The best-known player not behind bars in Ukraine’s ongoing political showdown, Vitali Klitschko has a vested interest in keeping the protests going strong. The heavyweight boxing champion, 42, has made no secret of his presidential ambition, and launched his UDAR party in 2010 with the aim of running for the post in 2015. And the weaker Yanukovych looks, the stronger Klitschko appears.
Klitschko’s stance is firmly pro-European and anti-corruption; he has been a fixture of the EuroMaydan protests since the government’s decision to reject an EU trade deal on November 21. He has since called on Yanukovych to step down, and has introduced a draft resolution in parliament aimed at what he called a “complete resetting” of the Ukrainian state. But he’s also played peacemaker, defusing potential protester violence and staring down drunken street critics — literally — from his vantage point of 1.98 meters. “If Klitschko does become Ukrainian president some time,” tweeted “The Guardian’s” Shaun Walker, “Putin is going to dread those joint press conferences.”
The EuroMaydan protests are about a lot more than the jailing of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. But the presence of lawmaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the leader of her Batkivshchina (Fatherland) opposition party, is a constant reminder of her continued influence on Ukraine’s political scene.
Which is not to say that Yatsenyuk is a place-holder. The 39-year-old party leader is one of Ukraine’s most powerful opposition politicians, having served as economy and foreign minister as well as parliament speaker.
As the leader of Fatherland, Yatsenyuk oversees the second-largest party in Ukraine and theoretically could represent a direct numerical threat to Yanukovych’s Party of Regions should his regime’s fortunes continue to fade. Yatsenyuk has called on Ukraine’s prime minister, Mykola Azarov, to resign as a “first step” toward a government overhaul.
Article Appeared @http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/12/meet-the-brains-behind-ukraines-massive-protests/281978/