inauguration

president victor yanukovych was formally inducted into office on february 25, 2010 in a ceremony following weeks of confrontation with his rival prime minister yulia tymoshenko over the results of the presidential election. the event was conducted as a special session of parliament in compliance with constitutional rules on the conduct of presidential inaugurations. speaker volodymyr lytvyn presided over the ceremony, while constitutional court chief andriy strizhak administered the oath of office.

a noticeably stiff yanukovych entered the assembly to the music of mykola lysenko’s prayer for ukraine – ukraine’s official spiritual anthem - wearing a sharp yet subdued dark navy blue two-piece suit and ruby red tie.

lytvyn immediately took over as master of ceremonies in his usual no-fuss manner. it almost felt like an ordinary parliamentary session listening to lytvyn’s powerful monotone voice take commanding control.

next the famed veryovky choir sang the national anthem dressed in traditional ukrainian attire as all cameras focused on yanukovych’s semi-parsed lips not moving in sync with lyrics. it was unclear whether the new president knew the words or was simply still overcome by emotion.

lytvyn then introduced central election commission head volodymyr shapoval who again announced the presidential election results in yanukovych’s favor.

more relaxed now, yanukovych placed his upper hand over a 16th century bible while the lower part sat on the country’s constitution and took the presidential oath specified in the constitution. the 59-year-old president then delivered a speech on key policy goals for his term in office, which expires in 2015.

“mutual recriminations between rivals resulting from the defeat of one and victory of the other are destructive to state interests and very amoral,” yanukovych said. “people don’t like it when they are shown clutched fists. they are more likely to trust those who extend their hand in a gesture of peace.”

prime minister yulia tymoshenko and cabinet ministers did not attend the inauguration and have not submitted their resignation, as requested by yanukovych, who is attempting to form a new majority coalition in parliament to replace the premier. tymoshenko says does not recognize the legitimacy of yanukovych as president.

also absent was tymoshenko’s faction in parliament and roughly half of the our ukraine grouping, mainly from people’s self-defense, viachelslav kyrylenko’s for, ukraine party and our ukraine party.

preparations for independent ukraine's fifth presidential inauguration were obscured by the mutual enmity between the president elect and the prime minister. after scoring a 3.5 percent victory over tymoshenko in the february 7 run-off vote, yanukovych said his first task as president would be to replace her.

meanwhile, the ukrainian capital on the morning of february 25 appeared to be under martial law, with busloads of policemen lining the streets of downtown kyiv. about two hundred police patrolled the kyiv-pechersk monastery, where the head of the russian orthodox church patriarch kirill of moscow and all russia blessed yanukovych and russian guests, including russian state duma member konstantin zatulin, who was declared persona non grata by ukraine in july 2008 over his “anti-ukrainian” statement that the crimea should be returned to russia.

the inauguration ceremony was attended by international dignitaries, including eu foreign affairs chief catherine ashton, us national security advisor james jones and speaker of the russian parliament boris gryzlov, as well as the presidents of armenia, lithuania, macedonia, montenegro, moldova and belarus.

many journalists accredited to cover the inauguration were unable to gain access to the rada chamber because of the large number of dignitaries present. those who were admitted were confined to the 3^rd-floor foyer. the proceedings lasted about 30 minutes and were aired live by most of the country’s major television networks.

the ceremony was not without its humorous moments. as presidential guards successively presented yanukovych the presidential symbols of power - a golden chain with ukriane’s coat of arms, a presidential seal and a “bulava” - a scepter-like symbol of authority of ukrainian cossacks in the 15th-17th centuries, yanukovych took the last item, his presidential identification card. instead of placing it back on the pillow held by one of the guards, he coyly stuck in the inside pocket of his jacket smiling boyishly.

after receiving the emblems of presidential power, the head of state drove a block and a half to the presidential secretariat on bankova st. for a meeting with his predecessor.

“ukraine is above all,” victor yushchenko told yanukovych during the meeting, according to his spokeswoman irynva vannykova.

in his inauguration address, yanukovych said, “i know what to do and how to do it.” the first task, he said, was to resurrect a functioning system of state governance, starting with the cabinet of ministers and reforming the country’s behemoth civil service. “we must transform it from a squad of political waiters into a team of professionals,” yanukovych said, asking lawmakers to support his efforts to create a transparent, effective system of executive authority capable of working in tandem with the president.

on the foreign policy front, yanukovych said neutrality is the nation’s best option.

“ukraine will choose such a foreign policy that will allow the state to get the maximum results from the development of equal and mutually advantageous relations with russia, the european union, the united states and other governments,” yanukovych said, in making a break from his predecessor’s strong push for western integration and membership in the nato military alliance.

yanukovych’s first presidential decree renamed the presidential secretariat to presidential administration, naming serhiy lyovochkin as its head. lyovochkin, 39, is the son of volodymyr lyovochkin, who ran the country’s prison system under kuchma. the younger lyovochkin reportedly played a leading role in promoting two intermediary companies in the lucrative business of supplying natural gas to ukraine from russia and central asian producers: hungarian-registered eural trans gas and, more recently, swiss-registered rosukrenergo. rosukrenergo is co-owned by russia’s gazprom and ukrainian billionaire dmytro firtash, who also owned the now-defunct eural trans gas.