Yushchenko, Yanukovich Meet Again as Deadline Looms.

The Regions party says its leader Viktor Yanukovich is heading into another meeting today with President Yushchenko, who has until midnight tonight to either sign or reject Yanukovich’s nomination as premier. Yushchenko and his administration have been completely silent since last night’s talks finished at 1 am with Regions MP Rayisa Bohatyryova saying no deal was reached. A couple hours earlier Yushchenko and Yanukovich had finished a nine-hour meeting that was supposed to pave the way for a Regions-Our Ukraine coalition agreement to be signed today. A Yushchenko legal adviser said that if the president rejected Yanukovich’s nomination he would probably also dissolve parliament, but the president also had the option of asking parliament to confirm its decision, in which case he might not dissolve parliament. Tom Warner: The two sides obviously want an agreement, or they wouldn’t be spending so much time talking. It’s still not clear what their stand-off is really about, although we suspect it has to do with key posts such as the interior ministry and tax administration. We still think it’s likely that Yushchenko and Yanukovich will find some formulation that will allow them to stall for more time.