The Opposition
Viktor Yushchenko, governor of the National Bank 1993–9, prime minister 1999–2001, head of Our Ukraine, election candidate.
Yuliia Tymoshenko, former oligarch, deputy prime minister 1999–2001.
Pora, the student movement (Yellow and Black), supposedly a collective actor with no leaders.
Vadym Hetman, Yushchenko's mentor.
Viacheslav Chornovil, former dissident, leader of the Rukh movement in the 1990s.
Yushchenko's Staff
Roman Bezsmertnyi, chief of staff until July 2004.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, his successor.
Oleh Rybachuk, Yushchenko's chief aide as prime minister, link man with the security services (the SBU).
Yushchenko's Business Supporters
Petro Poroshenko, chocolate king.
Davyd Zhvaniia, also financier of Pora and the Maidan.
Yevhen Chervonenko, Yushchenko's security chief.
Tymoshenko's Staff
Oleksandr Turchynov, Tymoshenko's long-standing aide.
Mykola Syvulskyi, a financial assistant.
Leonid Kuchma, president 1994–January 2005.
Viktor Yanukovych, prime minister 2002–January 2005, candidate.
Andrii Kliuiev, first deputy prime minister for the notoriously corrupt energy sector, head of Yanukovych's campaign office.
Serhii Kliuiev, fundraiser, deputy chair of Donetsk council until April 2005.
Eduard Prutnik, adviser to Yanukovych.
Volodymyr Lytvyn, head of the Presidential Administration until 2002, then head of For A United Ukraine and chair of parliament.
Mykola Bilokon, minister of the interior, 2003–4.
Mykola Azarov, head of the tax inspectorate, 1996–2002, first deputy prime minister and finance minister 2002–4, briefly prime minister in January 2005.
Ihor Smeshko, head of the SBU, September 2003–February 2005.
Volodymyr Satsiuk, deputy head of the SBU, April–December 2004.
Hryhorii Kirpa, railways minister until his death in December 2004.
Serhii Kivalov, head of the Central Election Commission (CEC).
Serhii Katkov, ‘mole’ on the CEC.
The Oligarchs
Viktor Pinchuk, Dnipropetrovsk.
Serhii Tihipko, Dnipropetrovsk.
Ihor Kolomoiskyi, Dnipropetrovsk.
Rinat Akhmetov, Donetsk.
Viktor Medvedchuk, Kiev, head of the Presidential Administration, 2002–4.
Hryhorii Surkis, Kiev, owner of Dynamo Kiev.
Ihor Bakai, former oligarch, down at heel.
Oleksandr Volkov, former oligarch, turncoat.
Their Puppets
Nataliia Vitrenko, fake ‘Progressive Socialist’.
Roman Kozak, fake ‘nationalist’.
Dmytro Korchynskyi, fake ‘nationalist’.
The Russians
Vladimir Putin, president.
Gleb Pavlovskii, political technologist.
Marat Gelman, political technologist.
Sergei Markov, political technologist.
Maxim ‘Mad Max’ Kurochkin, ‘businessman’.
Boris Berezovskii, exiled oligarch.
Other Players
Oleksandr Moroz, leader of the Socialist Party, candidate.
Petro Symonenko, leader of the Communist Party, candidate.
Anatolii Kinakh, prime minister 2001–2, candidate.
Yevhen Marchuk, head of the SBU 1991–4, prime minister 1995–6, head of the NSDC 1999–2003, minister of defence 2003–September 2004.
Hryhorii Gongadze, journalist, murdered September 2000.
Mykola Melnychenko, presidential bodyguard, fled with ‘secret tapes’, November 2000.
Oleksii Pukach, interior ministry thug, Gongadze's alleged killer.
Aleksander Kwasńiewski, president of Poland