KIEV, Oct. 7 – President Viktor Yushchenko invited leaders of political groups to his office on Wednesday for “consultations,” a step that immediately precedes a decree dismissing Parliament and calling early elections.

The meeting was scheduled on 8:00 AM on Wednesday, suggesting the decree may be signed anytime after the consultations, perhaps even before the end of the day.

“I invite you to join the consultations concerning taking the decision on early termination of the authority of Parliament,” Yushchenko’s telegram reads, according to Irina Vannikova, his spokeswoman.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who has been desperately seeking to avoid the early election, which would almost certainly lead to her losing the post, scheduled a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on Wednesday.

The meeting, for the first time in the past 10 months, will be closed for the press, suggesting a showdown with the presidential office is possible.

The developments suggest that a major escalation is possible in the latest twist a month after the collapse of the coalition that had been supporting the government.

The coalition collapsed after Tymoshenko had joined forces with the pro-Russian opposition groups, the Communist Party and the Regions Party, to approve a barrage of bills that undermine the authority of the president.

Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense, in reaction, withdrew from the coalition, triggering a countdown for Tymoshenko to form a new coalition within 30 days or face the election.

Yushchenko called for the consultations hours after addressing Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense lawmakers.

At the meeting with the lawmakers, Yushchenko cited intelligence suggesting that the bills, and the subsequent creation of the “stabilization” coalition between Tymoshenko and the Regions Party was designed “outside of the country” to change Ukraine’s pro-Western foreign policy.

“I read presidential mail. It is a little bit more detailed compared to what you read,” Yushchenko told the lawmakers. “The scenario was brought in from outside of the country to make a 180-degree turnaround in the national policy.”

“The country was millimeters away from the abyss,” Yushchenko said. “The architect of the abyss was the Tymoshenko Bloc and the prime minister.”

People familiar with the situation said that Tymoshenko and the Regions Party had preliminary agreed on creating the stabilization coalition that anticipated Tymoshenko as the prime minister and Viktor Yanukovych, the leader of the Regions, as the speaker of Parliament.

Howerver, the Regions, the largest group in Parliament, later changed its position towards insisting on getting the post of the prime minister, a concession that Tymoshenko was not ready to make.

In response to Yushchenko’s comments, Tymoshenko denied holding any secret talks with the Regions Party.

Tymoshenko on Tuesday attacked Yushchenko for his alleged refusal to join in the new coalition, a plan that would help her hold the post of the prime minister.

“Today, the renewal of the coalition is in the hands of the president,” Tymoshenko said. “All responsibility lies on the president.”

“All these intimidation that Parliament will be dismissed in one hour, in two hours, in a day, or two, or three, is a non-state, irresponsible position,” she said. (tl/ez)