Ukrainian rivals swap threats

UKRAINE:Ukraine's president and prime minister threatened to prosecute each other yesterday for violating the constitution and plunging the country into political crisis, as the European Union urged both men to find a peaceful solution to their long-running power struggle.

"I stress once more that it is obligatory to implement the decree of Ukraine's president," Viktor Yushchenko said of an order he issued to parliament on Monday, to immediately cease business and prepare for snap elections on May 27th.

"Any refusal to implement it will result in criminal proceedings. I will not take a single step towards rescinding the decree," he told a tense emergency meeting of Ukraine's national security council.

But prime minister Viktor Yanukovich, who walked out before the end of the meeting, insisted that he and his allies, who control about 260 of parliament's 450 seats, would not take part in any ballot until the constitutional court had ruled on its legality.

"If the decree is unconstitutional, then the heads of law enforcement agencies . . . should get involved to look into how the situation got to this point and who started it," Mr Yanukovich said.

Since Mr Yushchenko swept past Mr Yanukovich to claim power in the so-called Orange Revolution of late 2004, he has seen his pro-western coalition ravaged by bitter infighting, and watched his more Russia-friendly rival stage a dramatic comeback.

About 70,000 people rallied last Sunday in Ukraine's capital, Kiev, to demand that the president take action against the premier for poaching MPs from other parties in an apparent bid to secure a two-thirds majority in parliament, which would allow him to overrule and even impeach the head of state, and change the constitution.

Mr Yanukovich's supporters - clad in blue, not orange - are now more prominent in central Kiev, however, where they have erected tents and vowed to maintain their protest until Mr Yushchenko ends what they call a desperate attempt to cling on to power. Mr Yanukovich unexpectedly revealed yesterday that he had asked the Austrian chancellor, Alfred Gusenbauer, to mediate between the factions, after speaking to him on the telephone.

Admitting that it "sort of happened by chance", Mr Yanukovich said Austria could nevertheless help "prevent an escalation of the conflict, stop it growing into a civil confrontation and bring the situation back into the legal sphere." The premier also suggested enlisting the help of Russia and Poland - a move that would not appear to be conducive to calm dialogue, given the tension between the two governments and Moscow's perceived support for Mr Yanukovich and Warsaw's backing for Mr Yushchenko. The president is a strong advocate of EU and Nato accession for his country, while Mr Yanukovich is more sceptical of the benefits of membership, and supports close ties with Russia, a sentiment shared by the majority of his supporters in eastern Ukraine.

Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, has spoken to both men and to Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine's most popular pro-western politician, about the need for a peaceful resolution.

"Solana telephoned Yushchenko on Tuesday night and called Yanukovich and Tymoshenko yesterday to urge calm and restraint and efforts to go back to dialogue," said the Spaniard's spokeswoman, Cristina Gallach.

"We need a solution that respects the democratic rights of the people."