I love this gal.
Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko is a Ukrainian politician and current Prime Minister of Ukraine.
Before becoming Ukraine’s first female Prime Minister, Tymoshenko was one of the key leaders of the Orange Revolution. In this period some Western media publications dubbed her as the “Joan of Arc of the Revolution”. In my book, that is way cool.
Prior to her political career, Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko was a successful but controversial businesswoman in the gas industry, which made her wealthy. Some people think she is a crook. But then, some people have rather stodgy ideas of what it takes to succeed in politics.
She was once arrested on charges of forging customs documents and smuggling of gas between 1995 and 1997 (while president of United Energy Systems of Ukraine). Her political supporters organized several protest rallies near the Lukyanivska Prison where she was held in custody. She was found innocent and released.
According to Tymoshenko, the charges were fabricated by political the regime in power. In spite of being cleared of the charges, Moscow maintained an arrest warrant for her should she enter Russia for over four years. Those Russians do hold a grudge.
She has twice been ranked by Forbes magazine as being among the most powerful women in the world. She is ranked by me as one of the most interesting politicians I have ever encountered.
It is embarrassing that the Unites States doesn’t have any politicians that are even remotely this cool.