Ukraine talks break down

KIEV, Ukraine — Representatives of presidential challenger Viktor Yushchenko broke off talks on Tuesday to resolve a presidential succession crisis, and Yushchenko’s supporters tried to swarm parliament in support of their candidate.

Political maneuvering in parliament almost led to chaos after thousands of people advanced on the building when a series of votes appeared to strengthen the hand of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the nominal winner of contested presidential elections.

Increasingly volatile brinkmanship drew European mediators back to Kiev in an apparent effort to salvage negotiations between supporters of the two candidates, who both claimed victory after presidential elections on Nov. 21. Added to the standoff was the role of incumbent President Leonid Kuchma, who seemed to be formulating new elections in which Yushchenko and Yanukovych would not be eligible.

The political crisis developed after Yushchenko charged that the national runoff election was fraudulent and that he, not Yanukovych, was the victor. International election monitors agreed that the vote had been tainted.

Javier Solana, foreign policy chief of the European Union, returned to Kiev Tuesday night and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski was scheduled to arrive this morning. The men were to meet separately with incumbent Kuchma and the two candidates, hoping to draw the opposing sides to the negotiating table as they had last week.

Visiting Ottawa, President Bush said he had spoken to Kwasniewski by telephone, supporting the European effort. “Our common goal is to see the will of the Ukrainian people prevail,” Bush told reporters during meetings in Canada with Prime Minister Paul Martin.

In Berlin, a German government statement Tuesday said that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in a telephone conversation with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that the results of any new election would be respected, the strongest indication yet of Russian willingness to accept new elections as part of a compromise deal. But a Kremlin statement on the same conversation did not mention new elections and instead said a “solution to the crisis should be found using democratic means, that is by observing the law, and not under external or internal pressure on a political whim.”

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Supreme Court continued to hear arguments on charges from the Yushchenko campaign that the Nov. 21 elections were marked by such widespread fraud that the Central Elections Commission should not have invalidated them. Some opposition leaders had hoped that the court would quickly endorse their position, but the hearings have been prolonged. Moreover, some judges Tuesday questioned post-election decisions by the Yushchenko campaign, which apparently failed to formally challenge local results within the time period required by law.

The near confrontation at parliament developed on Tuesday when legislators rejected a proposal by Yushchenko’s supporters that would have dismissed Yanukovych as prime minister. Later, 232 of 450 members supported a resolution that would cancel a parliamentary vote last Saturday to declare the election results invalid. That prompted some Yushchenko supporters to attempt to enter the building. Yushchenko and the speaker of the parliament, Volodymry Lytvyn, stood together and managed to turn them back as they tried to barge past police.

“Please do not storm the parliament which is the only functioning center of power in the country,” said Lytvyn, who said the chamber would resume debate today.

The Yanukovych campaign went on the offensive Tuesday, proposing a series of compromises. Yanukovych said that he was willing to push through long-discussed political reforms, which would transfer major presidential powers to the prime minister. In conjunction, Yanukovych said that as president, he would accept Yushchenko as the newly empowered prime minister.