Orange bloc 'must rule Ukraine'

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A top aide to Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has ruled out forming a government with Viktor Yanukovych's pro-Russian opposition bloc.

Vice-Prime Minister Hrihoriy Nemyria was speaking to the BBC a day after the ruling pro-Western coalition collapsed.

He said the priority was to re-establish a coalition with President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc.

Ms Tymoshenko and Mr Yushchenko were allies in the pro-Western Orange Revolution of 2004.

President Yushchenko pulled out of the ruling coalition after Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc sided with the opposition to pass several laws that Mr Yushchenko saw as a threat to his presidential powers.

Snap election?

Asked whether Ms Tymoshenko was actively considering forming a government with Viktor Yanukovych, Mr Nemyria told the BBC's Hardtalk TV programme: "The answer is no".

Ms Tymoshenko leads the second largest group in the 450-seat assembly, after Viktor Yanukovych's Party of the Regions.

Mr Yanukovych has said that any new coalition should include his party.

President Yushchenko's Our Ukraine left the government on 3 September.

Parliament now has 30 days to try to form a new ruling coalition. If those efforts fail, Mr Yushchenko can dissolve parliament and call a snap election.

"The worst-case scenario would be an early election in mid-winter," Mr Nemyria said.

"Still we are in the phase where we haven't exhausted yet all the possible ways for reaching a strategic compromise."

Mr Yushchenko and Ms Tymoshenko led the 2004 Orange Revolution, which overturned the fraudulent presidential election victory of the pro-Moscow candidate, Viktor Yanukovych.

But since then, the two former allies have become bitter rivals, vying for power ahead of the 2010 presidential election.

<i>The HARDtalk interview with Hrihoriy Nemyria is being broadcast on Wednesday 17th September 2008 on BBC World News at 1430, 2030 and 2330 GMT and on the News Channel at 2330.</i>

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