A day after President Viktor Yushchenko ordered Parliament to disband, his rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, continued to defy the order on Tuesday, as Ukraine lumbered toward another political crisis.Barely two years after the street protests known as the Orange Revolution resolved a standoff over a rigged election, the president and Parliament each claimed authority Tuesday to manage elections and control government. The divisions between the two men, one a pro-Western reformer, the other favoring closer ties with Russia, reflect a wider schism in Ukrainian society, a nation of 47 million people geopolitically balanced between Russia and the West. Also at play are natural gas and oil export routes important for European energy security. Ukraine's currency was stable Tuesday but investors sold off government bonds, a sign that they think the crisis is deepening.
Yanukovich said he would try to convince Yushchenko to rescind the order disbanding Parliament. "We shall do everything to convince the president of Ukraine to recall his decree," Yanukovich told a crowd outside Parliament in remarks carried on Russian state television. "If he does not do it, I think in this case not only parliamentary but also presidential elections will be inevitable."