KIEV, Feb. 10 – A sharp exchange erupted Tuesday between President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko over alleged conditions of a $5 billion loan that the government seeks to borrow from Russia.

At a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, the country’s top security body, Yushchenko blamed Tymoshenko for discussing the ‘zero option’ to settle the former Soviet Union’s assets and liabilities.