Ukraine Protesters Call For Yushchenko To Quit As Crisis Deepens

KIEV, Ukraine -- Supporters of Ukraine's prime minister called Friday on President Viktor Yushchenko to resign, as legislators in neighbouring Russia condemned his order to dissolve parliament.

The battle between the two Viktors, Yushchenko (L) and Yanukovych (R), intensifies.
As the power struggle between the two Ukrainian leaders intensified, about 3,000 anti-Yushchenko protesters demonstrated in Kiev's Independence Square, scene of the Orange Revolution protests in 2004 that helped bring the president to power.

Others camped outside parliament, parading with flags and banners that read "Early elections aren't needed."

Yushchenko showed no signs of backing down from the order he issued on Monday to dissolve parliament and hold snap legislative polls.

His move has been opposed by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, bringing their long-standing rivalry to a head.

Protester Yegor Kovalev, arriving from the Black Sea coastal town of Kherson to join the tent camp outside parliament, said it was time for Yushchenko to go.

"The presidential order showed that the president isn't competent. He is politically bankrupt and should resign. Yanukovych should be our president," said Kovalev, 38.

"Ukraine should integrate with Russia, which is a strong country," he said.

Yanukovych has favoured strong bonds with Russia, while Yushchenko came to power promising to build closer ties with the West and seek membership of the NATO military alliance.

The president accuses pro-Russian forces in parliament of violating the constitution and trying to lure pro-Western deputies over to their camp.

The constitutional court will meet next week to examine the legality of Yushchenko's decision to dissolve parliament.

In Russia, the lower house of parliament overwhelmingly adopted a declaration that labelled Yushchenko's dissolution order unconstitutional and warned that it sent "the most dangerous signal" to political forces in Ukraine.

The declaration also called on Western countries and institutions that had positively evaluated last year's elections, which swept Yanukovych to power, to support the current parliament.

Western bodies "should take a really principled position and firmly voice solidarity with the Ukrainian lawmakers in the face of what is a challenge to the idea of parliamentarianism itself," it read.

Another protester in Kiev, 57-year-old pensioner Alla Strokulenko, said: "We want the law to be obeyed here like it is in Europe, not the way our president does things."

"I'm absolutely sure we'll win. The constitutional court will decide, based on the constitution," she said.

Meanwhile, the president's Orange Revolution ally Yulia Tymoshenko, who heads a pro-Western coalition in parliament, went on the offensive, accusing the Yanukovych camp of using bribes and threats to get legislators over to their side.

"They put pressure on the businesses of deputies and their families... Or they bought them by promising jobs in government," Tymoshenko told British daily The Times.

"People were also literally paid. Deputies from our faction... told us that they were offered five million dollars (3.7 million euros) to cross the floor," Tymoshenko said.

On Thursday, Yanukovych spoke by telephone with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and said he was also seeking help from European mediators including Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer to resolve the crisis.

There was no immediate response from Gusenbauer's office.

The prime minister's appeal was partly aimed at dispelling the idea that he remains Moscow's man in Ukraine, said analyst Volodymyr Fesenko, of the Penta research centre.

"He cannot appeal to Russia because Yushchenko will not listen to Moscow," said Fesenko.

"Since his nomination... Yanukovych has tried to please Europe. He has been to Brussels more often than to Moscow and has even tried to rival Yushchenko on the European integration issue," said Fesenko.

Source: AFP