NU in bad shape for any early elections

Kommersant run a story which I have summarised below:

"Our Ukraine" [NU] has begun active preparations for extraordinary parliamentary elections. Following a meeting of the party leadership with president Victor Yushchenko members of "Our Ukraine" agree that their union with BYuT has come to an end. However, NU have a problem - from the first five of the NUNS block list in last year's parliamentary elections, only one - Vyacheslav Kirilenko, would remain on their list.

NUNS VR deputy Xenia Lyapina told 'Kommersant' that her party considered the most realistic scenario is that BYuT will go into coalition with PoR. Another NU member said active preparations for prescheduled parliamentary elections have already begun.

First on the NUNS list in last year's VR election was Yuriy Lutsenko, but his National Self-Defence party has now burnt its bridges with NU. They could possibly link up with BYuT if BYuT are agreeable to this.

VR chairman Arseniy Yatseniuk, who was third on the NUNS list, apparently refuses to be a part of "Our Ukraine". He allegedly spent last week in active negotiations on his political future and is considering creating his own political project. The are rumours that Yatsenyuk has spoken to businessman Rinat Akhmetov who could be ready to financially support the political project as long as head of the National Security and Defence Council, Raisa Bohatyryova, who is quite close to Akhmetov but who has just been kicked out of PoR, should be second in command. But Akhmetov's close associate Boris Kolesnikov claims he knows nothing about such plans.

Former minister of defence Anatoliy Hrytsenko [number 4 on the NUNS list last time around] is considering starting his own political project also.

Number 5 on the NUNS block list was Mykola Katerynchuk, but he already heads the European party of Ukraine and they will probably enter any elections independently.

NUNS deputies are privately admitting that President Yushchenko could dissolve the VR yet again if a coalition which does not suit him is assembled. PoR VR deputy Vadim Kolesnichenko claims: "A military coup is being prepared in Ukraine..and the process of preparation to topple constitutional order in Ukraine has entered an active practical phase."

However, PM Yulia Tymoshenko says: “At present we are not discussing any other configuration of coalition apart from the democratic coalition. And I request that absolutely all provocations on this topic be stopped," So there...