Agreement for September Elections May Avoid Civil War in Ukraine

May 27 (LPAC) - An agreement was reached at 4:00 AM Sunday morning between Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, narrowly avoiding the outbreak of civil war between security forces with divided loyalties between the two camps. The deal calls for an election in September, rather than a snap election as previously demanded by Yushchenko.

The crisis intensified on Friday May 25 when President Yushchenko ordered Interior Ministry troops to be transferred to his personal command. When the Interior Minister refused, Yushchenko ordered the troops to deploy into the capital of Kiev. It is unclear how many of the troops followed the order, and the Washington Post reports that police forces stopped the troops, under a government (Prime Minister) order to stop the deployment. Military conflict appeared likely.

In any case, the troops are reported to have returned to their base as of the early Sunday morning announcement by President Lushchenko that "the political crisis in Ukraine is over." With the push for confrontation with Russia from Cheney, and also from the increasingly ungovernable states of Western Europe, further destabilizing pressure on Ukraine from the West is certain.