Anybody know what Ukraine's Yushchenko health is?

[Armstead]

Just curious about this. I thought the newly elected president of the Ukraine ViktorYushchenko was supposed to be recovered from the poison he ingested which scarred his face so badly. I read somewhere that as the poison left his system his face would improve.

But on 60 Minutes and his inaugurationn speech, he still looked terrible. Still a lot of strange scarring and his color looked really bad.

Anyone know what the story is? Is he still sick, or are the scars permanent?

[Sannum]

1. I was wondering the same thing.

He looks terrible. His skin is this greyesh-yellow color and I would think that it hurts like hell. I am sure he is also having other physical symptoms that are not visible.

[Heyo]

2. I can tell you one thing...

... that dioxin aged him like 30 years. It really sucks what they did to that guy.

I think for the most part his health is back on track, as good as could be expected. Still, excuse my bluntness, but that stuff fucked his ass up. I'm sure it took MANY years off his life.

Heyo

[MisterP]

3. nope, still haggis

maybe he can call his buddies Kissinger, Powell, Brzezinski, and Saakashvili

[dsc]

4. according to NPR

His scarring will get better over time but there will be a good deal of it. Supposedly if you survive the original poisoning then you will survive.

[Gloria]

5. He says he will seek treatment for the scarring....see this article

which I posted to the new World Media Watch...

5//The Moscow Times, Russia Monday, January 31, 2005. Page 1.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/01/31/001.html



UKRAINE’S PRESIDENT TAKES THE STAGE

By Lynn Berry, Staff Writer



DAVOS, Switzerland -- The comparisons are inevitable. A year ago, it was the newly elected Mikheil Saakashvili who came to Davos to announce ambitious plans for transforming his country. Bursting with boyish energy, he seemed almost giddy from suddenly finding himself among world leaders curious to meet the young Georgian president.



This year it was Viktor Yushchenko in Davos holding out the promise of a new democratic country on former Soviet soil where corruption would no longer be tolerated.



(snip)



Some Davos participants said they found him too soft, lacking in charisma. Others saw, instead, a gentleness, perhaps a wiseness, which touched a chord. All saw a once-handsome face disfigured by dioxin poisoning that nearly took his life.



At a lunch with journalists Saturday, Yushchenko said it would soon be clear who had poisoned him during last fall's presidential election campaign. "I don't think it's a complicated case," he told a half-dozen journalists sitting at his table. "The circumstances are very specific, very obvious.



The prosecutor general said yesterday that they are narrowing the scope of the investigation."

He refused to identify the suspects. "This will have to be answered by the prosecutors," he said. He also refused to respond to a question on whether the trail will lead back to Moscow. "Can I refrain from answering this?" he said.



If the evidence points to Russian involvement, it could complicate Yushchenko's efforts to patch things up with President Vladimir Putin, who backed his opponent in the disputed election. Both leaders, who met in Moscow on Jan. 24, have given assurances that they are ready to turn the page and will work together.



Yushchenko said he would seek treatment for his disfigured face, though he would not say where. "I still cannot get used to the face of Yushchenko that you see today," he said at a news conference earlier Saturday.



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