Ukraine's foreign minister clashed with Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovych Wednesday over the premier's planned visit to the United
States, and called for the trip to be postponed.
Yanukovych, who would be making his first US visit as prime
minister, said in turn that Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk should
be fired.
Tarasyuk said that instructions for the trip which is scheduled
to start on Sunday were not approved properly or on time, and asked
for the US ambassador to postpone the trip. The US Embassy had no
comment on the dispute.
President Viktor Yushchenko, however, approved the instructions
sent to him by the government earlier Wednesday, clearing the way
for the trip to go forward.
"I understand that for these months we have failed to find
possibilities to work jointly. The Foreign Ministry cannot run the
government," Yanukovych said.
The Western-leaning and nationalist Tarasyuk has clashed
frequently with the pro-Russian Yanukovych, as the two vie to
influence foreign policy.
Tarasyuk is a strong advocate of NATO membership and of
lessening Russia's influence over the ex-Soviet republic.
Yanukovych pledged to improve tense relations with Russia and put
Ukraine's membership in NATO on hold.
Yushchenko and Yanukovych also share power in an awkward
arrangement that was initially billed as an effort to unite
Ukraine. Instead, it has turned into a tug-of-war for influence,
with the president largely on the losing end.
Yushchenko repeatedly defended embattled Tarasyuk, and warned
that firing him could put Ukraine's pro-Western course at risk.
Yanukovych also planned to travel to Moscow Thursday to meet
with his Russian counterpart, Interfax quoted Deputy Prime Minister
Dmytro Tabachnik as saying.
Meanwhile, lawmakers Wednesday accepted the resignation of
another Yushchenko' ally in the cabinet Youth and Sports Minister
Yuriy Pavlenko.
Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party moved into the opposition
recently, and party officials have demanded that its ministers
resign from the cabinet. The justice and culture ministers have
already resigned.
(China Daily November 30, 2006)
