Kyiv Post has a brief report on presidential/PM relations in Ukraine. The tone of the report is telling.

The article reports PM Mykola Azarov as saying that President Viktor Yanukovych has “agreed to let him choose candidates to be the next First Deputy Prime Minister”. How very kind. There is, though, a caveat. PM Azarov acknowledges that he will submit the candidate of his choice to the president and that the president will then approve or reject the candidate. So, the PM’s freedom of choice is perhaps somewhat less than it might at first appear. Moreover, I have a hunch that PM Azarov will nominate a candidate that he knows President Yanukovych will approve.

As if to reinforce the point that he is more than just a figurehead, PM Azarov goes on to say that he has “enough power, and all of the ministers and vice premiers … fulfill all the orders of the prime minister”. Hmm. Methinks the PM doth protest too much. When you need to make this point and when it is reported in the main news, then, to me, this is a sign of weakness not strength.