KIEV, Oct. 18 – The office of President Viktor Yushchenko on Thursday criticized some defense and economic initiatives of Yulia Tymoshenko, the likely new prime minister, complaining the initiatives may simply not be viable.

The initiatives include replacing military draft service with professional army from Jan. 1, 2008, and a pledge to quickly pay out 127.5 billion hryvnias, or $25.5 billion, in bank deposits owed since the collapse of the former Soviet Union.

“Of course, members of the new coalition may ask the magician [David] Copperfield to join them in their work, but responsible politicians should still use well-balanced approaches,” Viktor Baloha, the chief of staff at the presidential office, said.

This is the first criticism aired by the presidential office of some of the key initiatives that Tymoshenko’s election campaign had been focusing on in the run-up to the Sept. 30 snap vote.

The group led by Tymoshenko and Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense on Monday pledged to create the pro-Western coalition that will form the next government within the next several weeks.

The Tymoshenko group and Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense will control 228 seats, a slim majority in the 450-seat Parliament, and the parties have agreed to try to incorporate their election promises into the new government’s program.

Yushchenko on Wednesday indicated that he was ready to nominate Tymoshenko for the post of the prime minister. This has been earlier agreed between the Tymoshenko group and Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense.

But Baloha’s comment on Thursday raises concerns about some of the most controversial promises made by Tymoshenko.

He said that promises to cancel the military draft so quickly may undermine Ukraine’s defense capabilities and must be discussed with the president, who is responsible for the country’s national security and defense.

“According to the constitution, the head of state provides national security, including the issues of the defense, military and defense cooperation and energy,” Baloha said in a statement.

“That’s why decisions in this field may be approved either by the president or by the National Security and Defense Council, but not the parliamentary majority and the government,” he said.

Tymoshenko’s promises to quickly pay out debts owed to the people since the collapse of the Sberbank, the savings bank of the former Soviet Union, have been earlier criticized by financial analysts as populist.

The government had pledged to eventually pay the debt, estimated at 127.5 billion hryvnias, but Tymoshenko’s plan to make fast payments could undermine the financial system, the analysts said.

Volodymyr Stelmakh, the governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, who was elected to Parliament on the ticket of Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense, on Thursday refused to comment on the viability of the payouts.

“I can’t comment on this because I haven’t seen the calculations yet,” Stelmakh said.

Baloha also called on the leaders of the new coalition to make more attempts to expand the coalition to a more comfortable number of lawmakers to ensure its stability in the long-term.

He said that with the 228-seat majority the absence of at least three lawmakers will make the vote in Parliament impossible, encouraging coalition leaders to seek a compromise with at least another group.

That revives calls for former Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, whose centrist group will control 20 seats in the new Parliament, to join the Tymoshenko group and Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense.

“The reserve of the votes needs to be created,” Baloha said. “This means an ally must be found.” (tl/ez)