With the kind permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, InfoUkes Inc. has been given rights to electronically re-print these articles on our web site. Visit the RFE/RL Ukrainian Service page for more information. Also visit the RFE/RL home page for news stories on other Eastern European and FSU countries.

UKRAINIAN PREMIER CONFIRMS NEED TO HOLD EARLY ELECTIONS. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych told journalists in Kyiv on June 27 that the early elections scheduled for September 30 are necessary for Ukraine, Ukrainian media reported. "It is necessary to hold elections under these circumstances," he said. "There is no other way for the state, but they must be held exclusively on the basis of the law and the constitution. The country and 47 million people cannot live and suffer under the circumstances of a political crisis and a blockade of the work of parliament." Yanukovych also asserted that "90 percent" of the May 27 political deal he made with President Viktor Yushchenko and parliament speaker Oleksandr Moroz to resolve the political crisis in Ukraine (see "RFE/RL Newsline," May 29, 2007) has already been implemented. Simultaneously, Yanukovych noted that his Party of Regions has not yet adopted formal decisions to take part in the early polls or to compile its election list. Yanukovych also revealed that he will soon go abroad to complete treatment on his leg. Ukrainian media reported that Yanukovych underwent knee surgery in Spain in May. JM