UKRAINE: Swine Flu Panic Infects Kiev's Politics.

GLOBAL POST/
Ukraine is in the midst of a swine flu panic as more than 750,000 people have been infected and 109 have died. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, running second in polling for the Jan. 17 presidential elections, has appeared in a surgical mask which some call show-boating. “Ukrainian authorities are using the hysteria over the flu outbreak to distract citizens’ attention from the country’s economic and social problems,” said presidential candidate Sergey Tigipko, a former member of Tymoshenko’s team who is now running against her. “Flu is a serious threat, but in Ukraine they have contrived to turn it into a political tool used to distract public attention from real problems.”