KIEV, March 29 ??“ President Viktor Yushchenko said he will meet leaders of political groups on Friday in what may appear to be the last attempt to resolve severe political crisis in Ukraine.

The meeting was originally scheduled on Monday, but Yushchenko said he will meet the leaders earlier, an indication that the matter is urgent. The law stipulates the president must meet the leaders before signing decree to dismiss Parliament.

Yushchenko is expected to reiterate that the government??™s on-going efforts to massively recruit individual opposition lawmakers to the coalition are illegal and challenge the constitution.

???I am convinced the process of re-formatting [the coalition] is deeply unconstitutional and undemocratic,??? Yushchenko said in Luhansk. ???It borders with usurpation of power and the change of the constitutional order.???

This was a reaction to attempts by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych to recruit individual opposition lawmakers to the 250-strong pro-Russian coalition in Parliament. More than a dozen of opposition lawmakers have already joined the coalition over the past two weeks.

Yanukovych wants to control at least 300 lawmakers in the 450-seat Parliament in order to be able to override presidential vetoes and even to change the constitution, perhaps even to eliminate the post of the president.

???If any political group claims it wants to have 300 votes, all right let??™s take political decision and hold early election,??? Yushchenko said. ???Go, appeal to the people, if they trust you so much, love you so much and give you 300 mandates then you can talk about the creation of such majority in Parliament.???

The developments underscore deep political crisis in Ukraine that resulted in the standoff between the pro-Western president and the pro-Russian government following the March 2006 general election.

The government, led by Yanukovych, has been challenging Yushchenko since August 2006 on foreign policy, seeking to slow down Ukraine??™s accession to NATO apparently as a way of getting cheaper natural gas from Russia.

The crisis was mainly caused by controversial amendments to the constitution that had shifted many presidential powers to the prime minister-led coalition from early 2006.

But the amendments failed to provide clear-cut definition of power sharing between the president and the government, leading to a situation when the president and the government claim superiority on some of the most crucial issues, such as foreign policy.

Yushchenko has earlier persistently tried to settle the crisis through talks and round-tables discussions with political groups, but his comments on Thursday indicate that the president has been now taking a much harder line.

This suggests the meeting on Friday may become the last one before the president issues a decree to dismiss Parliament and to call early election.

???The time of futile round-tables has passed,??? Yushchenko said. ???Politicians must bear responsibility. Otherwise, the Ukrainian people will have its say.??? (tl/ez)