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"KIEV, Ukraine \u2014 In case she didn\u2019t make it clear when she returned from medical treatment in Germany last week when she tweeted, \u201CGood day. I\u2019m back. In every way,\u201D Yulia Tymoshenko, the former Ukrainian prime minister with the trademark blonde braid, let it be known on Thursday that she was ready to get down to business. \nTymoshenko announced she will run for president in the country's elections set for May 25.\nSee also: 5 Big Questions About the Future of Ukraine\nThe announcement from the leader of Ukraine\u2019s 2004 Orange Revolution comes one month after she was released from prison following the ouster of her nemesis, ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, as Ukraine faces the prospect of a full-scale military attack from Russia.\nA charismatic but divisive figure, Tymoshenko surprised few in saying she would enter the race in which she will almost certainly be a leading contender. Others include businessman Petro Poroshenko, known as the Chocolate King, and former world champion boxer-turned-politician Vitali Klitschko, aka Dr. Iron Fist.\n\u201CI will be the candidate of Ukrainian unity,\u201D Tymoshenko, 53, said during a press conference in the courtyard of her Batkhivshcyna party office in Kiev. \u201CThe west and center of Ukraine has always voted for me, but I was born in the east, in Dnepropetrovsk.\u201D\n\nFormer Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, speaks after a press conference in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, March 27, 2014. Tymoshenko has announced on Thursday she will run for presidential elections set for May 25. Tymoshenko, who was released from jail last month following the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovcyh, said Thursday that she has earned the moral right to say she will combat corruption.Image: Sergei Chuzavkov/Associated PressThe two-time prime minister (2005, 2007-2010), imprisoned in 2011 for abuse of power in a case widely seen by the West as politically motivated, also said that she would fight \u201Cenemy number one for Ukraine\u201D \u2013 Russian President Vladimir Putin.\nRussian troops seized Crimea in February, with Moscow backing a referendum for the peninsula to secede from Ukraine. Russia annexed it last week. Since then, Russian troops have amassed on the Ukrainian borders, raising fears of an invasion of mainland Ukraine.\n\u201CI think we have to do everything to stop the aggressor, and also return Crimea (to Ukraine),\u201D Tymoshenko said.\nIf elected, Tymoshenko said that she will rebuild the nation\u2019s defenses.\n\u201CMost Ukrainians feel anxious about war, and want to feel safe in their country,\u201D she said. \u201CI think I can create a powerful system of national defense, a modern and effective army and take all steps to arm the army with the most modern weapons. I am convinced that I can take all actions to stand up to aggression and return Crimea.\u201D\nTymoshenko said she wouldn\u2019t let Putin\u2019s troops trample over across mainland Ukraine.\n\u201CTo implement all my ideas as to how to stop the aggressor, I have to have power,\u201D she said. \u201CI am convinced we're not going to allow the aggressor even a few steps into continental Ukraine.\u201D\nWell versed in political theater and never one to shy away from controversy, Tymoshenko embraced the political firestorm that was unleashed last week when her phone conversation with a member of parliament was leaked on YouTube. In it, she says she would shoot Russian troops in Crimea herself for annexing the peninsula.\n\u201CNo fucking way they would get Crimea from me,\u201D she can be heard saying.\nTymoshenko admitted the call was real, but said that Russian security forces had doctored the tape to make it appear as though she urged for nuclear weapons to be used against ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine. Tymoshenko lost a presidential runoff against the deposed Yanukovych in 2010 by just 3.5 percentage points.\nTaras Berezovets, director of Kiev-based Berta Communications and a former political consultant for Tymosehnko from 2007-2010, predicted in February that the former prime minister would soon officially enter the presidential race.\n\u201CShe wants revenge,\u201D he told Mashable at the time. \u201CAnd she is the best candidate for this job.\u201D\nSpeaking on a popular Ukrainian political talk show last week, Tymoshenko said her old rival Yanukovych \u201Ctried to break my spine physically and psychologically\u2026 he only succeeded physically.\u201D\nTymoshenko, also known as the \u201Cgas princess,\u201D a nickname she earned for amassing a huge share of the industry through murky deals in Ukraine\u2019s tumultuous 1990s, made her billions alongside ex-Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, a corrupt politician and businessman who spent 10 years in an American federal prison for money laundering and other convictions.\nHer history with the so-called \u201Cold guard\u201D has led many Ukrainians to not trust her. But Tymoshenko has for years said that she separated herself from dirty politics and came clean.\n\u201CThe previous government searched for corruption in my actions and could not find any,\u201D Tymoshenko said, referring to the failed attempts by Yanukovych and former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov to find evidence of corruption in her actions while in office. \u201CI passed the corruption audit of Yanukovych and Azarov. I have the moral right (to fight corruption) because even Yanukovych could not find corruption in my actions.\u201D\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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