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Russia to help Ukraine finish construction of missile cruiser Russia has agreed to help Ukraine finish construction on a missile cruiser, which has been stalled for almost 15 years, the Ukrainian president said on Monday. Construction of the Slava class Admiral Lobov cruiser was launched in 1984 at the Nikolayev shipyard in Ukraine but stalled during its final stage in the late 1980s due to a sharp reduction in military expenditure. The cruiser was renamed the Ukraina in 1992. "We have agreed that Russia will complete construction of the Ukraina cruiser," Viktor Yanukovych said at a joint news conference after...

Ukraine's opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has urged his supporters to prevent a planned cabinet meeting from going ahead on Wednesday. Mr Yushchenko, declared winner of the re-run presidential election, said the "illegal government" should not be allowed to meet. The planned meeting is due to be chaired by his defeated rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. Mr Yushchenko urged supporters to renew their blockade of government offices. Results unofficial "In what country is it possible for a government that has been dismissed to say that it doesn't want to go? No meeting of an illegitimate government can take place," he told...

America News ABC Last Update: Thursday, December 23, 2004. 7:04am (AEDT) http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1270876.htm Tens of thousands of supporters of Ukraine's opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko have massed in the centre of the capital in a fresh show of force to press demands that a repeat presidential election be conducted fairly unlike a discredited poll last month. "In the past 17 days, we have changed Ukraine peacefully, beautifully, elegantly and without a single drop of blood being shed," Mr Yushchenko said, flanked by family and well-known supporters including Ukraine's world heavyweight boxing champ Vitali Klitschko. "We have two roads before us: one of...

By MARA D. BELLABY, Associated Press Writer KIEV, Ukraine - Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), who openly backed Viktor Yushchenko's rival for president of the Ukraine, said Tuesday he could work with an administration headed by the pro-Western candidate. "We have worked with him already and the cooperation was not bad," Putin said during a visit to Germany. "If he wins, I don't see any problems." Yushchenko was prime minister from 1999 to 2001, and before that he headed the Central Bank for six years. Putin irritated the West had quickly congratulating Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the...

Ukraine's Parliament has cleared the way for a repeat of its Presidential run-off election on December 26th. MP's voted overwhelmingly for constitutional and electoral changes which should mean a minimum of foul play in the battle between pro-western Viktor Yushchenko and the Moscow backed Viktor Yanukovych. The political crisis now appears headed for a peaceful end but it has raised tensions between the European Union and Russia - each of them accusing the other of interfering in Ukraine's internal politics. The result is a fight for influence over a country that both East and West have paid little attention to....

Former Cold War foes Nato and Russia have issued a joint statement calling for free and fair elections in Ukraine. The statement came as Nato and Russian foreign ministers met in Brussels and follows weeks of tension between Moscow and the West over the disputed poll. Nato chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer hailed the agreement with Russia as a "major breakthrough", AFP news agency said. Meanwhile, government workers in Ukraine have been returning to work as the opposition scales down its protest. The lull follows a compromise deal made in parliament which paves the way for a re-run of elections...

Last Updated: Saturday, 4 December, 2004, 04:16 GMT BBC News The Ukrainian parliament is due to meet to pass the laws needed for a re-run of last month's presidential election. On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that the poll had been fraudulent, and a new election is expected on 26 December. Pro-Western candidate Viktor Yushchenko said the decision showed Ukraine was "a true democratic state". But aides to his rival who had been declared winner, pro-Moscow Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, said the court had played a "political role". His supporters in the eastern city of Donetsk were angry at the...

The Kremlin is maintaining a wall of silence on Ukraine, apart from saying the political crisis must be resolved without foreign pressure. However, Russia is clearly watching the events with intense interest. What happens in Ukraine matters a great deal to Moscow, not least because this could result in another foreign policy blunder for President Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader visited Ukraine twice during the election campaign, in order to support the pro-Russian candidate, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. Mr Putin was also the first foreign leader to congratulate Mr Yanukovych when he was initially declared the winner of the now...

Ukraine's opposition has vowed to keep up its efforts to oust Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych after he survived a no-confidence motion in parliament. It said it was now pulling out of talks to end the crisis over the disputed presidential poll and resuming its blockade of government buildings. There were dramatic scenes as several protesters backing opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko stormed parliament. They allege that massive vote rigging robbed their candidate of victory. Going in They broke through police cordons and into the parliament's lobby, shortly after lawmakers provisionally adopted a measure to annul Saturday's non-binding decision to declare the...

Thousands of demonstrators have laid siege to government buildings in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, in protest at the presidential election results. They have prevented officials getting to work and briefly delayed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, named as the winner of the disputed poll. The supporters of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko have vowed to protest until the result is overturned. Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts are under way to find a solution to the crisis. Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski has had a meeting with outgoing President Leonid Kuchma as part of a mediation trip to Kiev. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana...

Ukraine's Supreme Court has suspended publication of the presidential election result until it considers the opposition's complaints next week. Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko appealed to the court after election officials declared Viktor Yanukovych winner of a poll widely seen as rigged. Mr Yushchenko said he had formed an emergency committee, which observers say could be an alternative government. Thousands of his supporters also plan to blockade key buildings in Kiev. Oleksandr Zinchenko, Mr Yushchenko's campaign chief, said a Committee of National Salvation was being set up to "defend the constitution". He added that Mr Yushchenko had also ordered the creation...

The Ukrainian opposition has taken its case to the Supreme Court as foreign leaders are asked to help resolve the bitter presidential election dispute. Liberal opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko called for a general strike after election officials declared Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych the winner. Thousands of opposition supporters are protesting for a fourth day in sub-zero cold in the capital, Kiev. The Polish and Lithuanian presidents have been asked to mediate. Former Polish President Lech Walesa has already gone to Kiev to help resolve the crisis. A staunch Yushchenko supporter, he said on Thursday it was "possible to arrive at...