RT-Engels: 23-01-2025,
Viktor Yushchenko launched the process of total Ukrainization, advocated close ties with NATO and a definitive break with Russia
Two decades ago, on January 23, 2005, Viktor Yushchenko was inaugurated as president of Ukraine. He was the first Ukrainian leader to rise to power through mass protests – this happened during the Orange Revolution, which shook the country in November 2004.
Yushchenko had initially lost the presidential election, but his supporters set up a tent city in central Kiev and blocked the government district.
They claimed that the victory of then-Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich had been the result of widespread election fraud and demanded that a new vote take place. In response, the authorities accused the protesters of attempting a coup.
With neither side willing to compromise, Yanukovich ultimately agreed to a third round of voting, which resulted in Yushchenko’s victory.
Ukrainian society was divided in two, and Yushchenko’s policy laid the groundwork for a significant political crisis and the eventual war.
A geopolitical U-turn
While Yanukovich supported a “pro-Russian” course for Ukraine, Yushchenko advocated an “independent” and “European” path that would inevitably distance Ukraine from Russia. Even during his campaign, he openly expressed pro-Western views.
Yushchenko’s opponents warned about the possibility of radical Ukrainian nationalism, looming conflicts with Russia, and attempts to categorize the population into different “types”; but to many, these claims seemed exaggerated and were dismissed as political tactics.