KIEV, May 4 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Thursday a new national government would be formed in June.
The country held parliamentary elections March 26, but the political process has stalled on wrangling over formation of a parliamentary coalition and who should be named the country's next prime minister.
"There is every reason to say today that Ukraine will have a new government as early as in June," the presidential press office quoted Viktor Yushchenko as saying at a meeting with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.
Yushchenko said he had met with party leaders expected to form a coalition in the 450-seat Supreme Rada, and would hold another meeting with them soon.
The Ukrainian constitution mandates formation of a parliamentary coalition before a government can be formed. Some liberal groups have been opposed to working with pro-Russian Party of Regions headed by Viktor Yanukovych, who lost the 2004 presidential elections to Yushchenko but whose party won the recent parliamentary poll.
Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, whose eponymous bloc came second, is seeking an alliance with pro-presidential Our Ukraine and the Socialist Party, which came in third and fourth respectively, but is vehemently opposed to dealing with Yanukovych.
Yushchenko and Cheney also discussed progress in settlement of the conflict over Transdnestr, a breakaway region of neighboring Moldova populated predominantly by ethnic Russians and Ukrainians.
Tensions around the region were exacerbated when Ukraine demanded in early March that all Transdnestr goods bound for neighboring Ukraine have an official Moldovan stamp.
Transdnestrian economics minister Yelena Chernenko said in late April that Transdnestr had suffered losses of $112 million since the new customs regulations were introduced and called the move an effective blockade. Russia has delivered humanitarian aid and transferred 280 million rubles ($10.23 million) to the region.
Yushchenko and Cheney also discussed an upcoming summit of GUAM, a regional organization founded by the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova in a bid to bolster their independence.
The organization is seen by some as a counterbalance to Russian influence in the region and is believed to enjoy the U.S.' backing. Ukraine is hosting the summit in late May.
Yushchenko also said cooperation with Russia remained a priority for his government.
