Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko claimed yesterday he was the victim of a “coup” attempt after parliament approved laws trimming presidential powers ahead of a visit by US Vice President Dick Cheney.
“A political and constitutional coup d’etat has started in the parliament,” Yushchenko said in a televised speech yesterday, a day after parliament passed laws reducing his powers and making it easier to impeach him.
Members of parliament from the president’s Our Ukraine party earlier pulled out of the ruling coalition with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s party after her Tymoshenko Bloc and the pro-Moscow opposition passed the laws.
Tymoshenko, Yushchenko’s partner in the 2004 “Orange Revolution,” said the coalition had been “destroyed” thanks to the president, adding however that the government would stay in place for now.
In a challenge to his prime minister, Yushchenko threatened to dissolve parliament and call early elections if a new coalition between the Tymoshenko Bloc and the pro-Moscow opposition was not formed within 30 days.
Tymoshenko had previously ruled out the possibility of a coalition between her pro-Western party and the pro-Russian Regions Party.
Yushchenko appeared to warn against Moscow’s influence, saying: “The Tymoshenko Bloc has accepted union with the Regions Party and the communists. The basis of this formation is not Ukrainian, I underline not Ukrainian.”
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