Analysts are not quite right that President’s decrees are very inefficient. Also, it seems reasonable to dismiss any doubts about the inexpediency and impossibility of establishing, from the above, such an important institution of democracy as the opposition.

Leonid Kuchma’s decree about the ouster of Vice-Premier Yuliya Tymoshenko belies all this. Moreover, it may become a certain watershed in the development of political situation in the country. For the leaders of the parliamentary majority, this long-awaited decree was undoubtedly more important than the implementation of the April 2000 nation-wide constitutional referendum and the settlement of the «audiotapegate». By vigorously pressing for its issuing for several months on end, oligarchs in the parliamentary majority have had to postpone until later the resolution of many other problems. Now everything is different — the unsteady alignment of forces in power structures has been undermined.

The absolutely weakened Government is no longer capable of putting up resistance to the pressure of oligarchs. Rather opportune preconditions are being formed for discrediting Premier Viktor Yushchenko or for urging him to refuse voluntarily from his active political participation both at present and in the future. An essentially new period also begins in the relations between oligarchs and the President. Now they are well aware that they need each other and are ready to establish the balance of interests. By the above-mentioned decree, L. Kuchma undermined the system of counterbalances, even if primitive, which helped him keep himself at a distance from them and secure his personal independence from major political actors.

From now on, he will have again, as a year and a half ago, to rely largely on clan groupings and to share administrative resources with them. One can not already recover the previous confidential relations, though. Nevertheless, their common enemies have clearly revealed themselves, and, at the same time, have acquired some experience, now being very close to the moment when they will renounce helpless romanticism and naivety.