Tymoshenko's daughter weds rocker

Sunday, October 2, 2005; Posted: 10:28 a.m. EDT (14:28 GMT)

Evhenya Tymoshenko and Sean Carr emerge from the monastery after their wedding.

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- A British heavy metal singer married the daughter of Ukraine's ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Sunday in a ceremony that attracted a swarm of journalists and at least 100 well-wishers eager for a glimpse of the famous mother-in-law.

Sean Carr, 36, lead singer of the Death Valley Screamers, and Evhenya Tymoshenko, 25, emerged from the walled Vydubitskiy Monastery to a salute of ringing bells and Scottish bagpipes -- and the flash of dozens of cameras.

The well-wishers -- mainly elderly Ukrainian women -- shouted "Happiness" in Ukrainian and English. The couple posed briefly for dozens of waiting photographers, and sipped from tall champagne flutes.

Carr smashed his glass down on the pavement, prompting applause from his new mother-in-law, Yulia Tymoshenko, who abandoned her traditional halo braid and wore her long blonde hair loose over her bare shoulders.

"The sort of woman like Yulia Volodymyrovna comes around only once in 100 years," said Lyudmila Zaleskaya, 61, a pediatrician, referring to the ex-prime minister.

"Our government, our whole country should be proud of a woman like her. I'm here because of Yulia."

Ukrainian media reported that the newlyweds had been reluctant to appear before the media, but the charismatic and media-savvy Yulia Tymoshenko persuaded them to pose for photographs.

The newlyweds were driven away in a white, Soviet-era luxury car bedecked with flowers, while guests - many covered in tattoos and piercings - watched.

Evhenya Tymoshenko, a student at the London School of Economics, met her future husband in a bar at an Egyptian resort.

Tymoshenko lost her government post when President Viktor Yushchenko dismissed her Cabinet last month, but she has vowed to reclaim her seat after March's parliamentary elections.