The political power struggle between Ukraine’s president and prime minister threatened to turn violent Saturday when President Viktor Yushchenko sent thousands of troops streaming toward the capital.
But there was no confrontation when the Interior Ministry soldiers were stopped outside Kiev by forces loyal to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. Instead, many of the troops lounged on the grass, sipped water, smoked and chatted. According to one official, they did not have firearms.
Control over security forces is just the latest point of conflict in the longtime feud between the Western-leaning president and Russia-friendly prime minister.
Tensions have been running high since April, when Yushchenko issued an order dissolving parliament — where Yanukovych leads the majority coalition — and called early elections.
Yushchenko said Yanukovych and his coalition were trying to usurp presidential power. But parliament has defied the order, calling it unconstitutional.
This week Yushchenko moved to take control of the 32,000 troops who answer to the interior minister, a Yanukovych loyalist. A statement on the presidential Web site said that Yushchenko ordered the troops to Kiev in a move “necessary to guarantee a calm life for the city, to prevent provocations.”
The statement did not specify how many troops have been sent but Nikolai Mishakin, their deputy commander, said on Ukrainian television that nearly 3,500 were prevented from entering Kiev. He promised his troops would not turn back, but vowed they would not resort to violence since none had firearms.
Convoys roll in
AP Television News showed footage of several convoys of troops stopped on their way to Kiev. Officers waited patiently in a forest by a highway.
Yuri Ivakin, a senior official in the Kiev city administration loyal to the prime minister, stopped two buses outside the capital. He told the AP that he would try to turn troops back to their bases. Ukrainian television later reported the officers left the buses and marched toward Kiev. It was not immediately clear if they reached the capital.
Yushchenko came to office in 2005 after the popular uprising known as the Orange Revolution, becoming famous around the world for surviving a poisoning that scarred his face. His agenda has been complicated by chronic political turmoil, including fighting among his supporters and the ongoing disputes with Yanukovych.
As parties loyal to both sides warned Saturday of possible violence, Yanukovych and Yushchenko met again to try to defuse the crisis. Earlier meetings ended without visible progress.
Several hundred flag-waving supporters of both leaders held competing rallies in front of the presidential office, where Yushchenko and Yanukovych were meeting. A thin line of police separated the two camps of protesters.
Firing of judges complicates issue
Both leaders have agreed to respect a decision by Ukraine’s Constitutional Court on the parliament dissolution order. The court has been deliberating on the matter for weeks in hearings complicated by Yushchenko’s orders to fire several of its judges, including the chief judge.
On Thursday, Yushchenko fired longtime foe Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun — a Yanukovych ally — saying Piskun could not serve as the country’s chief prosecutor while acting as a member of parliament.
Security officers were sent to oust Piskun, but riot police loyal to Yanukovych immediately moved to protect him, standing guard outside his office.
Piskun appealed to a Kiev district court and late Friday said the court ruled to reinstate him. The ruling could not be immediately confirmed, and a Yushchenko aide said Saturday that Piskun was lying.
Analysts said Yushchenko’s move to send troops to Kiev was an attempt to pressure Yanukovych to agree on an early date for new parliamentary elections, rather than a sign he was preparing for violent confrontation.
“I think these maneuvers with security forces are meant to give the president a chance to maneuver at talks,” said Vadim Karasyov, head of the Kiev-based Institute on Global Strategies.
The Orange Revolutions demonstrations broke out after Yanukovych was counted as winner of a fraud-plagued presidential ballot. The Supreme Court annulled that vote and Yushchenko won a rerun.
In the course of the race, Yushchenko was poisoned with dioxin, and the mystery of who might have done it, and why, has never been solved.