KIEV — Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, in a move likely to embarrass the two rivals fighting to succeed him, on Friday elevated a controversial wartime nationalist leader to the status of hero of Ukraine.
Yushchenko issued a decree conferring the honor on Stepan Bandera, the leader of the Ukrainian nationalist forces that fought against both Nazi invaders and Soviet forces in World War II and after.
Yushchenko now has no chance of a second term in office, and his rehabilitation of Bandera was a decisive move to square the issue away before he stepped down. Yushchenko, in his decree, referred to Bandera’s “demonstration of heroism and self-sacrifice in fighting for an independent Ukrainian state.”
It will pose a problem for opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who face off in a presidential vote Feb. 7. To their discomfort, they may now have to take up a position on the highly sensitive issue of Bandera’s status.
• Ukrainian businessman Sergei Tigipko, who placed third in the Jan. 17 presidential election, offered himself Friday as prime minister to any winner ready for unpopular steps to revive the economy, but he refused to back either leading candidate.
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