???A question emerges: What??™s the president for???? Yushchenko said. ???The Cabinet of Ministers cannot work and live with the false passport.???

Yushchenko has earlier indicated that he would appeal the law, but his Monday meeting with Yanukovych and Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Moroz had been aimed at averting the crisis.

Yanukovych said last week that the coalition ???may consider debating??? amendments to the law submitted by Yushchenko if the president fails to challenge it.

But Yushchenko??™s decision to appeal the law shows that both parties have been choosing a hard-line scenario that may lead to clashes and to the increased confrontation.

Anticipating the standoff with Yanukovych, Yushchenko apparently sought an alliance with former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who controls the second biggest group in Parliament.

Yushchenko, who met Tymoshenko earlier Monday, signed a law that allows a party to expel lawmakers from local parliaments if they vote against the party line.

The is thought to help Tymoshenko regain control over the Kiev City Council as many Tymoshenko??™s allies had joined the majority coalition led by controversial mayor Leonid Chernovetskiy. (nr/ez)