Ukraine's pro-Western coalition Tuesday appointed Orange Revolution leader Yulia Tymoshenko prime minister and named a government that favours the ex-Soviet republic winning NATO and EU membership. Deputies in the single-chamber Rada voted 226-0 -- the absolute minimum for a vote to pass -- in favour of Tymoshenko, proposed by pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko. The opposition, who control just under half of the 450 seats, boycotted the vote.The ruling coalition then voted in a new government, including Volodymyr Ogryzko, a strong proponent of Ukraine entering NATO and the European Union, as foreign minister.
Tymoshenko supporters cheered following her victory. However, opposition deputies, who oppose the NATO bid and back closer ties with Russia, boycotted the vote, reflecting the bitter divisions in this country of 46 million people.
Ukraine, which is sandwiched between Poland and Russia, is a key transit route for Russian natural gas to the European Union and has had strained relations with President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin since Tymoshenko and Yushchenko led the 2004 Orange Revolution.
Tymoshenko has called for a shake-up in the way Ukraine buys gas from Russia. However, in Moscow's first reaction to her appointment, Putin's European affairs advisor Sergei Yastrzhembsky offered congratulations and promised that Russia would be a "stable, predictable" partner. Tymoshenko's victory in parliament came a week after a first vote failed to pass by just a single deputy.