Strange Pair; The president has an ambitious ally.(Viktor Yushchenko)

Byline: Steven Paulikas

Newly inaugurated Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is riding high, having soothed relations with a quick visit to Moscow last week. Political observers in Ukraine, however, wonder if Yushchenko hasn't already set himself up for a fall, barely a week into office.

They point to his choice for prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, 44. To her supporters, the fiery Tymoshenko is the unflinching face of reform--a former economist known for her Western-influenced ideas and iron will. Joining forces with Yushchenko during the campaign, she added an element of passion and charisma that may have proved decisive in his eventual victory. But she remains a controversial figure. In the 1990s she made millions as head of the country's top supplier of natural gas, and was accused by former president Leonid Kuchma of paying kickbacks to a former prime minister. The charges were eventually dropped, but not before Tymoshenko had spent a month in jail.

During last fall's street protests her speeches kept protesters at the barricades, even after Yushchenko agreed in closed-door negotiations to allow the government of opponent Viktor Yanukovych to continue functioning. Those talks also led to an agreement on a package of constitutional reforms that could transfer a large chunk of the president's power--including ...