UKRAINE:UKRAINE'S PRO-WESTERN coalition officially collapsed yesterday, marking a nadir in the fractious relationship between president Viktor Yushchenko and prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, less than four years after they led the Orange Revolution together.
After 10 days of attempts to save the alliance, speaker of parliament Arseniy Yatsenyuk declared it dead and announced the start of a 30-day period in which a new coalition must be formed if Ukraine is to avoid its third election in as many years.
Mr Yushchenko appointed Ms Tymoshenko to her second stint as premier following her party's strong showing in last autumn's elections, but they immediately squabbled over public spending and privatisation plans.
The president accused the prime minister of coveting his job and preparing a bid for the post in elections planned for 2010.
She in turn accused him of undermining her government and blocking its reforms so as to damage her popularity.
The coalition crumbled in the wake of last month's Russian military campaign in Georgia.
As Mr Yushchenko condemned the Kremlin's actions and pushed for Ukrainian membership of Nato, Ms Tymoshenko refused to place all the blame on Moscow and insisted that Kiev be patient in its ambitions to join the military alliance.
The crisis comes at a sensitive time for Ukraine, amid warnings from Mr Yushchenko and western capitals that, following their intervention in Georgia, hawks in the Russian administration may seek to destabilise Ukraine's largely ethnic-Russian region of Crimea.
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