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Russian MPs head to Ukraine to mediate crisis - speaker

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A senior member of Russia's lower house of parliament said Tuesday a State Duma delegation would travel to Ukraine to help the ex-Soviet state tackle the ongoing confrontation between the president- and prime minister-led factions.
MOSCOW, April 10 (RIA Novosti) - A senior member of Russia's lower house of parliament said Tuesday a State Duma delegation would travel to Ukraine to help the ex-Soviet state tackle the ongoing confrontation between the president- and prime minister-led factions.

Ukraine's parliament voted Monday to ask for international mediation following President Viktor Yushchenko's order to dissolve it and hold early elections after accusing the majority parliamentary coalition of usurping power.

"A delegation of 20 members of the State Duma and a group of Russian political analysts will visit the Supreme Rada early April 11," said the press service of Alexander Lebedev, who heads a group on ties with Ukraine, adding that they would meet with Ukrainian lawmakers and Cabinet ministers in Kiev.

Russia's State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said earlier Tuesday he had discussed possible assistance with his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksandr Moroz, Monday, when they reached agreement on the Russian delegation's trip to Ukraine.

Gryzlov also called Yushchenko's decision to disband the Supreme Rada over the defection of 11 lawmakers to the ruling coalition as unconstitutional and an "infringement on democracy."

Yushchenko's meeting with Moscow-friendly Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych Tuesday brought no solution to the crisis that has persisted since August, when the former presidential hopeful returned as premier under a power-sharing deal.

"Yushchenko is positive a compromise between the political forces is only possible on condition of early elections to the Supreme Rada, as they would help overcome the crisis," the president's secretariat said.

Ukraine's defiant legislature, dominated by Yanukovych's supporters, demanded Monday simultaneous presidential elections and a referendum on accession to NATO, a goal set by the Western-leaning Yushchenko. The pro-presidential bloc Our Ukraine said the decisions were illegitimate.

Thousands of coalition supporters have been rallying in the capital waiting for a Constitutional Court decision on the matter, fueling the ex-Soviet state's worst crisis since the 2004 "orange revolution." The pro-presidential bloc Our Ukraine has promised to launch massive protests Wednesday.

Yanukovych's Party of Regions said Tuesday, with reference to Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe reporter on Ukraine, Renata Wohlwend, that the premier would also raise the crisis to a PACE session next week.

Yushchenko, who has refused to ask for foreign assistance, saying the crisis is an internal Ukrainian matter, will meet with the country's senior security officials and with U.S. Ambassador William Tailor later Tuesday.

Meeting with security chiefs last week, the president said their involvement in the political conflict was unacceptable.

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