach flu and pancreatitis.
In the Vienna hospital "Rudolfinerhaus", where he was the firstonce a little over a week in mid-September, and the second time from the end of September to the tenth of October, an uncharacteristic combination of diseases of the mass of internal organs and physiological structures was determined.
During the development of the disease, the most sensitive were pathologies of the skin and acute back pain. Moreover, the situation with the skin became worse and worse. Initially, only the face was spoiled by the disease, but then the disease passed to the body and limbs. However, during this period there were no discussions on the issue of dioxin poisoning of Yushchenko.
Media influence
The mass media also had a noticeable influence on the problem. As soon as the hot news about Yushchenko's poisoning reached journalists, electronic and paper publications immediately began to consider versions of this event and the question was how real this terrible event was. In fact, the Ukrainian and world media approached this story rather one-sidedly, leading the world community to one clear thought - Yushchenko was poisoned by his political enemies.
Doctors hesitate
Yushchenko himself during the period between two visits to the Austrian hospital at the end of September confirmed the thesis that they were going to destroy him. The Ukrainian parliament generally believed him. Looking at Yushchenko before and after the poisoning (or pseudo-poisoning), one could understand that the person had experienced a strong shock. Well, for the politician himself, in the conditions of acute political struggle and presidential elections, such a version was very beneficial. In addition, it was necessary to somehow explain the arisinghe alth problems. The recognition of leprosy, in fact, could lead to the end of a political career.
Doctors are another matter. In the same September, the Austrian doctors who treated the Ukrainian stated that the materials about his poisoning were incorrect and the question of what Yushchenko was poisoned with could not be raised at all. Similar conclusions were drawn by medical commissions in Ukraine. Despite severe pressure, the doctors found no signs of poisoning in the politician's body.
The situation changed only after three months. In December, a blood test showed the presence of dioxin. At the same time, its concentration was constantly increasing, reaching a rate several thousand times higher than the norm.
It was at this time that several American doctors were imperceptibly connected to the process.
It was necessary to find such a poison, which is detected by signs similar to Yushchenko's illness, which does such things to the face immediately and in the near future. The closest to such "requirements" were dioxins. Of course, experts on poisons can see that the President of Ukraine has other signs. But it was important to somehow approach the desired topic, and there opportunities would appear.
For this, Yushchenko donated blood, and American doctors added dioxin, after which any laboratory found poison - there is such a version.
In light of this, it is understandable why Yushchenko's domestic toxicologists were exempted from analyzing the features of the toxicological process - they would have received blood from him for research personally and would have reported many various uncomfortable details about Yushchenko's poisoning.
Change in appearance
Betweenmeanwhile, the change in appearance clearly occurred not according to the official version of the poisoning, but according to the version of supporters of the leprosy disease. Initially, the disease terribly disfigured the politician, but then treatment for leprosy slightly improved his appearance. What does Yushchenko look like now? Worse than before September 2004, but better than before the course of treatment, which was repeatedly repeated abroad. Although Yushchenko himself made a reservation that his recovery was due to the removal of dioxin from the blood, he refused to give any further details.
After everything
With the advent of the last turbulent years in the history of Ukraine, the Yushchenko era somehow immediately turned pale. It still had a lot of conditioned action and far less gunfire and gore. They no longer cause any enthusiasm, but the censure of the reforms that have played the next presidential election. Finally, the poisoning itself (pseudo-poisoning) has gone into the irretrievable past and is truly of interest only to historians. How many people were poisoned.
Yushchenko himself is alive. And although some residents of the country still do not forget their former leader, they do not even know where he lives and how. Yushchenko's pro-presidential party collapsed, and he will never be the first official of the state. Only a middle-aged, mutilated man remained, once all-powerful in Ukraine, who eventually became a victim of high politics and lost his he alth on the political battlefield.
