Pro-Russia east of Ukraine threatens autonomy moves

Ukraine edged a little closer towards a break-up yesterday as a powerful eastern region backing the Moscow-backed prime minister in a disputed election for president set a December referendum on autonomy.

The decision, at a rally near the Russian border, raised the temperature in a national feud between backers of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich and his liberal opposition rival Viktor Yushchenko over the results of a run-off election.

In Warsaw, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, a pivotal regional figure, said a break-up was a real threat. He said Mr Yushchenko was likely to become next president.

Mr Yanukovich attended the rally in Severodonetsk, but did not endorse the decision by delegates from Russian-speaking parts of the east and south for a December referendum "to determine the region's status".

Asked by Reuters whether he supported the idea, he replied: "No." But he said protests by pro-Yushchenko demonstrators paralysing the capital had pushed Ukraine to the edge of disaster.

"Today we are on the brink of catastrophe. There is one step to the edge," he declared, urging supporters not to take any radical action that would lead to bloodshed.

Independently of the decision in Severodonetsk, a separate body in Ukraine's east later set a Dec. 5 referendum on forming a republic within a federal Ukrainian state.

The council in Donetsk region in the Donbass coalfield voted 156 to one to stage the vote. "We see no other way to defend the interests of Donbass," said council head Boris Kolesnikov.

In Kiev, Mr Yushchenko, addressing supporters, accused authorities of playing "the dangerous card of separatism".

"Those who are calling for separatism are committing crimes and will definitely receive severe punishment," he declared.

The crisis has set Russia - which has backed Mr Yanukovich - at odds with the West, which denounced the November 21 run-off as flawed by electoral irregularities.

The spectre of break-up has been on the lips of Ukraine's leaders since the crisis erupted, underscoring the longstanding divide between the nationalist west, supporting Mr Yushchenko, and the industrial Russian-speaking east solidly behind the premier.

Influential US Senator Richard Lugar weighed in to the international debate on Ukraine. He said he favoured a re-run of the election, a line taken by Mr Yushchenko and backed by the European Union.

As Ukraine seethed anew with mass street rallies by supporters from both camps, the outgoing president reported little progress behind the scenes to work out a compromise.

Mr Yanukovich was officially declared winner of the run-off, triggering protests in Kiev and western parts by supporters of Mr Yushchenko who says he was robbed of the election by cheating.

Passions rose after parliament, in a symbolic vote on Saturday, declared the election invalid, noting widespread fraud in the vote. Parliament cannot overturn the election result but it did boost Mr Yushchenko's bid to force a fresh poll.

Ukraine's Supreme Court has also blocked Mr Yanukovich's inauguration until it has considered a complaint by Yushchenko about alleged electoral irregularities.

"As I understand, the (working group) talks are going on with considerable difficulty. No one can say what sort of compromise can be found or whether one will be found at all," outgoing President Leonid Kuchma said.

"But I believe... that a compromise is very necessary for Ukraine," he said.

Mr Yushchenko, 50, has already said he stands for a new presidential vote on December 12. But Mr Yanukovich, 54 and strongly backed by Russia, has yet to say whether he is ready for a re-run, as advocated by the European Union.

Mr Lugar, a US monitor of the election, urged a new round of voting - but without absentee balloting where he said much of the fraud took place. "I'd probably come out with the thought that the second election is the best idea but only if absentee balloting is eliminated," he told "Fox News Sunday".