Ukraine PM Refuses To Resign As Crisis Deepens

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Wednesday refused to resign as a political crisis provoked by the Georgian conflict deepened following the collapse of the pro-Western ruling coalition.

Yulia Tymoshenko was an icon of the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine.
Asked at a press conference whether she would resign as required in a coalition pact, Tymoshenko said: "The coalition has not collapsed... We are not a flock of sheep who jump into the abyss just because one sheep has done so."

Her comments appeared to refer to a decision by her former ally, President Viktor Yushchenko, to pull his party out of a coalition with her Tymoshenko Bloc after she approved legislation sharply reducing the president's powers.

Yushchenko has warned against Russian interference in the political crisis, which was provoked by discord over Russia's war with Georgia and charges by the president's allies that Tymoshenko committed "high treason" for not supporting Georgia enough.

Earlier on Wednesday, parliamentary speaker Arseny Yatsenyuk announced his resignation to lawmakers in accordance with the coalition deal that brought Tymoshenko to power after parliamentary elections last year.

"You have to come to power in a dignified way and you have to leave power in a dignified way too. That's why I'm resigning," Yatsenyuk said, a day after announcing the collapse of the coalition between Tymoshenko and Yushchenko.

Ukrainian newspapers played down the prospects of a new coalition agreement, predicting early elections that would be the third parliamentary vote in Ukraine in two years of bitter political infighting.

"It seems there is more more chance for a reconciliation" between Yuschenko and Tymoshenko, said the popular Gazeta po-Kievski daily.

The pro-Russian opposition Regions Party and the Tymoshenko Bloc "have received the order to prepare as actively as possible for new elections," reported the business daily Ekonomicheskie Izvestia.

Under the same coalition agreement that requires Tymoshenko to resign, President Viktor Yushchenko has the right but not the obligation to call early elections if no new coalition is created before mid-October.

Tymoshenko and Yushchenko were the icons of the 2004 pro-Western Orange Revolution in the country of 47 million people, but since then have been embroiled in persistent and sharp disagreements on domestic political issues.

Last month, Yushchenko's backers accused Tymoshenko of "high treason" for allegedly siding with Moscow by abstaining from a vote imposing restrictions on Russia's Black Sea fleet, based in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol.

Yushchenko, a strong supporter of Georgia in its conflict with Russia, had sought to impose the restrictions after Moscow deployed the fleet off Georgia's coast during the conflict.

Tymoshenko has rejected the charge, saying she is no Kremlin ally.

Source: AFP