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Since the Orange Revolution (2004)
Five days later after the second run-off of the president elections which found Viktor Yanukovych a winner, Viktor Yanukovych resigned from office and his cabinet was dismissed on January 5, 2005.
In March 2006, the parliamentary elections took place and three month later the official government was formed by the “Anti-Crisis Coalition” among the Party of Regions, Communist and Socialist parties. The latter party switched from the “Orange Coalition” with our Ukraine and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. Viktor Yanukovych once again became Prime Minister, while the leader of Socialist Party, Oleksandr Moroz, secured the position of chairman of parliament.
During the Yushchenko term, relations between Russia and Ukraine often appeared strained as the President of Ukraine looked towards improved relations with the European Union and less towards Russia. In 2005, highly-publicized dispute over natural gas prices took place, involving Russian state-owned gas supplier Gazprom and indirectly involving many European countries which depend on natural gas supplied by Russia through the Ukrainian pipeline. A compromise was reached in January 2006, and in early 2010 a further agreement was signed.
By the time of the presidential election of 2009, Yushchenko and Tymoshenko — allies during the Orange Revolution — had become bitter enemies. Tymoshenko ran for president against both Yushchenko and Yanukovych, creating a three-way race. Yushchenko, whose popularity had plummeted, refused to close ranks and support Tymoshenko, thus dividing the anti-Yanukovych vote. With less than one-third of the eligible voters going to the polls, Yanukovych received 48 % of the vote and Yushchenko less than 6 %, an amount which, if thrown to Tymoshenko, who received 45 %, would have prevented Yanukovych from gaining the presidency. As a result Yanukovych’s pro-Russia party had regained power after five years and the Orange Revolution of 2004 was halted, at least temporarily.