Reuters - 01.20.2005

Ukraine's liberal Yushchenko to take power on Sunday

By Olena Horodetska

KIEV (Reuters) - Liberal Viktor Yushchenko will be sworn in as Ukraine's new president on Sunday, ending weeks of political turmoil and setting the stage for the ex-Soviet state to ease its way out of Russia's sphere of influence.

Yushchenko, his poll victory confirmed by the Supreme Court early on Thursday, says he wants to move Ukraine closer to Europe while maintaining traditional links with Russia. He plans high-profile visits next week to western and central Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his first congratulations -- nearly a month after the Dec. 26 contest. Other leaders long in contact with the president-elect offered him new encouragement in advancing towards Europe.

"The development of good-neighbourly and equal relations with Ukraine is one of Russia's most important national priorities," the Kremlin quoted Putin's message to Yushchenko as saying.

More than two-thirds of the 450-seat parliament backed a decision to hold the inauguration in the chamber on Sunday.

The former prime minister and central banker says he wants the ceremony to be akin to a national holiday after 14 years of corrupt rule, with leaders of top Western nations to be invited.

He is expected to address a mass gathering in Kiev's Independence Square, site of huge protests backing his allegations of mass cheating in the original November ballot.

POST-MIDNIGHT RULING

Parliament approved the date after the Supreme Court, sitting until nearly three a.m (0100 GMT), upheld Yushchenko's win in the Dec. 26 vote by an eight-point margin, throwing out complaints from rival and former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich.

"The judicial chamber has decided to ... reject the appeal by Viktor Fedorovich Yanukovich," chairman Anatoly Yarema said, reading the ruling to a room packed with reporters and legal teams who followed three days of often tense deliberations.

"This decision is final and not subject to appeal."

The Supreme Court played a key role in resolving Ukraine's political crisis. It ordered the re-run after overturning the result of the flawed November poll in which Yanukovich, originally backed by Moscow, was declared the winner.

Borys Tarasyuk, a former foreign minister likely to take on the job again, said Ukraine now faced strategic choices in its diplomatic orientation.

"New realities have emerged and with them serious hopes and expectations in society," he said in a speech to academics.

"We must through real steps inside and outside Ukraine show that we have become a new state with wholly new objectives."

Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, who had once designated Yanukovich as his successor, offered brief congratulations.

Joining Putin in offering congratulations was Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, an ex-Soviet neighbour accused of human rights violations in the West.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who played a pivotal role in mediating an end to weeks of crisis in Kiev, said he would attend the inauguration. He restated his call for the European Union to remain open to new members like Ukraine.

"We want expansion. We want new partners. We're prepared for them," he told Polish television.

"We realise the consequences, and must use what is given to us today so that we can help them when they join."

The EU has said it will work with the new leadership to reform the economy and improve human rights in order to upgrade ties and ultimately ready Ukraine for membership.