Yushchenko Pushes For Compromise.

This morning President Yushchenko, his prime minister, Yuri Yekhanurov, and Our Ukraine faction leader Roman Bezsmertny met with the heads of the new Blue-Pink coalition, Viktor Yanukovich and Olexander Moroz. Notably absent were the Communists, who stand to get expelled from the coalition if even a small part of Our Ukraine joins, and Yulia Tymoshenko, who prefers new elections. The six leaders of the Our Ukraine bloc are to meet, discuss their conditions for joining the coalition, and report back to the president by this afternoon. Yushchenko last night made very clear that he strongly prefers a compromise, but he added that new elections were possible as a last resort if the stand-off isn’t resolved. Tom Warner: Today’s talks will not end the stand-off in parliament, but they should clarify what compromises the various groups are willing and able to make. The Our Ukraine MP faction is split into three groups: nationalists and liberals who are against any cooperation with Regions (about half the faction), businessmen allies of Petro Poroshenko who could form a coalition with Regions if both the Socialists and Communists were expelled (about a quarter of the faction), and centrists around Yekhanurov and Anatoly Kinakh who would be willing to join a coalition with the Regions and Socialists if the Communists were expelled. Look for Yanukovich to eventually withdraw his nomination for prime minister, but not today.