KIEV, Feb. 28 – President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration has resumed pressure on Vasyl Onopenko, the head of the Supreme Court, and will seek his dismissal on March 11, a newspaper reported Monday, citing a source.

At least some judges of the Supreme Court had been invited for a briefing with a senior official at the Yanukovych administration, and were asked to move against Onopenko, Kommersant reported, citing a source at the court.

“In exchange for the vote against Onopenko I was offered a position of deputy head of the court,” the source, who spoke with the Yanukovych administration official, told the newspaper.

The position of the head of the Supreme Court may become instrumental in the battle for Parliament in October 2012, and perhaps at the next presidential election in March 2015.

Andriy Portnov, a deputy chief of staff at the Yanukovych administration and the official who is in charge of drafting legislation to reform the legal system, denied any pressure on the judges.

Opposition lawmakers said Yanukovych has been seeking to replace Onopenko with a more loyal figure - most likely with Serhiy Kivalov - to the post.

But Portnov, who is known to have a history of tense relations with Onopenko, said it is up to the judges of the court to decide whether to dismiss Onopenko and who to elect the new head.

“For us it does not matter who the judges will elect their new head,” Portov said.

Following the legislative changes drafted by Portov and approved by pro-Yanukovych majority in Parliament last year, Ukraine’s legal system and courts have become increasingly dependent on the Yanukovych administration, according to Sviatoslav Oliynyk, a lawmaker and once a very close ally of Portnov.

The Supreme Court has so far been widely regarded as the only court in Ukraine that hasn’t been overwhelmingly controlled by the Yanukovych administration.

Onopenko on Monday said he was not aware of any plans that would seek to remove him from the office at a meeting on March 11. But he admitted that there was a theoretical opportunity for that.

“I hear this information only from journalists,” Onopenko told reporters. “But the legislation indeed anticipates a no confidence vote in the head of the court. That’s if 10 judges, or 12, or 13 will choose to press the matter and call the meeting of the court.”

The developments come two weeks after Onopenko met Yanukovych to diffuse pressure on his family from law enforcement agencies.

The next day after the meeting on Feb. 14 prosecutors suddenly closed criminal case against Onopenko’s daughter for the apparent failure to repay a 2008 commercial bank loan, and also released Onopenko’s son-in-law, Yevhen Korniychuk, from a 2-month custody.

Korniychuk was deputy justice minister in the government of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and is charged with abuse of power while on the post.

Some people said the charges and the criminal investigation against the daughter were part of a plan to force Onopenko to step down from the post. (tl/ez)