KIEV, May 19 – President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday appointed Vira Ulianchenko, a long-time ally, as his chief of staff, replacing Viktor Baloha at the critical post, which largely defines the president’s domestic policy.

The reshuffle comes days after Ulianchenko, the governor of the Kiev region, was elected as the leader of Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine party, underscoring a major shift in the president’s policy.

“It looks like Yushchenko will be implementing the strategy of political survival,” Mykola Tomenko, the deputy speaker of Parliament, said. “He will at maximum try to unite parts of his resources that are still there.”

Ulianchenko, one of Yushchenko’s closest allies for the past nine years, is thought to have maintained good relations with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, but also with opposition leaders and some of the wealthiest businessmen.

The developments come as Yushchenko’s popularity has dwindled to less than 3% in April, down from the 52% that had voted to elect him president in December 2004. Some critics said that Baloha’s aggressive management style had contributed to Yushchenko’s collapsing rating.

Yushchenko appointed Baloha to the post in September 2006, reacting to an attack from then-Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who had been aggressively seizing more powers from the president by using loopholes in the constitution.

Baloha has proved to be a skillful crisis manager by helping to fend off the attack, persuading the president to dismiss Parliament and to call early parliamentary elections in 2007 that ousted Yanukovych from power.

But after the election, when Yushchenko nominated Tymoshenko as the prime minister in December 2007, the presidential office, led by Baloha, had continued attacks against the government, causing frequent political tensions in the country.

In a statement released shortly after his dismissal, Baloha - in an extremely unusual move – sharply criticized Yushchenko by accusing the president of failing to deliver what he had promised at the December 2004 election.

“I am convinced that you have no moral right to run for the reelection,” Baloha said in the statement addressing Yushchenko.

“Ten steps towards the people [Yushchenko’s policy initiative] remained a nice myth as not a single reform has been implemented,” Baloha said. “Corruption, nepotism, double standards in approving state decisions all have become a routine. It’s sad to realize but you have done nothing to clean the power.”

Baloha’s attack and strong language used in the statement against Yushchenko, for whom he had worked for almost three years, puzzled many and sent politicians searching for answers.

Oleh Zarubinskiy, a member of the centrist group loyal to Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, said the attack has been suggesting that Yushchenko and Baloha recently had a sharp argument.

“People with knowledge say that what has happened is the argument,” Zarubinskiy told Interfax-Ukraine.

“Baloha has been constantly advising the president to go in conflict with all other institutions of power,” Zarubinskiy said. “He exhausted himself and, perhaps, presidential advisors said that this style, this strategy of constant conflict has been hurting first of all Yushchenko.”

Olena Bondarenko, a member of the opposition Regions Party, said Baloha may have been trying to boost his own political party, the United Center, and to distance himself from Yushchenko.

“The fact that [Baloha] has started his own game is not a secret,” Bondarenko said. “What’s interesting is what will he do now as a source of interesting information about Yushchenko’s way of work.” (tl/ez)