UKRAINE: European Union foreign policy chief Mr Javier Solana appealed last night to Ukraine's rebel governors not to press ahead with a decision today to hold a referendum on forming a breakaway eastern state.
Mr Solana, speaking after a meeting with NATO and EU ambassadors, warned that the referendum, expected to be held in eastern provinces of Ukraine on December 5th, could trigger war. "What we have to avoid is the outbreak of violence," he said. "The unity of Ukraine is fundamental."
But that unity is disintegrating by the day.
US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell added to the appeal for the country not to break up and even former British prime minister Baroness Thatcher warned against a split. "A new Iron Curtain threatens to fall across Ukraine," Lady Thatcher said in a statement. "The West and its leaders must act decisively to support the brave Ukrainian democrats in their struggle. Tyranny must not prevail," she said.
Governors of several eastern provinces are expected today to vote for the referendum, which has already been denounced as unconstitutional by opposition leader Mr Victor Yushchenko. Mr Yushchenko, who insists he won last week's disputed election, has threatened to jail anyone who organises such a referendum.
But eastern governors say the vote will go ahead unless the opposition rallies in Kiev cease, and opposition supporters accept that Prime Minister Mr Victor Yanokovich is president.
In Kiev, the Supreme Court met to consider opposition charges of electoral fraud, but said a final decision may not be made until Friday. The judges met while tens of thousands of opposition supporters staged noisy demonstrations outside.
The Supreme Court's powers may be unequal to the task, because they cannot order an investigation of the election, only an invalidation of the process.
Mr Yushchenko's supporters submitted documents containing reports of more than 1,000 instances of fraud from elections last week in which Mr Yanokovich won 49 per cent of the vote and Mr Yushchenko 46 per cent, despite exit polls giving Mr Yushchenko a seven point lead.
It was not clear last night if the court has requested the several volumes of evidence from 600 international monitors who have already denounced the elections as fraudulent.
Nor is it clear whether they would consider recommending criminal charges against the government if it was found to have perpetrated electoral fraud.
Support for new elections grew last night, with Russia dropping its opposition to the plan and the current Ukrainian president, Leonid Kuchma, also indicating a new poll may be needed to break the growing east-west tension. "My position is that we cannot allow the division of Ukraine," he said.
Mr Yanukovich agreed to a rerun of elections in two eastern regions - Donetsk and Luhansk, both his strongholds - if the charges of fraud were proven.
Most observers expect a majority in the Russian-speaking east to back a referendum, even if the vote itself is considered illegal. There is anger in these regions that Mr Yushchenko has refused to consider giving the Russian language official status.
Meanwhile, tension is increasing in regions claimed by both west and east. In Kharkov, students report they are being imprisoned in their dormitories to stop them joining opposition protests. In nearby Sumy, four thousand opposition supporters are ringing the city hall, where the mayor, a government supporter, is barricaded inside his office and threatening to use riot police to break the encirclement.