Sacking of Ukraine's government 'illogical and wrong'

UKRAINE: President Viktor Yushchenko denounced Ukraine's parliament yesterday for sacking his government and destabilising the country ahead of crucial elections.

Former allies of Mr Yushchenko during the so-called Orange Revolution voted with his pro-Moscow enemies to oust the cabinet, highlighting deep divisions in Ukraine's reformist camp and the resurgence of former prime minister Viktor Yanukovich.

"The decision was made by a parliament elected four years ago by the old regime, and living its last weeks," Mr Yushchenko said, calling the move "unclear, illogical and wrong".

While ostensibly a protest at a controversial deal for gas supplies from Russia, analysts said the sacking was a political move, intended to weaken Mr Yushchenko just 11 weeks before parliamentary elections.

However, the president played down fears of an imminent crisis in Ukraine, which has seen much political infighting since the Orange Revolution of December 2004. "I don't see this as a tragedy. It's an experience that will increase the quality of Ukrainian politics."

Mr Yushchenko's spokeswoman said he may mount a legal challenge to the sacking, which took place in accordance with recent constitutional changes that experts say are not fully in place and might only come in under the next parliament.

Deputies voted to dismiss the cabinet for betraying national interests by agreeing to pay double the current cost for Russian gas imports even though the new price of $95 per 1,000 cubic feet compares well with the average European market price of $240.

Russia's decision to halt gas supplies to Ukraine this month at the height of the price dispute sent a chill through already frosty relations between Kiev and Moscow.

However, Mr Yushchenko barely touched on the matter when he met Russia's president Vladimir Putin in Kazakhstan yesterday. "Ukraine and Russia have entered an excellent phase in bilateral relations, a phase of personal friendship, which allows us to discuss wonderful prospects," Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Mr Yushchenko as saying.

Russia's use of energy as a political tool was in the spotlight again yesterday as the EU expressed concern about Moscow's dispute with Moldova over gas prices.

Moscow stopped gas supplies to Moldova on January 1st after the former Soviet state refused to accept a sharp price increase by Gazprom, Russia's state-controlled gas company.