KIEV, Sept. 1 – Lawmakers loyal to Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych on Monday submitted a bill to Parliament seeking to make it easier to impeach the president.

The move comes amid signs that the slim pro-government coalition, involving Tymoshenko’s and President Viktor Yushchenko’s groups, has been in trouble over differences between the two towards the recent war between Russia and Georgia.

Yushchenko supporters said the bill underscores increasing cooperation between Tymoshenko and Yanukovych that may lead to the creation of a new coalition that would oppose the president.

“It’s not a surprise that the first blow from the newly created wide coalition is aimed towards the president,” Ihor Kril, the leader of United Center, a pro-Yushchenko group, said.

“The president is the only capable institution of power that restrains the appetite of Tymoshenko and Yanukovych preventing them from privatizing the state.”

Tymoshenko responded on Monday that the bill is actually aimed at the next president, suggesting that Yushchenko’s current low public approval ratings will not allow his re-election in early 2010.

“I think the office of the president should not worry about the bill as based on the current level of public trust towards politicians it will not affect our [incumbent] president,” Tymoshenko said. “The new procedure of impeachment is for next presidents.”

Yushchenko and Tymoshenko are seen as the main rivals at the next presidential election as Yanukovych, who depends on stagnant and inert voter base in eastern Ukraine, is not likely to win in the runoff, political analysts said.

The Tymoshenko group on Monday also denied any plans for the creation of the new coalition to oppose the president, but effectively pledged to support a Yanukovych loyalist for the post of the first deputy speaker of Parliament.

“We will not be initiating the procedure of replacing the coalition,” Ivan Kyrylenko, the leader of the Tymoshenko group, said, adding that the group may join forces with other parties on certain legislation.

Kyrylenko also said the Tymoshenko group will back election of Oleksandr Lavrynovych, a close ally of Yanukovych and a member of the opposition Regions Party to the post of the deputy speaker of Parliament. The candidacy was submitted by the party on Monday.

“This is an expert, a professional,” Kyrylenko said. “I think he will contribute to the work of the presidium of Parliament.”

Lavrynovych, known for his personal loyalty to Yanukovych, is a co-sponsor of the bill making the impeachment of the president easier. The other co-sponsor of the bill is Andriy Portnov, who is known for his personal loyalty to Tymoshenko.

Both, Portnov and Lavrynovych are known to be very harsh critics of Yushchenko.

Meanwhile, Yushchenko on Monday met lawmakers that represent Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense, a group that harbors many of his own supporters, urging them to demand a strong position from the coalition towards the war in the Caucuses.

Parliament is expected to debate implications and aftereffects of the war at a session on Tuesday, and there were growing split within the coalition.

Yushchneko, joining the world’s major powers, immediately condemned Russia’s invasion into Georgia, while Tymoshenko has kept silence for two weeks. She, however, recently declared support for the territorial integrity of Georgia after Russia had recognized two Georgian enclaves as independent states.

Viacheslav Kyrylenko, the leader of Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense, said the lack of the consolidated position within the coalition towards the Russia-Georgia war will be a reason for “serious consultations.”

“Despite ever-growing differences with the Tymoshenko group towards the Russian-Georgian conflict and [Russia’s naval] Black Sea Fleet, I see no reasons or Our Ukraine to create the coalition with the Regions Party. This is out of consideration.” (tl/ez)