Thousands of Ukrainians marched through their capital yesterday demanding that President Leonid Kuchma resign over allegations that he plotted the disappearance of a journalist in the country's biggest scandal in a decade. Some 5,000 people, many bearing banners with Kuchma Kaputt! and "Ukraine is a police state", joined the peaceful march to a rally and candlelit vigil in the centre of Kiev. Police arrested 11 protesters.
The demonstration, the second such show of popular opinion in a week, came as Mr Kuchma flew to meet Russia's President Vladimir Putin in Dnipropetrovsk, 350 km southeast of Kiev. The two men had expected to focus on industrial co-operation and energy issues - Ukraine owes more than $1.4 billion in gas bills to Moscow.
Mr Putin said yesterday that Russia would maintain relations with Mr Kuchma despite the upheaval. "Regardless of the complex political situation, we will work with the President elected legally by the Ukrainian people, Leonid Kuchma," he said during a visit to Austria.
Mr Kuchma is under pressure from the "Ukraine without Kuchma" movement, which has mobilised opposition parties, rights groups and individuals. It says Mr Kuchma was involved in the disappearance last year of Mr Georgiy Gongadze, an Internet journalist critical of the President.
Friends say a decapitated corpse found in November is Mr Gongadze's, and parliament has heard tapes of a voice similar to Mr Kuchma's saying he wanted to be rid of the reporter. Mr Kuchma has denied any involvement.
The case has alarmed foreign governments and investors. News that the International Monetary Fund, concerned at the slow pace of economic reform, had refused to grant a $190 million loan has also unnerved investors.
Despite the pressures, political analysts in Kiev say they are sceptical that Mr Kuchma, reelected for a five-year term in 1999, will be ousted soon or that Ukraine faces collapse.
The President has already moved towards appeasing opposition parties, meeting one key demand by sacking Mr Leonid Derkach, the head of the SBU security service. Opposition politicians say the disputed audio tapes linked to the Gongadze affair show Mr Kuchma ordering Mr Derkach, among other officials, to "deal with" the journalist. Mr Kuchma says the tapes have been edited to put words into his mouth.
Pope John Paul II expressed concern yesterday over his forthcoming visit to Ukraine, where he faces opposition from the country's Orthodox Church. "While I await with anxiety my visit to your country, I bless you with all my heart," the Pope declared to a group of Ukrainian pilgrims after Mass in St Peter's Square.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has remained loyal to the Patriarch of the Orthodox Russian Church and has called for the Pope to postpone his visit planned for June.