Ukrainian parliament facing uncertainty after two-week recess

KIEV, June 7 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's parliament will gather Wednesday for its regular session after two weeks of recess announced at the end of its first meeting on May 25 with its future still in the balance.

The new parliament, elected on March 26, postponed its work on the initiative of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, pro-presidential grouping Our Ukraine and the Socialist Party, which are attempting to form an "orange coalition" in the 450-seat Supreme Rada.

Our Ukraine leader Roman Bessmertny said a draft coalition agreement should be ready by today's session of the parliament. But an official from the bloc of former prime minister Tymoshenko was less certain.

"I doubt there'll be a coalition tomorrow," Oleksandr Turchinov told journalists Tuesday.

Under Ukraine's Constitution, parliament has to form a coalition majority within a month after it starts work. If parliamentarians fail to strike an agreement, the president is entitled to disband the legislature and call new elections.

Three-way talks aimed at freezing out the pro-Russian Party of Regions - which claimed the largest single share of the vote in the indecisive March elections - have been slowed by disagreements on key appointments. Tymoshenko is thought to want to return to her old post as prime minister, from which she was sacked by Yushchenko last September after eight months in charge amid accusations of government corruption.

President Viktor Yushchenko said on June 2 that the new parliament's key tasks would be to swear in Constitutional Court judges and discuss an international military exercise on Ukrainian territory.

A wave of anti-NATO protests has seized the Crimea, a largely Russian-speaking region on the Black Sea, after a U.S. cargo vessel called at the port of Feodosia in late May ahead of an exercise, Sea Breeze-2006, with the United States. Many assumed the move was part of Kiev's bid to join the North Atlantic alliance.

In February, the previous Ukrainian parliament banned foreign troops from entering the country to take part in military exercises on Ukrainian soil. But Ukrainian prosecutors said the Advantage had not violated Ukrainian legislation.

The Party of Regions, led by former presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovich, said its deputies would not permit discussion of any issues until the political and legal assessment of the situation in the Crimea is put on the agenda of the current session.