Statesmanlike Yanukovych

I've translated excerpts from Yanukovych's interview today in the Polish newspaper 'Rzeczpospolita':

"It would have been better from all points of view, had President Yushchenko, in accordance with the law, consulted with the Constitutional Court before making of his decision. [He could have] asked, does he have the right for other reasons other than those defined by the constitution, to dissolve parliament. However, this did not occur.

But today we should all await the verdict of the Constitutional Court.

I responsibly declare: my government, the parliamentary coalition and I personally, will accept any decision of the Constitutional Court.

We expect this [also] from all participants in the political process in Ukraine.

In any event, elections cannot take place on 27th May, as President Yushchenko is demanding. If, of course, we are talking of honest and democratic elections - it is necessary to decide on many technical questions, [and] form election commissions.

At the moment, so far, there is time for the negotiations and the agreements. And I call on President Yushchenko to reject the language of ultimatums and to return for the negotiating table."

His tone is markedly different to that heard in the VR yesterday [see previous posting.]

Meanwhile, the CC have postponed their meeting until 17th of April to consult and decide on the legitimacy or otherwise of the President's ukaz to dismiss the VR and call for a snap election.

Yushchenko accepts that the date for the proposed snap election could be moved back. and has come up with his own 15 point program for compromise.. [Yawn..]

Ex-president of Poland Alexander Kwasniewski is flying in to Kyiv tonight. Maybe he will be around, in case he is needed, to broker a deal between Yu and Ya [again.]