European envoys mediate in Ukraine crisis

European mediators are renewing efforts today to broker a solution to Ukraine’s disputed presidential election as the government and the opposition remained locked in a tense stand-off.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana arrived in Kiev last night and will be followed today by Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski and the secretary-general of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Jan Kubis.

Last Friday, they helped arrange talks that brought together prime minister Viktor Yanukovych, the declared official winner of the November 21 runoff, and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, who accused the government of stealing the election through rampant fraud.

The conflicting parties agreed to set up a working group to search for a possible compromise, but Yushchenko’s campaign said yesterday it was pulling out of the talks because the authorities were dragging them out to buy a respite.

Solana, who met outgoing President Leonid Kuchma last night, voiced hope for bringing the sides back to talks. “I’m sure that with the goodwill of everybody we will see the progress in the coming days,” Solana said.

Both sides are pinning their hopes on the Supreme Court, which on Monday began considering Yushchenko’s appeal against the vote. The court called more witnesses for today and it was not clear when a ruling might come.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Yushchenko supporters kept up the massive street protests they have maintained since the run-off, jamming Kiev’s central square, filling a giant tent camp on the main avenue and laying siege to official buildings.

While the opposition wants the court to declare Yushchenko the winner, Kuchma has proposed a new election and Yanukovych said yesterday he and Yushchenko should both bow out of if a new vote was held.

Yushchenko ignored that proposal, which appeared to be a government effort to cut him out of the picture under the guise of a compromise. He also rebuffed the offer of the prime minister’s post under a Yanukovych presidency, saying it fell far short of a solution to Ukraine’s crisis.

“The election was rigged,” he said. “People are asking whether this country has a political elite capable of upholding a fair vote.”

Yanukovych’s supporters in the industrialised, mostly Russian-speaking east, have threatened to introduce self-rule if Yushchenko is named president.

The statements have stoked up fears of Ukraine’s break-up, and the US administration urged Kuchma to intervene. The risk of a split seemed to wane yesterday after Kuchma had stressed the need for unity and the Ukrainian security agency launched a probe against regional governors who called for autonomy.

Donetsk governor Anatoliy Bliznyuk backpedalled yesterday, saying his region would not hold its referendum on self-rule as planned on Sunday. The Kharkiv regional legislature also retracted its threat to introduce self-rule.

The conflicting parties also clashed in parliament yesterday, with pro-government MPs blocking an opposition attempt of a no-confidence vote in Yanukovych’s Cabinet and trying to annul Saturday’s non-binding decision declaring the election invalid.

After throngs of opposition supporters tried to storm into parliament, parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn called a break in the session until today.

In the Supreme Court, the opposition presented its allegations of fraud in the run-off and demanded to name Yushchenko the winner based on his narrow edge in the election’s first round on October 31.

The West has refused to recognise the runoff results, while Russia – which still has considerable influence over Ukraine – congratulated Yanukovych and complained of Western meddling.

Speaking to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Russian president Vladimir Putin repeated yesterday that the dispute must be resolved without foreign pressure.