KIEV, May 31 – President Viktor Yanukovych, in a rare move, will join a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on Wednesday, potentially setting the stage for a government reshuffle.

Yanukovych’s moves are being watched especially closely after his two attacks on Prime Minister Mykola Azarov over the past seven days.

Yanukovych will join the government meeting at 10 a.m., and the meeting is supposed to discuss plans for hiking utilities tariffs throughout Ukraine, according to a government report.

Azarov is under pressure because lack of reforms in the housing and utilities sector, as well as delays with pension reform legislation, postponed for at least seven months the release of money from the International Monetary Fund.

The failure to resume borrowing from the IMF postponed borrowing from other international organizations, such as the World Bank and the European Union, that usually tie their lending to whether the country cooperates with the IMF.

This come amid opinion polls indicting that Yanukovych has been rapidly losing ground with voters, and a potential government reshuffle could again boost his image.

Yanukovych said Monday he hadn’t seen any indication that the government “had been doing anything at all.”

The frequency of Yanukovych’s criticism suggests that pressure has been rising on Azarov to accelerate the unpopular reforms before political parties begin campaigns in October ahead of parliamentary elections in October 2012.

Ukraine needs to drastically increase tariffs for utilities, including higher natural gas prices, in order to qualify for resumption of lending from the International Monetary Fund.

The government was supposed to hike household gas prices 50% on April 1, but the reform had been essentially postponed due to lack of support for the measure among political figures ahead of the October 2012 elections.

Citing the lack of “reforms,” Yanukovych dismissed Healthcare Minister Illia Yemets earlier this month, and replaced him with Oleksandr Anishchenko, last week.

The replacement of the healthcare minister is the first reshuffle the government after rumors had started to circulate earlier this month that a number of ministers may be sacked. (tl/ez)