KIEV, Feb. 5 ??“ President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych on Monday failed to reconcile their differences over the future system of government in Ukraine suggesting that bitter confrontation between the two will continue.

Yushchenko met Yanukovych on Monday morning apparently in an attempt to avert the constitutional crisis following the approval of the controversial law that reduces powers of the president.

But the parties failed to reach consensus indicating that the pro-Russian coalition will persist with the law that allows it to appoint defense and foreign ministers among other things. The law apparently contradicts the constitution, which allows only the president to nominate both ministers.

???Today I am sending the appeal to the Constitutional Court,??? Yushchenko said at a press conference. The controversial law ???violates the constitution and is the usurpation of power.???

The developments suggest that Ukrainian politics enter a dramatic phase that may evolve into the constitutional crisis when the president and the government would claim the same powers.

The law on the Cabinet of Ministers makes the prime minister the key figure in Ukraine??™s politics by shifting many of powers away from the president. The law allows the coalition at a certain point to nominate and to appoint the prime minister, although the constitution lets only the president do that.

The law also allows the coalition to appoint foreign and defense ministers and also allows the prime minister to reject any presidential decree by refusing to sign it.

All of these norms reduce the president??™s powers dramatically and may help the pro-Russian coalition to change Yushchenko??™s pro-Western foreign and defense policies towards greater cooperation with Russia.

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