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Ukrainian leadership crisis escalates

Ukraine's political crisis escalated yesterday as President Viktor Yushchenko asserted control over the country's powerful interior ministry forces, drawing condemnation from his prime minister and warning from the EU.

Yushchenko ordered that authority over interior ministry forces be removed from the ministry and transferred to the president, in a decree published on his official Web site.

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych angrily rejected Yushchenko's move as anti-constitutional "interference in the activities of the executive branch," while speaking to Western diplomats in a televised meeting.

Parliamentary speaker and Yanukovych ally Oleksandr Moroz went further, calling Yushchenko's move as a "putsch."

Reacting to the rising political temperature in Kiev, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said that he was "worried" about the escalating tensions, and urged authorities to abide by the law.

The interior ministry controls various police agencies ranging from traffic police to well-armed paramilitary forces used in domestic operations such as quelling public unrest.

A German diplomat at the meeting with Yanukovych warned that the use of force to solve the crisis would have serious consequences in Ukraine's relations with Europe.

"All means must be used to avoid an escalation," diplomat Johannes Regenbrecht said.

On Thursday the ministry's elite Berkut forces raised the president's ire by defying his order to dismiss the country's prosecutor general.

The forces arrived at the offices where the prosecutor general was holed up, and scuffled with security personnel controlled by the president.

The Berkut forces, which are not affected by yesterday's decree, remain in control of the building.

The latest round of political recriminations began with Yushchenko's dissolution of parliament early last month, part of an ongoing dispute with the prime minister over the course of the country.

Yushchenko, who cancelled a trip to the Czech Republic yesterday due to the latest crisis, favors full integration with the West, including the NATO military alliance, while the prime minister favors retaining close ties with Moscow.

In recent weeks the two have been locked in stalemate over the timing of new parliamentary elections, and a reported deal appears to be in tatters.

"I would say that I no longer have any optimism that results can be achieved [in talks] considering the opposition demonstrated by the two sides," Yushchenko told a meeting of regional leaders yesterday, Interfax reported.

Yanukovych later stuck a more compromising note, calling for a "return to political dialogue," during the televised meeting with foreign diplomats.

The EU urged Ukraine's leaders to settle their power struggle through negotiation and not resort to the use of force.

"All efforts should now be focused on reaching a peaceful joint settlement quickly," the German Presidency of the EU said in a statement from Brussels.
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