KIEV, Feb. 22 – Anatoliy Miarkovskiy, the deputy finance minister who has been recently holding secret talks with Russia over a $5 billion loan, will be nominated as the new finance minister, people familiar with the situation said.

The nomination, which has been apparently agreed with leaders of the governing coalition in Parliament, indicates Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko seeks to avoid spending cuts needed for obtaining credit from the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF earlier this month postponed its $16.4 billion rescue package for Ukraine after Tymoshenko refused to cut the spending and take other measures to eliminate widening budget deficit.

The prime minister later admitted that the government had been holding “unofficial” discussions with Russia over receiving the $5 billion loan to bridge the budget deficit.

Miarkovskiy, among few other figures, has been authorized by Tymoshenko to hold the discussions over the loan, which some critics say Moscow may use to seize control over the Ukrainian gas transportation system.

Tymoshenko seeks to replace Viktor Pynzenyk, who quit the job of the finance minister last week, citing the quickly widening budget deficit and the prime minister’s refusal to cut spending to solve the problem.

Other appointments that have been apparently agreed by Tymoshenko with the leaders of the coalition include nomination of Serhiy Tyhypko, the CEO of Swedbank in Ukraine, as a deputy prime minister on financial issues, the people said.

Tyhypko, who sold his own commercial bank, TAS-Kommetsbank, to Swedbank two years ago for $735 million, had been last year appointed by Tymoshenko as a co-chairman of a council that advises the government on foreign investments.

Analysts said Tymoshenko has been seeking to promote Tyhypko to secure his financial and political backing ahead of the next presidential election due in January 2010.

Tymoshenko will also tap Valeriy Hayduk, a billionaire co-owner of steel conglomerate, Industrial Union of Donbas, and her top energy sector advisor, as a deputy prime minister for the energy sector, the people said.

Viktor Shemchuk, a lawmaker and a loyalist of Internal Affairs Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, will probably replace Mykola Onyshchuk as the new justice minister, the people said. Onyshchuk has been loyal to President Viktor Yushchenko.

Meanwhile, following the IMF’s decision to postpone the loan to Ukraine, there was an increasing sentiment within the coalition towards obtaining the loan from Russia.

Volodymyr Lytvyn, the speaker of Parliament and the leader of the Lytvyn Bloc, said the government should continue its talks with Russia to secure the loan despite the criticism that Moscow may use the loan to obtain control over the gas pipelines.

“We have to be calm and pragmatic on the issue of obtaining the loan from the Russian Federation,” Lytvyn told the Shuster Live television talk show on Friday.

“We don’t have to be afraid that some Ukrainian political leaders will issue [loan-for-assets] guarantees to Russia,” Lytvyn said. “Ukrainian politicians are changing fast and such agreements will not last and will not be defining.” (tl/ez)