KIEV, April 9 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's parliament voted Monday to ask for international mediation in an ongoing standoff with the president, who has ordered the dissolution of the Supreme Rada and early elections.
The legislature, where Moscow-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has a majority, has refused to obey the April 2 order. Thousands of the majority coalition's supporters have been rallying in the capital waiting for a Constitutional Court decision on the matter, fueling the ex-Soviet state's worst crisis since the 2004 "orange revolution."
Lawmakers said they would ask governments and parliaments in Europe and other countries, as well as international organizations, to send monitors to Ukraine, which, they said, is facing "a threat to its sovereignty, territorial integrity and regional stability."
The Supreme Rada held an emergency session Monday after its decision late last week to adjourn until April 17. The ruling coalition, which has been at the center of a political brawl over its expansion, made other concessions to the president last week, including a decision to return to its original lineup.
President Viktor Yushchenko, who has accused the coalition of usurping power, reiterated Sunday that he would not backtrack on his order and urged fair elections May 27.
Lawmakers also accused Yushchenko of pressurizing the Constitutional Court, which is expected to get down to the case Wednesday. The president has been reportedly meeting with court judges in public.
Earlier Monday, the leader of the coalition's Communist faction, Petro Symonenko, called the situation critical and said the presidential decree could trigger a national confrontation.
"... steps undertaken by the president could put the country on the brink of a national confrontation," Symonenko said.
The Supreme Rada also adopted an address to the nation Monday, calling for simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections and a referendum on Ukraine's accession to NATO. The pro-presidential Our Ukraine party responded with a statement, saying any parliamentary decisions passed after the presidential decree were illegal.
"If earlier decisions [of parliament] ... violated the Constitution and the laws of Ukraine, today's appeal [to the nation] makes no sense whatsoever," Our Ukraine said in the statement.
"Unwillingness to fulfill the presidential decree testifies to their fear of voters and early parliamentary elections," the party said, urging all state institutions, citizens of Ukraine and the international community to ignore any statements from members of a "non-existent parliament."
The premier earlier suggested he could request help from Russia, its historical ally, and Poland, which had a major role in the 2004 "orange revolution" that brought the Western-leaning Yushchenko to power after a race against Yanukovych.
The president and his supporters in the government have said the current conflict is a domestic affair.
Our Ukraine said Monday it would begin protests Wednesday to support Yushchenko, and set up rostrums on European Square in downtown Kiev, not far from Independence Square, where about 400 supporters of the coalition and government have gathered. Government supporters set up a tent camp in the square two weeks ago.
"President Yushchenko has abused his power, he needs a social conflict, a civilian confrontation that would lead to the split of Ukraine," Vadim Kolesnichenko, a faction member of the Party of Regions, said from the stage, adding that the "Yugoslavia scenario" was being launched in Ukraine.
"It is known already that working groups have been formed in military units that monitor the political situation in those regions where they work, for example, in Sevastopol," he said in a reference to a Black Sea port in southern Ukraine, and accused the army of seeking to control the situation.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukrainian people have been split on the country's future, with the western territories favoring integration with Europe and NATO, and the east bordering on Russia pushing for closer ties with Moscow.
