Ukraine not yet ready for membership, says Nato

NATO TOLD Ukraine yesterday that it was not ready for membership of the military alliance, as the country's politics descended into violent farce and its economy veered towards collapse.

Nato defence ministers discussed Ukraine's bid to join the bloc a day after MPs traded punches in parliament, and data revealed that the country's industrial output for October was almost one-fifth lower than in the same month last year, raising fears that a $16.5 billion (€13.25 billion) rescue package from the International Monetary Fund may not prevent financial meltdown.

President Viktor Yushchenko postponed indefinitely a snap general election planned for December, as instability fuelled by his bitter feud with prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko claimed another prominent victim from the pro-western faction that they used to lead together.

Allies and enemies of parliamentary speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk grappled and swapped blows around parliament's voting machine, before he was ousted by 233 votes to 117, further weakening the now-divided reformist group that came to power in the 2004 Orange Revolution.

"Silver, gold and bronze medals for boxing you do at the Olympic Games, usually not in parliament," said Nato secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer after yesterday's meeting in Estonia.

He insisted that Nato's commitment to Ukraine was "undiminished", but said defence and democratic "reforms could be stepped up" by Kiev. He could not confirm when Nato would give Ukraine and Georgia a so-called "membership action plan", a key stage on the road to joining the bloc.

"Ukraine still has some distance to go in being ready for membership in the alliance," added US defence secretary Robert Gates.

Some European Nato members have baulked at Ukraine's membership bid because of fierce Russian opposition and the political turmoil that has gripped Ukraine for several years.

Meanwhile, unemployment, inflation and Ukraine's budget deficit are growing rapidly, and demand for exports such as steel and oil products is in swift decline as the world economy slows.

Mr Yushchenko is under pressure from an opposition-led commission that claims to have evidence that Ukrainian troops and weapons were used in Georgia's war with separatist and Russian forces in South Ossetia in August.