Kiev, Ukraine — The political crisis over Ukraine's disputed presidential election threatened Sunday to tear the nation apart as leaders of eastern provinces pressed demands bordering on separatism and opposition supporters pledged to block the outgoing president's movements if he didn't meet their demands.
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko warned that the bitter struggle over which of them was the legitimate winner of the Nov. 21 vote risked escalating into violence and regional conflict.
Yanukovych, the officially declared winner of the campaign, met with supporters from 17 regional councils in eastern and southern Ukraine who gathered to discuss demands for autonomy or independence should Yushchenko succeed in having the official results overturned. Yanukovych, whose power base is the largely Russian-speaking east, urged caution.
"I'm warning you against any radical measures," he said. "Once the first drop of blood is spilled, we will not be able to stop it."
East vs. West
In the end, the gathering called for a December referendum "to determine the region's status." Meanwhile, the council of the Donetsk region, also in the east, voted 156 to 1 to hold a Dec. 5 referendum on forming a republic within a federal Ukrainian state.
Yanukovych, who is backed by Moscow, did not endorse the demands of the separatists, who basically envision dividing the country into two autonomous regions with a figurehead president and weak central government.
Instead, he stressed that outgoing President Leonid D. Kuchma and the National Security and Defense Council should make Yushchenko's supporters stop blocking access to the Cabinet building and other government offices in Kiev.
Tens of thousands of Yushchenko backers have been camped out in the center of the capital for a week, demonstrating against election results they regard as fraudulent. Yushchenko, seen as a pro-Western democratic reformer, draws most of his support from Kiev and the country's primarily Ukrainian-speaking western region.
Supporters of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko continue their rally near the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev. The crisis over Ukraine's disputed presidential election intensified Sunday.
The final outcome of the crisis likely will determine whether this former Soviet republic of 48 million moves toward warmer ties with the United States and Europe, pursues a tighter relationship with Russia or cleaves into two adversarial halves, one looking east and the other west.
Ultimatum issued
Late Sunday, Yulia Tymoshenko, a former deputy prime minister who plays the role of fiery activist in the opposition camp, demanded at the ongoing rally that Kuchma, who has backed Yanukovych, fire him as prime minister. She also pressed for the dismissal of regional officials calling for autonomy.
"We give 24 hours for these demands to be met, otherwise we will view Kuchma's activities as a crime against his own people," Tymoshenko told the crowd of about 150,000. "If in 24 hours, he does not fulfill all the demands, we will start blocking all Kuchma's movements on Ukrainian territory. We know exactly where he is. And we are able to organize matters so that he will not be able to take a single step."
Tymoshenko called for parliament to meet today to oversee formation of a new coalition government. And she told supporters to mass today outside the Supreme Court as it considers the Yushchenko camp's allegations that the voting was tainted by fraud.
"You must go to the court not to put pressure on it . . . but to defend the judges from the authorities' pressure," said Tymoshenko, who charged that pro-Yanukovych authorities were threatening and attempting to bribe the judges to win a favorable ruling.
There are several possible outcomes to the court's deliberations if it decides there is some merit to the allegations. The judges may rule that lower courts should be given time to consider specific complaints. Or, if they agree that there was widespread cheating, they could declare Yushchenko the winner.
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